PUPILS are turning heads in a North Yorkshire market town thanks to a smart new uniform.
Gone are the old sweatshirts pupils used to wear at Stokesley School, pictured above Amy Preston, Tom Hargreaves, Katie Gledhill and head teacher Catherine Brooker.
Instead they are kitted out in a new blazer and dark skirt, for girls, or dark trousers, for boys.
But one of the most noticeable features is the different colour tie and trim on the jumper. The colours represent the house each pupil belongs to - another change introduced by headteacher Catherine Brooker.
When Mrs Brooker arrived at the school last year, she told the Evening Gazette her aims were to improve behaviour and raise standards. And she said people living in Stokesley had commented on how the pupils' demeanour had changed since the new uniform was introduced.
The school is now split into six house groups of 150 pupils, with sixth formers acting as co-tutors by mentoring younger students, pictured Katie Gledhill with the new uniform.
Areas of the school are decorated in the colours of each house. And the houses compete against each other in events.
"Vertical" tutoring has also been introduced in the school for the new academic year, which means tutor groups contain a mix of pupils from Years 7 to 11.
Mrs Brooker said: "The previous uniform didn't really represent the school we want to be now - the new uniform is much smarter.
"The blazer has the school motto 'Being the Best We Can Be', which is what we want for our students.
"We thought it was important to make a clear statement of what the school is about and what it means for our students.
"We are a big school and the house system means we are creating a sense of community."
The students said they liked the new uniform and house system.
Tom Hargreaves, 15, from Hutton Rudby, said: "I'm quite impressed with the uniform but I was sceptical at first. I like the blazer - I feel like James Bond when I wear a blazer."
Katie Gledhill, 14, from Hutton Rudby, said: "It makes you feel more positive and take pride."
Amy Preston, 14, from Nunthorpe, said: "You feel especially proud outside of school like when you do sports and go to other schools.
"Before with the uniform it was, like, who's that school? But now they look at us and say we know that school.
"The house system in school has brought us closer."
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In my last year at high school we were asked what we could do to raise the ethos of the school and we chose to get rid of our sweatshirts and bring back the shirt and tie and blazer uniform.
Itvwas the best thing we ever did.
Local shops treated us with more respect, we felt we were part of a school to be proud of and from memory the overall performance of the school improved.
Well done Stokesley. You look fantastic.
I managed to miss having to wear that awful uniform because I'm in the lower sixth (we don't have to wear a uniform). This is just another of Brooker's little gimmics. For the last 5 years, while I have been at the school, the uniform was perfect - nice and plain, but practical. Now it just looks cheap and tacky. Ties are constantly being nicked and lost, and the students are sometimes not allowed to take their blazers off, meaning that they are too hot and not able to concentrate on their work.
That vertical tutor group idea is also a load of rubbish. Sixth Form students are supposed to be mentoring the younger students, but the teachers don't know what they are supposed to be doing so the sixth formers end up sitting doing nothing. What a waste of 25 minutes.
I tell you what Brooker should be doing instead of dreaming up all these hairbrain ideas: teaching naughty kids how to behave themselves, and stopping people smoking behind the sports hall at break times and during lessons.
It can only be a good thing to smarten up students. the second they leave school and into the workforce they will be expected to wear a uniform then. only then it will be a suit or smart office wear.
Children also are all on the same level in a uniform - it means no fighting for the best designer clothes.
Great idea.
As a parent with two children at Stokesley I think the uniform change has been a great idea. When we came to the area, seeing the pupils slouching round Stokesley in those scruffy sweatshirts nearly made us change our mind about where we sent our children. Uniforms aren't everything but it's a visible sign of all the efforts being made to improve the atmosphere and which are already starting to work
Mrs Brooker made the same sorts of changes to our school as she is now making at Stokesley. Exam results improved considerably and we are now recognised nationally for our success. Give Mrs Brooker's ideas time - she knows what she's doing!