Key Themes

There was a strong acknowledgement from survey participants that being willing to accept rules that promote collective wellbeing is very important. This was accompanied by a strong awareness that while there will be a diversity of opinions on what those rules should be across a large school community, that ultimately everyone needs to accept and abide by the final decisions that are made as an outcome of consultation and input from all stakeholders.

There was also a significant proportion of the student community who provided thoughtful arguments for the importance of being able to exercise individual freedom and expression. In particular, it was argued that if a uniform is rigidly imposed “from on high”, then this would have a significant impact on the sense of ownership and pride which students can take in their uniform and their school community generally. Another key argument was the diversity of body shapes and clothing preferences mean that a rigid uniform policy will result in many students wearing garments they feel uncomfortable with, which does not support effective learning.

The THS Uniform Review Team spent a significant portion of their time discussing how we as a school community can effectively reconcile these apparently competitive opinions in a constructive and positive way.

Feedback on clothing

A range of strong opinions was expressed on almost all clothing items that are part of the THS uniform. These broadly fell into two categories:

Positive and negative feedback that came down largely to difference of opinion.

As a couple of examples:

The bomber jacket ranked highly as both an item students would most like to keep and an item students would most like to change.

The plain white shirt was described as too thin and cold, just the right weight, and too heavy and hot.

Requests for additions and removal of garments that were fairly consistent across the student community. Some of the top requests included:

Changing the kilt

Changing the knitted jumper

Adding good quality female pants and shorts

Adding a hoodie

Adding leggings

Better options and more flexibility generally for warm clothing in winter.