School uniform is a controversial thing. It brings out strong emotions in people. New Principals are always advised, 鈥淒on鈥檛 go near the uniform policy in your first year!鈥� and told that if they brave the world of wholesale uniform change, it is at their own peril.听

听When I was in the upper sixth form at school (the equivalent of our Year 12) I was the Deputy Head Girl (note use of capital letters to denote the importance of this role).听 This bestowed the privilege of being allowed to wear different coloured socks from the rest of the cohort, which at the time was considered quite risqu茅. In retrospect, our lives in those days must have been particularly mundane, if dissenting socks were considered exciting and memorable.

Today, however, school uniforms are more standardised and you won鈥檛 see our Student Representative Council members wearing daringly pink socks.听 At first glance, a school uniform seems like such a good idea. Rich and poor, tall and short, all students can be brought to a similar standard of dress and they don鈥檛 have to compete to be seen in the latest brands. In fact, once you鈥檙e well past the age of wearing school uniform, you sometimes wonder whether it would actually be quite nice to revert to one. You can probably imagine the time you would save each morning, not worrying about what to wear and whether this top half goes with that bottom half or whether you鈥檝e recently worn that particular outfit in front of this group of people.

To students, uniform can feel like just another thing that schools think up to deliberately repress them and to quash their individuality. They believe it suppresses their freedom of expression and removes one avenue in which they can visibly reflect who they are,听 through what they wear.听 Students often don鈥檛 realise how having a uniform equalises students from different backgrounds and makes it easier for them all to belong.

To parents, school uniform can be a bone of contention.听 Although it鈥檚 advantageous not having to withstand offspring pressure to buy designer brands, school uniforms are not cheap and students (who didn鈥檛 have to pay for them) seem to randomly lose parts of them (generally the more costly items) and just don鈥檛 seem to care about them enough to look after them properly.听 In addition, enforcing uniform rules can cause unwanted battles during fraught mornings when it鈥檚 sometimes easier to ignore the rolled-up skirt or the unsuitable socks and leave the difficult conversation to someone at school.

But to many schools and teachers, a uniform has a very different meaning, because it reflects pride in the School in question. The way a uniform is worn, particularly in a high school context, often reflects the internal state and beliefs of the student wearing it.听 It can provide a sense of security as well as belonging and from our point of view it can help students focus on more important things such as learning, rather than on their clothing.

Although some students relish the opportunity to look their best in their uniform, others struggle to wear it with anything resembling pride. Sometimes we don鈥檛 help as parents. Many years ago, I bought my own son a school blazer that I hoped would last from Year 8 to Year 12. This resulted in his looking ridiculous in Year 8 when it was far too big for him and even more ridiculous in Year 12 when he progressed to looking like an orphan and had clearly grown out of it. Looking back, I hope that he didn鈥檛 suffer too hard a time from his peers due to his ill-fitting clothes.

At Carmel, the uniform is often worn well. Whilst standing at the High School gate in the morning, the most frequent transgressions so far seem to be some of our young women having more than one earring in each ear and some of our young men 鈥榝orgetting鈥� to shave before school and believing that having their kippa in their pocket rather than on their head is an acceptable interpretation of the policy.

For me, the important thing is that the 69色情片 uniform is worn with pride.听 Students from our school should be proud that they are lucky enough to learn here and this should be reflected in the way they represent the School.听 As always, the support of parents is invaluable in helping us to ensure that this is the case. If you notice that your offspring鈥檚 shirt could do with replacing, you can view the opening times of our uniform shop here.

I hope that you realise how much we genuinely appreciate your support as parents in helping our students look their best and take pride in their Carmel uniform.听 Every time you remind your son to put his kippa on before he leaves your car in the morning and every time you ask your daughter to tie her hair up and remove jewellery, you support us as Carmel staff and help reinforce pride in the School.听 I thank you for that support.