GCSE leavers' shirts become a creative trend for Year 11 students

GCSE exam season has become a design season for many Year 11 pupils, who are spending hours on personalised leavers’ shirts instead of relying on the old shirt-signing ritual. The trend has spread through TikTok and Pinterest, while Etsy lists thousands of personalised leavers’ shirt items for sale, turning a one-day school custom into a small but busy market.

The shirts are increasingly elaborate. Some are trimmed with feathers, bows and glitter, while others use gems, spray paint and embroidery to turn a plain top into a memory piece. For families, the price can be part of the appeal and part of the pressure. Shirts by Niamh, which has more than 100,000 followers on TikTok, charges up to £35 for some designs, showing how a farewell tradition has become a paid custom industry.

Joy Nzau, a 20-year-old from east London, began making leavers’ shirts three years ago for her sister’s leaving day and now takes commissions in her spare time. She said she spends three to four hours on each shirt. “I felt on my own after leaving school, the shirt is a physical memory, a reminder of fun with all your feelings and nostalgia,” she said. Nzau said she was surprised by how far the trend had gone, because it is “literally just a shirt,” but said she liked the way it opened space for creativity and identity. “I'm seeing more people open to expression during secondary school with anime designs and Spotify artist shirts, it's a good way to end your journey and treasure youth,” she said.

Nzau also said some pupils worry the designs will be judged by others on TikTok, but she hopes the shirts will “subconsciously inspire people to be themselves.” “Everyone wants to be the same in secondary school and this is different. People are more okay with being who they are at the end of term,” she said.

Kavanna, from Wigan, said she started her shirt business at the beginning of 2025 and has already made more than 350 shirts. “I absolutely love it. I love creating new designs and the best part is seeing the photos on the last day and being a part of it,” she said. The business side of the trend reflects a wider shift in teen rites of passage, as students look for something more permanent than signatures on a sleeve before they leave school.

That permanence has also brought conflict. In 2023, more than 50 Year 11 pupils at Wymondham High Academy in Norfolk were sent home after shirt signing before study leave, with staff saying the writing was disruptive to lessons. Headteacher Chris Smith said a “small number of year 11 students” had been “engaging in shirt signing and disruptive behaviour,” while parents called the decision “pathetic.”

The episode underlined the tension between student expression and school control. GOV.UK guidance says governing boards decide appearance rules and should involve parents and pupils in uniform changes, while also weighing equality, safeguarding and cost. The government also intends to introduce a legal limit on compulsory branded items from September 2026, with current guidance saying schools should not require more than three branded items, or four in secondary and middle schools if one is a tie. In a system that regulates uniforms tightly, a leavers’ shirt has become one of the few things Year 11 pupils can still shape for themselves.