Protect Our Uniform: Preserve our Identity
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FINAL UPDATE
2026-10-05 09:30:41Dear Parents, Old Girls and broader members of the St Aidan's community,
As a final update, we can confirm that we have now received responses from all relevant stakeholders contacted following the submission of the 'Protect Our Uniform: Preserve Our Identity' petition.
The responses received indicate that these stakeholders remain aligned with the School and its leadership in relation to the uniform decision and the processes surrounding it.
With those responses now received, we feel the petition has reached its natural conclusion.
We would like to sincerely thank the many parents, Old Girls and members of the wider St Aidan’s community who supported the petition and engaged with it respectfully and constructively. Regardless of individual perspectives on the outcome, the response to the petition reflects the depth of care that exists within our community for St Aidan’s, its identity, traditions and future.
We encourage members of the community who wish to continue the conversation, or who have views they would like heard, to engage directly and constructively with the School and relevant stakeholders where they feel it is appropriate to do so.
Thank you again for your support, your thoughtful engagement and for adding your voice to the conversation.
Parents and Old Girls
Protect Our Uniform: Preserve Our Identity
Parents and Old Girls of St Aidan's
UPDATE - 5 SEPTEMBER
2026-09-04 23:28:23The petition has now been formally submitted to St Aidan’s School Council, the Society of the Sacred Advent Trust, the Foundation, and Archbishop Greaves.
Our submission makes clear that while the proposed uniform redesign prompted this petition, the concern it represents is broader:
How should an Anglican School entrusted with more than 95 years of history modernise, while preserving the identity and traditions that generations before us have built?
The petition does not seek to prevent the uniform from changing. It supports practical improvements where needed, while questioning whether the extent of the current redesign is necessary and whether the community had sufficient opportunity to help shape it.
The School’s decision to retain the existing academic dress alongside the proposed replacement is an important acknowledgement of community sentiment, but it does not resolve the concern expressed by the petition.
Two substantially different formal dresses do not preserve a single visual identity. They create two.
Nor does retaining the existing dress as an “enduring option” secure its future. Once a replacement is introduced alongside it, the traditional dress becomes one choice among two and may progressively diminish through changing purchasing patterns, incoming cohorts and future decisions.
Preservation cannot mean allowing a tradition to remain available while simultaneously establishing the mechanism through which it may gradually disappear.
The petition has therefore asked that the proposed replacement be rescinded and the proposal returned to an earlier stage, with students, parents and Old Girls involved before a replacement design is settled, and with clear consideration given to what should change, what should remain, and what a future uniform should preserve.
This is not opposition to change. It is a request for change that is measured, properly considered and respectful of the institution’s responsibility to preserve what matters.
Our submission also places this issue within the broader responsibility of stewardship. As one of only two remaining SSA schools, St Aidan’s identity and traditions form part of a legacy built and carried forward across generations.
St Aidan’s traditions and identity belong to generations past, present and future. They are not for any one administration to redefine. Stewardship means protecting what has enduring value, while allowing the School to evolve.
We have asked School Council and the SSA Trust to consider the petition, rescind the proposed new uniform in its current form, return the proposal to an earlier stage and establish a pathway forward that allows the uniform to move forward without unnecessarily losing the elements that make it recognisably St Aidan’s.
While the petition has now been formally submitted, it will remain open until an appropriate resolution is reached. Those wishing to support its objectives are welcome to continue doing so respectfully, and any additional signatures will remain part of the community response as the process continues.
The responsibility of stewardship is to understand what we have inherited, why it matters, and what we have an obligation to carry forward.
We have asked the Council and the Society of the Sacred Advent to exercise that stewardship now.
Parents and Old Girls of St Aidan's
UPDATE - 30 AUGUST 2026
2026-08-29 23:05:28Over the past 48 hours, discussion surrounding the uniform changes has moved into the public domain. Some of that commentary has been unhelpful and inflammatory and, importantly, does not represent the purpose or position of this petition.
The issues raised by this petition remain exactly as they were when it was launched.
