School Uniform Guidelines

St Columba Anglican School aims to foster a sense of pride and belonging to the school and encourage students to understand the importance of personal appearance. How the uniform is worn says a great deal about who we are as a community and how we value the school we belong to. Compliance with the School Uniform Policy is considered an essential condition of enrolment. Parents and caregivers are expected to support the school in ensuring their child(ren) abides by this policy.

Each parent who enrols their child at St Columba enters into a contract whereby the school offers certain services in terms of education and care. The other side of this contract is that the parent/s accept that the school has the right to impose its rules, expectations of behaviour etc. for the period of enrolment.

Personal appearance areas that the School has the right to adjudicate on include:

• The mode and manner in which a uniform is worn;
• The type of uniform to be worn;
• The times a uniform is required to be worn;
• The amount of visible jewellery worn with the uniform (including earrings, bracelets/bangles, necklaces, piercings etc);
• Hairstyles, length, colour;
• The general appearance of a student, with reference to such adornments as tattoos.

General Information

• Correct uniform in good repair must be worn at all times.
• All uniforms are marked clearly with the student’s full name (not initials).
• Students may use only an official SCAS backpack. Students’ names should be printed clearly on the bag. School bags must not be defaced in any way by stickers, transfers, writing or colouring. Students will be required to buy a new bag to replace defaced or badly damaged bags. You can find information on how to organise and wear your backpack by viewing this guide.
• The School blazer is a compulsory uniform item for Years 11 and 12 and optional for Year 10.  The blazer is required for all school assemblies, excursions and formal occasions. Senior students are also expected to wear their blazers to and from school and leave school at any time of the day. Blazers are also worn during Terms 2 and 3 when students represent the school or in a public area, including the School Cafe.  
• In Primary School, the sports cap is only to be worn with the sports uniform. 
• Students must wear SCAS Sports socks, available from the Uniform Shop during sports days, and navy socks with the full uniform. 
• The Primary School SCAS Art Smock is available for purchase from the Uniform Shop.
• Girls must not roll up their skirts or shorts to shorten them beyond the expected length. All uniform items should be worn as intended to maintain a respectful and consistent standard across the school community.

Uniform Guidelines for Physical Education and Sports Uniform

Sports uniforms can be worn to and from school on Sports Days (including Athletics and Swimming Carnivals).

The School jumper is not part of the sports uniform and therefore must not be worn with the sports uniform. The only exception to this rule is cooler days when the jumper may be worn under the sports jacket. At no time should the jumper be worn without the jacket as this jacket is always the first item of warmth

For Secondary students, the following guidelines must be followed on days when they have a practical PE lesson. Any student who does not comply with this policy will receive a School Expectation Detention.

• The School sports hat is compulsory for all outdoor PE activities.
• If PE falls during periods 1 or 2, students are to wear their sports uniform to school and will be given 10 minutes at the end of the lesson to change back into their full school uniform. This will be the morning session for PE uniform purposes.
• If PE falls during periods 3, 4 or 5, students must wear their full school uniform to school and change into their sports uniform during Long Break. They will leave school in their sports uniform. This will be the afternoon session for PE uniform purposes.
• Students in PDHPE electives (BSY, SPP, GOW, SPC, ADP, FSP) at times will have two practical lessons in the day and can attend school in sport uniform for the duration of the day if practical lessons are in both morning and afternoon sessions.
• Sports shoes must provide support and grip for all sporting activities, which means they must be an athletic runner or cross-trainer shoe with laces to be tied up at all times. ‘Volley’ style, skate shoes and shoes without laces are not permitted.
• Students who attend the Gym before school must change into full school uniform before 8.50am (unless you have PE practical in periods 1 or 2).
• Students who have training before school or at Long Break must change into full school uniform after their training session.

Guidelines for Swimming Carnivals

For Primary School, please ensure that your student has the following items, clearly named:

• Plain one-piece bathers (girls)
• Speedos or all-in-one bathers (boys)
• School Sports uniform, including correct House Shirt (available from the School Uniform shop)
• Correct sports socks and fully enclosed shoes
• School Broad Brimmed hat
• Sunscreen (coloured zinc is allowed for the face only) for regular application
• Sun shirts (optional but recommended whilst not competing)
• Towel
• Swimming Cap and/or goggles (optional)
• Food for recess, lunch and snacks. Students should also bring a supply of water (not in glass please)
• Any First Aid requirements (including medications, strapping etc.)

For Secondary School, students must wear their full SCAS school sport uniform to and from the carnival.

Year 12 students may wear House colour costume/dress that follows the school mufti clothing guidelines (noting that thongs are permitted to wear on this day), however appropriate swimming attire must be worn to compete in races. 

