Agree with you about Steiner.

I did mean that he would be wearing his own clothes. As I understand it, the only specified items of school uniform are school sweatshirt or cardigan plus polo shirt. I think the school is satisfied with the children's own trousers as long as they are not jeans.

Well, the sweatshirt they flog you is not what I would consider comfortable and he doesn't own any polo shirts. So it'll be his usual cords plus probably a plain long sleeve top plus cardi. Nothing outrageous there.

I wish we lived in France where there's no such thing as uniform! The french kids I know seem to have no issue with the fact that everyone wears their normal clothes to school. The state considers it its duty to educate the children in as secular and plural an environment as possible. It would be seen as quite absurd if the state started to dictate the clothing of each child. after all children are there for their education and its not a fashion show. How they look should be absolutely irrelevant in every way.

And before you say - why don't you live in France then? - if only!!

exoticfruits - I was totally meaning my "that is cruel" and it is even crueller in secondary school (urgh). My son picked one of my mum's super soft black pullovers for his high school induction, but it was his pick and he felt totally comfortable. I would have bought him whatever he wanted. Problem is that now he wants "little Scandinavian designer cashmere" pullovers only

duck94 - I grew up in Germany - no school uniforms, but plenty of expensive unwritten rules about what (brands) to wear (in my post State school). My classmates wore Lacoste and Burberry everything, down to the socks, every day. Not nice and very visible if you did not have the money and contrary to my kids' State school here, there was a lot of bullying based on "choice" of clothes. I think your ideas about France/non uniform schools might be a bit romantic.

Of course he'll notice that the other 29 children in the room are dressed identically and he looks totally different!

Except he wont notice. Because there is a choice of cardigan, jumper or polo shirt, all in 2 different colours. The girls have the choice of dresses and pinafores as well as those. So there will be a bit of variety on the same theme in each class. And also because 5 year olds don't pay any attention to clothing.

Catherina - It's true that my experience of French children is limited to my nieces and nephews and the children I know through them, but they don't see any problems or issues at all at primary level.

By the time kids get to high school, they should be well aware of the fact that there are going to be various inequalities between them and their classmates, and I don't think we should shield them from that. Or should we should force all children to wear the same clothing at the weekends too, just so they don't ever have to face the fact that everyone is not the same?

Are the cardigans for boys too? In my school, they are for girls only. They button up on the girls side. I inadvertantly bought my son a girls blazer but luckily noticed and swapped it!!

A cardi is a cardi, isn't it, and can be worn by anyone? I had no idea there was even such a thing as a female side for the buttons!

Which school is it?

lol - yeah there is and boys trousers zip up on the the other side too. Just saying that you might find that all the boys wear jumpers/sweatshirts and the girls also have the choice of cardigan so a boy wearing a cardigan MAY get a hard time even if it isn't a school uniform (girls) cardigan. What colour is the uniform? Is it a normal one or something awkward? My boys cshool was sky blue polo shirts and maroon sweatshirts which is harder to replicate. If it's something like white and navy then you will get a far greater variety of what the kids wear.

Yep my MIL insisted I get ds a new blazer when he started P1 as he couldn't wear a girls one! He never once buttoned it up in the year he wore it.

...plus boys blazers have different flaps!

I remember my mum knitting matinee jackets and cardigans for babies but wouldn't knit (or sew on) the button bands until she knew if it was a boy or a girl.

my kids wear a jumper in the right colour from sainsburys and a plain white polo shirt and cotton trousers from m&s in grey. i am not paying over the odds for a logo item esp when the school has changed its uniform colour TWICE in the last 4 yrs!

if the top he wears is the right colour/style is would be ok i would think, however going in a super mario t-shirt or batman or wahtever wouldnt be.

but a plain coloured top, even long sleeve as long as its cotton and the right colour and then the right colour cardigan or jumper would be fine? depends how relaxed the schools uniform policy tbh.

what are the school colours?

But a pack of 3 cotton polo shirts are so cheap. Why not just "bow down" buy a couple of packs and be done with it! Really there are more important things going on in the world that you could take a stand on....

"it's not a fashion show"

Isn't that the very reason for having a uniform?!