For the stakeholders at the heart of this conversation — current students and families, Old Girls and those with a genuine and enduring connection to St Aidan’s — this has never simply been a question of whether we like or dislike a new uniform, nor what our school uniform looks like in comparison to other schools.
It is about preserving the legacy, tradition and distinctive identity of St Aidan’s while allowing the School to evolve thoughtfully and appropriately. Modernisation and tradition are not mutually exclusive. Our community has consistently demonstrated that it is capable of embracing change while protecting the elements of our School that carry meaning across generations.
It is also about how significant change is undertaken.
When decisions materially affect the identity and traditions of a school community, the governance processes underpinning those decisions matter. Meaningful stakeholder engagement, transparency, accountability and the opportunity for community voices to influence significant change before decisions become effectively final are fundamental to maintaining confidence and trust.
Those concerns have not been diminished by the public conversation of recent days. Nor has the purpose, validity or credibility of this petition changed.
Indeed, the response from across the St Aidan’s community demonstrates why it was important to provide a respectful and constructive mechanism through which stakeholders could make their views known.
Before the petition is presented this week, we encourage you to share it with current families, students, Old Girls and others with a genuine connection to St Aidan’s who may wish to add their voice.
This is an opportunity to ensure that the people who understand what these traditions mean — and who have a genuine stake in the future of our School — are represented when the petition is formally put before Council and the SSA Trust.
Thank you again to everyone who has participated respectfully and constructively.
Protect Our Uniform: Preserve Our Identity
Parents and Old Girls of St Aidan's
UPDATE – 26 AUGUST 2026
2026-08-26 04:08:36This morning, St Aidan’s advised the community that the existing academic dress will remain available, unchanged, for any student who wishes to wear it, describing this as an “enduring arrangement”.
This is a welcome and important acknowledgement of the strength of community sentiment surrounding the current academic dress and its significance to St Aidan’s history and identity.
However, today’s announcement does not resolve the broader concerns that prompted this petition.
The proposed new academic dress remains part of the updated collection and will be available later this year. The new PE and Early Learners uniforms are also proceeding, and fittings for the new blazer will commence this term. The broader redesign is therefore continuing.
For many within our community, retaining two substantially different formal dresses does not resolve concerns about the impact of the proposed collection on St Aidan’s distinctive and cohesive visual identity. There is also no clarity around what an “enduring arrangement” means in practice, including whether the existing dress will remain a genuine long-term part of the uniform for future students or whether this arrangement creates a transition to the new design over time.
More importantly, the fundamental concerns surrounding the process that produced these changes remain unanswered.
The School has acknowledged that members of the community wanted greater “visibility and influence” during the uniform review process. This reflects one of the central concerns raised by this petition. Yet today’s communication still does not explain how the limited 2023 consultation, focused on expanding uniform choice and inclusivity, came to inform a much broader redesign; how community feedback shaped the designs ultimately presented; or how the community will meaningfully influence what proceeds from here.
The School has also stated that it fulfilled its regular governance practices and will appoint an independent consultant to review current processes and practices to inform how change and communication are managed in the future.
We welcome that review. However, on the information provided today, it is a review intended to inform future processes. It does not reconsider the current uniform redesign or provide renewed community consultation about the changes presently proceeding.
The purpose of this petition therefore remains unchanged.
It is not a petition against inclusion, progress or student choice. Those objectives can and should be supported. It is a request for Council to set aside the broader redesign, reset the process and undertake genuine, transparent consultation before significant and enduring changes are made to St Aidan’s uniform identity.
Today’s decision demonstrates that listening to the community can produce a constructive outcome. We sincerely welcome the decision to retain the existing academic dress.
We now ask Council to extend that same approach to the remainder of the uniform redesign.
If you welcome today’s decision but believe the broader issues of consultation, transparency, process and community trust remain unresolved, please continue to support and share this petition.
This is an opportunity for parents, students, Old Girls, past families and members of the wider St Aidan’s community to respectfully and collectively ask for a process that brings the community together and ensures that any future uniform reflects both the students of today and the identity of the School we all value.
Parents and Old Girls of St Aidan's