Students should also bring:

• A broad-brimmed SCAS hat (or sports cap)
• A supply of sunscreen for application as required throughout the day and sunglasses
• Suitable swimming costume, which would consist of a one-piece swimming costume or a two-piece racing costume for girls. Bikinis may be worn but only with a rash/sun shirt over.

For sun protection, students will be required to wear appropriate clothing and remain in a shaded area where possible when they are not competing.

Year 12 Jerseys

The following list details the rules regarding the Year 12 jerseys.

Students can wear their jerseys:

• To class (for most students, this will be between 8.50am and 3.20pm)
• During Long Break, Short Break and Study periods
• Fortnightly Focus Days, where there are no visitors to the school

Students cannot wear jerseys:

• Outside of the school grounds 
• On excursions
• Travelling to and from school (blazers must be worn to and from school) 
• At assemblies
• At formal Year Meetings
• When there is a guest speaker present
• At Chapel services
• At the front of the school
• At the Iona Cafe, before, during or after school (blazers required to, at and from the Cafe)
• Underneath their blazers

Dance Uniform

A compulsory dance uniform is required for all Dance Elective and Co-Curricular Dance lessons. This includes the SCAS Dance leotard and leggings for girls, or the SCAS Dance shirt and shorts/long pants for boys. This uniform is available for purchase at the uniform shop. We will allow a short period of time to accommodate new orders. Students should be in full uniform by mid-Term 1. Hair should be neatly groomed. At SCAS, we have a dance uniform so that we represent the school in the wider community with pride thanks to our embroidered logos and uniformity. Every piece of the selected uniform is form-fitting for safe dance practice, exceptional flexibility, movement efficiency, temperature control and durability.

Sun Safety

St Columba Anglican School has Sun Safety guidelines in place and the key aspects of the guidelines are:

• Students are required to wear the school hat to and from school, and on the grounds before and after school. Students should wear the sports cap during PE, outdoor classes, lunch breaks and at other times when prolonged exposure to the sun may occur. 
• Sunscreen should be supplied and applied regularly by students when exposed to the sun.
• We would encourage students to wear rash shirts or other protective clothing at swimming carnivals.
• Conservative-style sunglasses to protect eyes can be worn where practical.

Mufti Day (Non-Uniform) Guidelines

All students must be dressed in a neat and appropriate manner. For the purposes of safety, the following guidelines apply when wearing ‘mufti’:

• Students MUST wear fully covered shoes and appropriate clothing.
• Exposed shoulders, singlet style/shoulder straps, very short skirts and shorts, and bare midriffs are not considered suitable. 
• Sandals, high heels and thongs are not permitted at school.
• Pyjamas are not permitted to be worn.
• T-shirts or other items or clothing must not display any inappropriate messages or logos. 
• Normal school rules regarding hair, makeup and jewellery still apply on mufti days. 
• In Secondary School only, girls may wear their hair out when not doing practical activities during the day.

If a student has a Physical Education lesson that day then appropriate sports shoes must be worn or brought to school. If students do not comply with this they will not be permitted to participate in any practical lesson. 

Uniform Guidelines for School Photography Days

Each year professional school photographs are taken of our students that we use in our yearbook ‘The Chameleon’ and in our newsletters and other publications. Each student’s appearance must reflect a positive image of the school. Therefore we ask for your assistance in ensuring that appropriate student dress and grooming is in place on photo days.

All students are required to adhere to the following dress and grooming guidelines. Please refer to the Uniform Information page for more comprehensive information regarding the School Uniform. You can also view our Hair, Accessories and Presentation guidelines.

• Students are to wear full winter uniforms, including a tie. For Years 7 to 10, this includes the navy school jumper.
• For Year 10, the blazer is optional for individual photos but not permissible for group photos.
• Year 11 and 12 students must wear the school blazer for individual and group photos.
• Blouses and skirts should be clean and worn appropriately with the top collar button done up and no sleeves rolled up. Any garment worn under the blouse or shirt should not be visible. Skirts are to be at knee length.
• Girls’ hair should be neat, tidy and off the face. Girls with hair longer than shoulder length should have all hair tied back (i.e. no hair should be hanging loose) with a suitable headband, hair tie or ribbon. All hair accessories are to be white, navy or maroon only.
• Boys’ hair should be neat and tidy. Boys’ hair must not be longer than the top of their collar.
• Shoes are to be clean and polished.
• Students should not be wearing nail polish or noticeable makeup.
• Earrings are to be plain gold or silver studs (not larger than a match head) or plain gold or silver sleepers - one pair only.
• Watches are to be of a conservative style.
• Senior girls are not to wear the navy pants for school photographs.

Please note that the compulsory uniform for senior students is the navy skirt with the striped school shirt (Years 7 to 10) and white school shirt (Years 11 and 12) and school tie, and it is required to be worn for all formal school occasions and for official school photograph days. The checked dress is an optional extra and cannot be worn for official School photographs.