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A Christ's Hospital boy has provided this inside view of his school uniform

My family knew about the excellent education available at Christ's Hospital because my mother had grown up in Horsham. The school in situated on a spacious estate just outside that Sussex town and bluecoat boys (and in recent years, girls) are often seen in the environs in their distinctive uniforms.

I suppose that it is his uniform that most marks out a bluecoat boy from other schoolboys. It feels a bit odd at first, but after a while you become accustomed to it. After all, you will be wearing the Tudor dress for seven years so it's best to get used to it. New boys often find the fiddly neck bands troublesome and another oft heard complaint is about the itchiness of the long yellow stockings. This stricture used to apply to the roughly textured knee breeches as well, but they are nowadays tailored from a smoother fabric, I'm pleased to report. The majority of Christ's Hospital boys feel privileged to wear the uniform, although it must be admitted that a number find it a bit irksome - and to tell the truth, the tudor clothes are sometimes a little impractical in this day and age.

The buttons on the coats have a tale to tell. Most boys sport coats with seven silver buttons, each bearing a portrait of our founder, the boy king Edward VI. Older boys who are appointed monitors and the sixth form 'grecians' (academic high achievers) are entitled to wear coats with 14 buttons, together with a velvet trim on the collar and cuffs. The cuff buttons are also symbolic of status: if the outer button is unfastened on both cuffs then the boys is an academic; if one is unfastened he is both academic and monitor. If neither is unfastened the boy in question is only a monitor.

The leather belt worn with the long coat - correctly known as a 'girdle' - indicates a boy's position in the school. First years (confusingly known as second formers) wear a thin girdle buckled at the front, second years the same buckled at the rear. Third years and upwards wear a thicker girdle , known as a broadie.

A number of boys wear silver badges on their bluecoats. There are several different types, including badges commemorating benefactors to the school whose donations have financed that pupil's place. These original benefactions may date back many years.