Rationale for the Dress Code Policy

Why does The Windward School have a dress code?

As a school, we are welcoming of a diversity of families’ values and styles while at the same time we seek to maintain a community built on shared standards. In making decisions regarding our dress code, we continually navigate the tensions between…

  • communal standards;
  • cultural norms;
  • social pressures to “fit in”;
  • personal comfort (an especially important value for students with sensory issues);
  • minimizing distractions for the well-being of students as well as for the effectiveness of teaching and learning;
  • and, of course, each student’s personal autonomy to choose clothing that they wish to wear.

We presume that many of our families wrestle with these same tensions as they set limits and expectations for the clothing that their children wear. Whether we are talking about “offensive” language on t-shirts or ripped clothing at different events such as parties, dinners, and religious gatherings, many of our families apply their own “dress codes” at different times to the frustration and even discomfort of their children. We ask students to recognize that as a school we are working to apply a single dress code in the context of the widely disparate wants, needs, and social judgments of nearly 1,000 students and their families.

With all of these competing interests, we decide on our dress code standards with careful intentionality, and our goal is to maintain a non-gendered dress code that is both simple for families to follow and enforceable for faculty and staff in a fair and consistent manner.

What is wrong with clothing that is not allowed in the Windward dress code?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with clothing that is not allowed in our dress code! Ripped clothing, t-shirts, short skirts, cargo pants, neon sweatshirts, pajamas, sandals, clothing with logos and mottos, polka dotted pants... we seek to make no judgments about clothing that falls outside of our dress code, and we encourage students to wear whatever clothing outside of school that their families allow them to wear.

Why does the dress code require clothing to extend to “three inches above the knee”?

We want to be clear that our rule requiring clothing to extend to three inches above the knee or lower has no purpose to create shame about children’s bodies by making them cover themselves up. In addition to aligning with the culture we seek to maintain at Windward, clothing that covers their upper legs allows students to run and play and walk up stairs and kneel at their lockers while being appropriately covered and protected.

Please note that the Land’s End catalogue has skirts with adjustable waists, so students have options to purchase skirts that both fit and are long enough.

Why is it not allowed for tights, leggings, and yoga pants to be worn on their own?

While we did make an allowance for tights, yoga pants, and leggings to be worn on their own last year, we found that the clothing was often fitting our students so tightly that the clothing was not in alignment with the mode of dress we are seeking at school. In our effort to create a dress code that is simple and enforceable, we do not see a reasonable path to making distinctions between what is too tight as clothing and what might be acceptable in school. For that reason, we ask that if students wish to wear tights, leggings, or yoga pants, they wear them under another article of clothing such as a skirt. (Please note that while jeggings and ponte pants are quite close in fit to leggings and yoga pants, they are allowed in the Windward dress code as long as the style includes front and back pockets.)

What will happen for students who are not in dress code?

Being properly in dress code is simply a premise for taking part in school activities. We do not consider dress code to be a disciplinary matter; rather, it is an attendance matter as students who are repeatedly not in dress code will not be able to take part in their school day activities.

  • Grace Period: At the start of the school year, we will give students supportive reminders and opportunities to understand and practice the dress code through a two-week grace period. 
  • Reminder: Starting in the third week of the school year, a student who is out of dress code will be given a formal reminder and clarification of how they are out of dress code, and a communication will go home to seek the family’s support and ensure that they are informed.
  • Warning: After receiving a reminder, a student who is out of dress code a second time will receive a warning with an attendant communication home.
  • Non-Attendance: A student who comes into school a third time out of dress code will not be permitted to take part in classes, field trips, or school activities until they are properly in dress code.* In addition, at the discretion of the campus leadership, a student who is repeatedly out of dress code might lose their Friday dress-down privilege.

*If your child is having particular difficulty with the dress code, please contact your campus leadership, so we can support your child in partnership.

 Will the School be supplying dress code appropriate clothing for students who are out of dress code? 

The School will no longer be supplying dress code approved clothing for students who are out of dress code. For students struggling to attend to the dress code, families will be encouraged to send in to school a set of dress code approved clothing to keep in the hallway locker or classroom cubby for instances when their children might need it.