How to dress as your true punk self whilst still (almost) conforming to school uniform regulations, was always a challenge, and if you were in it for the long haul then it was far easier to choose the stealth route. If the school uniform had to be worn, and it did, then small additions could be gradually added to sate your own newly discovered Punk appetite for self expression. Band badges could be worn on the lapel of your blazer, in exactly the same spot that the other more studious girls would brandish their Prefect badges or Sports Captain colours. It was also possible to wear a band t-shirt underneath your school uniform, it couldn’t be seen from the outside, but you knew what you were really wearing. Satchels could be swapped for canvas bags from the surplus store, and customised with marker pen, tippex and/or patches. You could put safety pins and more badges on your pencil case, and gradually you could start inking band names onto your tennis shoes, or you could sellotape photos or cuttings from the music papers and write song titles and lines of especially pertinent lyrics on the covers of your school text books. Most important was the attitude. Without dropping any actual marks, just by being a bit sullen and bored looking could help increase your internal Punk Points. Actually failing your O Levels or being expelled was going too far, and getting voted in as Head Girl was not going far enough, these were the bookends of the operation. Hanging out in the art room, even if you didn’t take art was also an option.