skirtcafe.org

greenboots wrote:I think there are still one or two schools where boys wear kilts, but judging by their rarity I suspect it is only “occasion wear”, whereas it is still fairly common to see girls in uniform with kilts, at least in Edinburgh.

Thank you Green Boots...Many of my reports of Kilt wearing School Boys came from gentlemen in the Edinburgh and Glasgow areas
who were at school just after the War....Most of these gentlemen would probably now be over 80 years old......
Some of the boys started wearing hand me down Kilts from other family members when they were four or five years old.....
These Kilts lasted for years.....other boys took up the option of wearing The Kilt as part of their school uniform , worn with a tweed jacket
for senior school......From the information I received possibly only 25% of a class would take up the Kilt for School option.....

We must remember that 400 families transfered from The Clyde To the South Coast of England in the 1950's with The Admiralty....
Then The Atomic Energy opened a new site in The same area of Dorset......Some of the Staff moved from an Atomic Energy establishment
in Scotland........The Caledonian Society was still active in the area 5 years ago....

One of my friends came from an English Family who married in India ...Moved to Gibralta and then to Scotland and is now still working
in Cornwall......Areas with Defense Activity become a big melting pot for an International Community...........weeladdie

There used to be a private school in Helensburgh where the uniform was compulsory kilts for the boys, I vaguely remember seeing a feature on the TV about the school, I think the school is still there but no more obligatory kilts. (Helensburgh is not too far from Glasgow)

My school in Scotland was, in part, a boarding school. On Sundays, the pupils would go to church. Kilts were compulsory. Come to think of it, I find it slightly absurd that going to church was also compulsory. Think I’ll check that point with some ex-boarders. I was a Day pupil.

The point here is that we are talking about "private" and not state schools.
They are not especially representative of what is prevalent in the Scottish education system then or now.
In fact, they may have been responsible for the elitist attitude which is associated with some aspects of Kilt wearing and tartan.
I also wonder if that is really what gave rise to the notion of the Kilt Police.
Steve.

Ray wrote:My school in Scotland was, in part, a boarding school. On Sundays, the pupils would go to church. Kilts were compulsory. Come to think of it, I find it slightly absurd that going to church was also compulsory. Think I’ll check that point with some ex-boarders. I was a Day pupil.

Some of the senior schools in England were County Schools with 25% Boarders.....Some of the boarding boys were local to the school but lived in Isolated Locations....
Other parents were Military or serving overseas.....
These schools were 11 plus exam entry level.....I would assume the situation would have been the same in Scotland possibly 70 years ago

Some of the schools may have closed with the new Comprehensive Schooling System....
This may be how the trend of Kilt Wearing at school may have declined in Scotland...........

Ray wrote:My school in Scotland was, in part, a boarding school. On Sundays, the pupils would go to church. Kilts were compulsory. Come to think of it, I find it slightly absurd that going to church was also compulsory. Think I’ll check that point with some ex-boarders. I was a Day pupil.

Another issue which may have been relevant was that boys who were born before 1940 were recruited for National Service when they were 18 years old ......
Many of these would have joined the Kilt Wearing Highland Regiments for 18 months training.......
The last intake of National Service Recruits was said to be November 1960

In my senior school days church attendance was relative to the parents declared religion.....The boys attended the Church of their parents Denomination....
Some boys did not attend the school Daily C of E....Assembly Service or Religious Knowledge Classes........