School uniform uproars: From St Michael’s Grammar to Christian College and Brighton Secondary

“Orphan” uniforms, eco hemp blazers and a rule that led to body-shaming accusations are just a few school dress codes that have outraged Victorian families.

Official images of Geelong Christian College’s new uniform slightly appeased parents and students.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing debate over whether school students should wear uniforms at all — or whether they sap children of their individuality, as some claim — we look at some of the uniform scandals, stunts, protests and uproars of recent times.

ST MICHAEL’S GRAMMAR

St Michael’s Grammar was accused of body-shaming female students by asking year sixers to have “covered shoulders” for the end-of-year disco in 2021.

Parents from the elite co-ed private school who are paying $31,836 a year in fees, wanted the school to apologise to girls and change the dress code for the year six dance.

The school said the outfit suggestions – which included closed-toe shoes – were solely for sun protection and applied equally to boys.

But irate parents insisted that it unfairly targeted girls, who should be able to wear what they wanted.

Mums exchanged memes suggesting the school was treating girls like students in the movie Footloose or like modestly-dressed Amish women.

“They should change the date of the invitation to 1901,” one mother said.

“How can it be co-ed when they treat the girls differently? We are all so angry. We want them to change their mind and apologise to the girls.”

CHRISTIAN COLLEGE GEELONG

Leaked images of Geelong Christian College’s new uniform had students and parents up in arms.

Parents from Christian College in Geelong reacted strongly to unofficial images of the school’s new uniform, calling it medieval, ‘orphan’ and cult-like, as well as “straight out of Hogwarts”.

More than 1000 students and parents signed an online petition demanding the planned uniform overhaul for 2024 be scrapped.

Those signing the petition likened the new clothing to “Addams Family cosplay” and “a window cleaner in the plague”.

The petition called for more consultation and modern, practical and gender-neutral items of clothing.

Official images of Geelong Christian College’s new uniform slightly appeased parents and students.

Parents also wanted more time to buy the new pieces given that many students had been learning from home for the best part of two years.

School principal Glen McKeeman said he was disappointed to see images of the uniforms shared on social media but gave parents an additional year to transition to the new pieces.

The board of the school sensationally “reminded” outspoken parents they could be subject to defamation risks for “the posting of inappropriate and personal attacks on individuals or organisations”.

FIRBANK GRAMMAR

The leaking of Firbank Grammar’s new sustainable uniform to the media in 2020 was met with shock and outrage from some parents.

Firbank Grammar School has come under fire for its "hideous" new sustainable uniform, which some claim is “reminiscent of wartime Europe".

The new clothing pieces, designed by prominent designer Kit Willow, were slammed by some as being “reminiscent of wartime Europe”.

The uniform was made from sustainable materials like hemp and “upcycled polyester” but parents said they were impractical, unflattering and ugly.

A petition calling for the uniform to be scrapped attracted almost 1000 signatures.

“I fully support sustainable uniforms, but please listen to the people wearing them to make the uniform appropriate for the 21st century,” one person wrote.

The first uniform items to be released in 2021 were the sports pieces. The school proudly announced that “one sports eco T-shirt is made from approximately nine plastic bottles that would otherwise go to landfill”.

BRIGHTON SECONDARY COLLEGE

In 2020, female year seven students at Brighton Secondary College were lined up for a uniform check by a staff member. The girls were made to kneel and had their hemlines measured for compliance to the school uniform rule that stated their skirts and dresses should sit on their knee.

One parent called it a “demeaning and archaic act of public shaming”.

Acting Principal Pat Gargano said the “isolated” incident did not “reflect the school’s values of respect, empathy, and integrity”.

“It is not our practice to conduct uniform checks in this way and the staff member was immediately counselled as soon as we became aware,” the school said.

It comes as many state and private schools continue to have references to the length of girls’ skirts in their dress codes.

There is rarely any limit on the length of boys’ shorts.

ST KEVIN’S COLLEGE, WESLEY COLLEGE

Former student James Robinson broke into St Kevin’s College and set his blazer alight on the oval as a protest against the misogyny and homophobia he said he had experienced there.

Robinson’s act was sparked by allegations made against AFL footballer Jordan De Goey, who also attended the Catholic boys’ school.

Robinson’s burning blazer was dedicated to “current students and victims of St Kevin’s, and schools like it, who felt their identity was slowly being chipped away by “a hyper-masculine culture”.

Students at Wesley College earlier in the year staged a boycott of their school uniform to protest against allegations of sexual harassment, misogyny and sexual assault at the leading independent co-ed school.

Principal Nick Evans invited students to meet with him to discuss their experiences of harassment and abuse and promised “deep listening”.

LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

In 2020, the Keysborough private school was criticised for introducing guidelines that suggested students could only wear plain masks in college colours that matched the school uniform.

Although the school said it would not stop students from wearing masks that did not meet the rules, the suggestion that masks were treated like a fashion accessory outraged parents.

The rules stipulated masks must be a “standard solid colour” and either grey, blue, black or white. They were not able to have any designs or colours and no scarfs or bandannas were allowed.

One member of the school community said she was “appalled at the school’s banning of homemade masks in non-school colours”.

She said the policy “focuses on the appearance of the mask, therefore prioritising school image and treating face masks as a uniform accessory rather than as a piece of PPE”.