PHEW! That was a whirlwind start to the school year. Five new academies - and thousands of children all over the city learning to knot a tie for the first time.

The return to traditional uniforms is the most obvious sign on the streets of Bristol that secondary schooling is changing.

Blazers, white shirts and proper black shoes are the order of the day at all seven academies, mimicking the uniform of the private schools and some of the faith-run secondaries.

Parents approve, people in the neighbourhood are impressed, and the children say they are "getting used to" the new clothing.  At the Merchants' Academy in Withywood girls in pleated grey skirts insist that they feel smart and businesslike. 

The theory is that if young people are dressed for a working environment they will find it easier to apply themselves to the task in hand.  Many staff are having to comply to a dress code  too - which must be a shock to the system for some.

A bizarre twist for me was to hear girls at Oasis Academy Bristol asking their principal if they might be allowed to wear skirts rather than trousers - a reversal of decades of campaigning by female students for the opposite concession.

I started grammar school wearing a gymslip with a shirt and tie and - most hated of all -  inaptly-named "natural tan" tights. Unusually, we didn't have a blazer but we did have a gabardine coat with a felt hat for winter and a straw boater for summer. I suppose I was lucky: a few years earlier and I'd have had to wear gloves and not eat in the street.

But at the start of the Seventies, subversion began to set in, fuelled - oddly enough - by  inflation. The official outfitters' was deemed too pricey, so we were permitted to buy skirts from High Street stores. Hemlines rose rapidly (or, at least, waistbands were rolled over a few times), Crombies replaced the macs and shoes, while still black, had platform soles.

This "customisation" of school uniform has continued ever since,  throughout trousers of varying widths and bellybearing levels becoming  de rigeur for schoolgirls and in spite of the increasing range of stretch cotton garments such as polo shirts and sweatshirts.

Most schools that have persisted with  ties have seen them worn in many of ways, very few of the double Windsor Knot variety. Only this week a secondary in Sutton Coldfield has replaced its traditional tie with a clip-on variety to  cut down on rebellious personalised styling.

But, I ask you, is geekish neckwear really the best way to improve discipline, behaviour and attendance?

Bristol's academies are insistent that the very uniformity of their garb will help them create a team spirit. They are at least starting on a level playing field: every pupil at both the Oasis academies has been given a pack containing a blazer with embroidered academy badge, trousers, shirt,  tie,  and PE kit.

It could take a while, though. Oasis founder Steve Chalke drew on his best evangelist preaching techniques at Hengrove last week, when he asked pupils: "These purple ties, they're the business aren't they? Are you proud of your new uniform?"  The answer was not in the affirmative.

In any case, bear in mind that some of the most sought-after schools in the area, including the John Cabot Academy in Kingswood and Bristol's flagship community  comprehensive at Redland Green have less formal clothing requirements.

I guess the key is in the enforcement of whatever the regulations are. Significantly, the one uniform protest that has come to my attention this term is at a school that has ditched  formal white shirts for polo shirts.

Brimsham Green School in Yate's new head teacher Alun Williams ruffled some feathers when he insisted on following the letter and not just the spirit of the dress code, reprimanding students over footwear, hair dye and jewellery.

He was unrepentant, insisting that the level of expectation must be set from the start. And that is the belief of the academies too, whether their students wear blazers or not. If achievement is to be raised - and that is after all  the object of the exercise - the highest of standards is needed throughout. And that includes  the uniform.