School Boards to make rules :
The law says that at state, Kura Kaupapa Maori and integrated schools, school Boards must pass the uniform rules. School principals or deans can’t make up these rules on their own. It has been agreed in court that school rules are “bylaws”. (bylaws are like the rules city councils make - about skateboarding, for example) Only the Board of Trustees has the authority to make bylaws. So any rules about students’ appearance must be written down and passed by the Board. If your school Board has a student representative, this will help students to have a say in school uniform rules. School staff have the day-to-day job of making sure students obey uniform rules.
In private schools
The governing group of the school makes uniform and appearance rules. The principal may be allowed to make some changes without talking to the governors first, depending on how much power the governors give the principal.

Certainty
The rules must be clear and well known in the school so that you know what appearance is okay and what is not. This applies to all schools, including private schools. If you are unsure, ask for a copy of the rules about students’ uniform and appearance. Some schools will punish students who wear the incorrect uniform quite severely. You may want to find out what sort of punishments apply at your school.

Health and safety
The law says all schools must make sure students are safe at school. Of course this includes physical safety. Therefore the School Board will make rules to protect your health and safety at school. For example, there may be a rule that long hair must be tied up before you can use woodworking machinery, or jewellery removed before playing contact sports. There are often rules about jewellery and piercings. If the School Board says the rule is for safety reasons, you can ask them to explain further. For example a tongue stud may be safer and healthier at school than earrings, but a tongue stud is likely to be less acceptable to adults at school in our experience.

The School Charter
Every state and integrated school has a charter that sets out the aims of the school and which the school has to follow. The school uniform rules must take account of the school’s charter. Most school charters don’t say anything about uniforms, but they often contain general statements about 'recognising the student's individuality and individual rights' or 'offering an education that respects the dignity, rights and individuality of the student'. School trustees and school principals can be reminded of these charter statements when considering a school uniform policy.

School charters can be used to support arguments for school uniform policies that reflect what students want and take into account different cultures, genders and ethnic groups as well as the needs of any child with a disability.
Private schools don’t have charters, but they will have a written statement of aims that you can look at. School charters say that schools must try to give everyone an equal opportunity to learn. If your school Board chose a uniform that was too expensive for some families, and did not offer any alternatives, this could breach the school’s charter, as some students may be unable to attend the school because of this.

It is very important that you are not prevented from going to the school you or your family chose because you can’t afford the uniform. Ask the school principal or deputy principal for help. If you can’t sort something out, call one of the phone numbers listed at the end of this information sheet for more help.

School charters say that schools must take account of the unique position of Maori culture in New Zealand society, so uniform rules must not breach the Treaty of Waitangi and must incorporate Maori cultural needs. For more information, see “I am Maori. Can I wear a bone or pounamu taonga at school?”

The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
School uniform or appearance rules at Kura Kaupapa Maori, state and integrated schools must take account of a law called the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (the Bill of Rights). It is not clear whether private schools must take account of the Bill of Rights because this hasn’t been decided by the New Zealand courts yet.

The Bill of Rights allows you to express yourself freely, including how you dress or wear your hair. However, your right to express yourself can be limited by school uniform rules, so long as the limits are “reasonable” and “justified”. There haven’t been any court cases in New Zealand about students’ rights to express themselves and school rules, so we can’t say for sure what a judge would decide was “reasonable” and “justified”. If the school rules limited your right to express your religion or culture, we think the judge would be likely to decide these rules were wrong. However, it’s likely a judge would decide it was okay for a School Board to make quite a few rules that limited your freedom of expression if you didn’t have a special reason for dressing differently (such as because of your culture, religion or disability).

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) is an international law that the New Zealand government supports. The Convention also allows young people the right to freedom of expression, in a similar way to the Bill of Rights. It is not clear whether private schools must take account of the UNCROC.

The Human Rights Act 1993
The Human Rights Act is a law to help make people in New Zealand equal.

All school Boards (including private schools’ Boards) have to take account of the Human Rights Act when they make rules about students’ uniform and appearance. They need to remember that some religions require you to wear certain clothes and that girls must not be made to wear more restrictive clothes than boys. There are examples of cases about these issues below.
There are other types of “discrimination” as well. If you want more information, you can call the Human Rights Commission

Case law
Case law is the law which is made when judges hear cases and make decisions in disputes between people. Case law helps to decide what written laws mean. For example, in a school uniform dispute, a judge would decide what limits your school could put on your right to express yourself freely.

In New Zealand there has only been one case about uniform rules which has gone to court to be decided by a judge. This case is called Edwards v Onehunga High School. It was about a dispute between a student whose family name was Edwards and the Board of Trustees of a state secondary school in Auckland called Onehunga High School.

Edwards wanted to keep his hair long, but the school rules said students had to have short hair. This was in 1973, when some people thought long hair was a sign of rebellion. When Edwards refused to obey the rule about hair, the principal suspended him. The case was heard in the Court of Appeal (the highest court in New Zealand). Edwards and his family lost the argument. The Court decided that it was reasonable for the Board of Onehunga High School to put a control like this on students’ appearance.

If a case went to court today, the judge would have a look at Edwards case, to help him or her reach a decision. The case is not quite so important now because there have been laws passed since the Edwards case in relation to uniform and appearance. For example, today’s education law says that Boards must take into account the Bill of Rights and the Human Rights Act, when they make uniform and appearance rules. These laws were passed in the 1990’s so they didn’t exist when Edwards case went to court in 1974. Society’s standards are also different today. However, judges today still say it’s not their job to decide the school’s rules, unless the issue is very important. We believe most judges today wouldn’t think school uniform rules were as important as many young people do.
There are many school uniform cases decided by judges in the United States. A New Zealand judge would have a look at these to help make a decision about a uniform dispute, but he or she wouldn’t have to agree with the cases, as they’ve been decided by judges in a country with different laws.