Sir, - Thirty years ago, my mother took me to Clerys to be kitted out with my new school uniform: a maroon gymslip down to my ankles, a wooley cardigan which rolled up into a big lump over my wrists, endless shirts and socks, a special gaberdine coat and a matching beret which I never wore. My parents went into debt to purchase those itchy, uncomfortable, old-fashioned clothes, which I hated wearing.
Now, with my twin daughters about to start secondary school, I am faced with paying over £300 each (money I can ill afford) for itchy, uncomfortable, old-fashioned uniforms which can still be bought only at certain designated shops. Also, my children will not be allowed to wear trousers when it gets cold or if they feel uncomfortable in a skirt.
I am not against school uniforms. What I am against is an attitude that still dictates where we should buy our children's clothes and does not give us the choice to shop around; an attitude which ignores fashion; an attitude that does not recognise that some girls do not wish to expose their legs either to the cold or to any unwanted attention; an attitude which means that parents are, like their own parents, going into debt unnecessarily.
Surely somebody, somewhere, is capable of designing practical, inexpensive, smart school clothes that can be worn with some degree of comfort by our children and thrown in the washing machine at the end of each week, thereby saving time and money for hardworking parents. - Yours, etc.,
From Mary Burnham
Mounttown, Dun Laoghaire.