20 April 2025
Caldecott started in 1911 as a Nursery School, then the Community from 1917 was mostly for young children boarding in the countryside during term times. By 1937-38 more relatively older children than previously were staying on.
The CC annual report for that year refers to the introduction of a formal school outfit to help foster corporate unity, a light grey and blue uniform as a "coveted possession of most of the children over twelve years of age. Each child is held responsible for its cleanliness and neatness. It is worn only on Sundays, at evening supper, and on all public occasions. It signifies full citizenship and can only be taken away for dishonourable conduct. It is not given in the first instance to any child, whatever his age, who has not made a reasonable normal social adjustment and who has no group consciousness."
By my time at Hatch the weekday life for children aged 14 years or more was to return from local schools and to change from school uniform into a Caldecott uniform. I should mention that juniors (Junior Study and Senior Study) wore standard outfits, certainly during the week, but these were not referred to as uniforms.
Boys and girls at Hatch in the 1960's got their respective uniforms at age 14. Some of the oldest might become PPU's, sort of prefects, with slightly different uniform (boys got dark blue rather than light blue short-sleeved shirts below standard light grey jumpers). In late 1966 or in 1967 there were changes to uniforms (as a PPU I got more formal long-sleeved shirts and black jumper). Of course, our outfits did not have logos in those times.
For Saturday mornings uniform boys oddly had to wear short trousers, which in Summer 1963 meant stares from customers when Simon Rodway treated several of us, after Senior housework, to a visit to Gizzi's in Ashford.
We generally had a Meeting in the Library at Hatch in the first and last weekends of term. Study boys came to these in white shirts and blue ties (no jumpers), which I believe I only ever wore once on another occasion (Summer 1961, 50th anniversary celebration).
Seniors had runs and showers before weekday breakfasts, unclothed above waists even in hail - save on two separate mornings for us when heavy snow was falling and then Miss Travers dug out dark T- shirts, never used later as when very bad weather made the run track impassable from snow and ice the runs were suspended.