The School Uniforms

In this section:

Stanfield County Technical School Uniform

Junior Technical School Uniform

John Whitmore (1940-2) says
"...my time at the JTS was in the early war years when clothes rationing was in operation. If my memory serves me well the only suggested items were badge, navy blue blazer, tie, grey flannels and cap all to be purchased from a particular shop in Burslem, (Boultons??) next to Cocks entry. As many families had a struggle to obtain even essential attire with their limited number of clothing coupons, it was often a rather hotch-potch 'uniform'.

...the navy blue and plum tie and trimmings on the badge."

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The JTS cap badge was extracted, in pristine condition, from an envelope at the 2002 Reunion by Ray Bagnall. In 1950 he had lost his School cap while leaning out of a train window whilst "trainspotting". The new badge was bought but never used.

The JTS plum/blue blazer badge is in the local Stoke-on-Trent Museum archives and the only access to it has been a rather poor colour picture. According to John Whitmore (1940-42) it was deposited as part of the estate of Mr J A Collinson. The required jacket was blue.

Raymond Dean (1951-54) supplied his JTS 1951 blazer badge - in very good condition as it was soon replaced by an SCTS badge. Note that the colours have apparently changed to indicate a black jacket rather than blue.

The left-hand JTS tie is an artist's impression based on the blazer badge colours and a possible diagonal pattern selected from amongst the many different ties worn in the 1950 class picture. However, no-one is guaranteed to be wearing the School tie.

John Whitmore (1940-42) says
"Your illustration of the School tie is correct as far as the colours, although the shape during my stay was typical of schoolboy ties of that era - namely equal horizontal colours in ladder fashion."

Which leaves the question in the right-hand replica as to which colour came at the bottom - and are the bars too wide?

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Stanfield County Technical School Uniform

The colours adopted for SCTS, and continued for STHS, were a very practical silver/white and black - with grey trousers, socks, and pullovers. In theory the latter had white and black stripes round the neck. Shirts were white.

Originally it appeared to be the custom that 1st Year pupils wore short trousers - possibly the age of 13 was still a "rite of passage" watershed? By 1965 there is only one person on the front row wearing short trousers - and by 1970 the transition in the general society would appear to be complete. Short trousers in Stoke-on-Trent would soon become the preserve of young women as "Hot pants".

Most ties were a polyester silver/black but one or two boys had a white/black version in a much thicker material. Looking at the School pictures it appears that the only thing that was consistent about the variety of ties was the general colour scheme. Prefects had a tie with two very thin red/yellow lines at each boundary of the silver/black stripes.

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The Prefect tie, with thin yellow/red stripes, is an artist's impression from memory. If you know more about the SCTS/STHS Prefect tie stripe colours please send the Webmaster an email.

Chris Horrobin (1959-66) says
"These are my SCTS blazer badge, cap and tie - all preserved by my mother together with my School reports. I suspect I had the same tie, looking shorter and shorter, until becoming a prefect. My STHS badge is visible in the 1965 panoramic picture but apparently that, and my prefect's tie, were not preserved.

The cap was the only one I ever had. It perched on the top of my head in the VIth Form when Bill Potts banned any unofficial headgear, especially the fashionable "Tyrolean" hats favoured by many. It would appear that his letter lauding the "improvement" of 1964 dress standards was a false dawn.

I can't remember what happened to my wood/metalwork apron although it was kept for many years. It started off quite long and appeared to keep pace with the rising hemlines of the 1960's.

My football shorts also started off relatively long, like Stanley Matthews's. By the time of the World Cup in 1966 they had "shrunk" to the current fashion. It seemed that only the good football players had low-sided "continental" boots - while most of us wore the heavy "cloggers" of the previous era.

The move to High Lane in 1960, with the luxurious wooden-floored gym, required the scrapping of old black-soled plimsolls for the more expensive green-soled ones. Woe betide anyone who left a black skid-mark on the gym floor. For five-a-side and basketball the coloured tops of North (red), South (blue), East (green), West (yellow) - were often replaced by "shirts and skins". The latter was distinctly painful when inadvertantly blocking a ball."

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Stanfield Technical High School Uniform

The School pictures show that the STHS badge was introduced in the Autumn term of 1961. However there are still some SCTS badges visible in the April 1963 picture - and at least one in the 1965 picture. Most SCTS pupils retained their SCTS cap - with the rest of the uniform unchanged in style.

The STHS cap badge should be similar to the blazer badge - but was it just the shield without the motto? The School motto "Nil Nisi Labore" - "Nothing Without Work" - was already in use in 1954. It appears on the front cover of the first edition of the SCTS School magazine "The Review" in December 1954.

If you know more about the JTS uniform, SCTS/STHS Prefect tie stripe colours or STHS cap badge please send the Webmaster an email.

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