I too might have thought 5 year old boys weren't interested in clothing - until my son saw the uniform 'shop' on our visit. He was proud as punch trying on his polo shirt etc.
The school can't legally insist your ds wears uniform, but personally I would save such battles for secondary school.
I do find it ironic to support the no-uniform policies of France, kids in our schools may be in uniform but at least they can wear their turbans and headscarves in peace!

As others have said I'd really try to make sure your son's clothes are sufficiently similar so that he doesn't get bullied or that teachers single him out. While it may be nice in theory to say that all schools should have anti bullying policies in place and that bullying shouldn't happen it is a fact that it does happen in many schools. Like Exotic, I was bullied for having hand knitted cardis rather than cheap nylon ones. Also, although you think your son will not care about what he wears other people will. My DS attends an Edinburgh state primary school and the head teacher decided on a whim to change the uniform policy which included a change from grey to black trousers. She singled my 5 year old son out for wearing the wrong colour of trousers and told him to ask me to buy him black trousers. He was so upset he was in tears for days. (Incidentally, the change in uniform was dropped since the head had tried to introduce it mid term). My DS doesn't like the school jumpers with the logos on either as he finds them scratchy. We just buy plain coloured cotton ones instead in the same colour. He's comfy and no one picks him out. Individuality can be reserved for hair cuts, school bags, tatoos that wash off, pencil cases etc and doesn't need to be stamped out completely.

The children will whisper and point, the parents will gossip and the teachers will scowl, even if they don't say anything.

Many of our reception wear supermarket uniform without the logo as the official jumpers and cardigans don't fit very small children neatly.
No one ever comes in the wrong colour, that is just not done.

I hate the principle of uniform, I hate the idea that parents associate smart clones with a good school, but they do.

DDs secondary school wastes vast amounts of time and energy on, ties shoes, skirt length and trouser tightness.

I suspect most of it is simply to try and convince a better class of parent to consider the school.

Cloutie - what a shame for your son. For a presumably perfectly happy, comfortable and thriving 5 year old to be singled out for the mere colour of his trousers, which being 5, he did not even choose. His teacher sounds like a c*nt.

Sadly, it seems like a lot of the people bullying children and making them feel upset and self-conscious about the clothes that they wear, are the teachers.

Duck it's not bullying by teachers it's ensuring your child learns to follow rules which is a very important thing for him to learn. What would your view be if he was older and had just started a job which required him to wear uniform?

Well... a teacher making a criticism of the colour of the 5 year olds trousers, to the 5 year old, and not his parents, who are the ones who actually chose his clothes that day, seems to me extremely unfair. The little boy in question was clearly made to feel upset and humiliated by his teacher's comments. For several days, apparently. And for what? The COLOUR of the material of his trousers. For god's sake, it's pathetic. I would expect teachers to have much more important concerns.

It seems that there is quite an arbitrary dress code in place across most Edinburgh schools, imposed for what seems spurious reasons. There seems to be little or no scope to disagree with this and not wear the uniform, whatever that happens to be. Most of us have to put our children to our catchment school and don't have the ability to go to the school (are there any?) which doesn't impose strict clothing rules. (Unless we move to any other country in Europe of course, most of which achieve much better results than the UK with no school uniform at all, just the usual sensible rules such as no rude slogans on t-shirts, hooped earrings etc.).

Therefore, unlike the future adult son of mine who may CHOOSE if he wishes to join the police or the army etc - us parents are given no choice over what our children wear for most of the year at age 5.

Not all rules are sensible ones. Have you never broken a rule because you thought it was stupid?

Well by that reasoning your son won't be breaking the rules; you'll be breaking them on his behalf and he'll be the one to take the fall out. Why would you do that?

Not all rules are sensible ones. Have you never broken a rule because you thought it was stupid?

i might on my own behalf, but i wouldn't make my child do it without given them the choice and explaining the consequences.

believe me, you have many years of biting your tongue when your child comes home spouting some crap that their teacher has told them - you can disagree with the adults involved, but it isn't fair to your child to undermine their teacher or school in front of them. You can enlighten them when they are old enough to understand

Not that I can recall. If you don't like the quality of the school uniform, source better quality uniform. Or approach the school and offer to do this for them so that all the children can benefit from your efforts. This is a more productive way to channel your energy IMO. I'm sure that nothing we have said on this thread is going to change your mind but I'm afraid that it will be assumed that either you can't afford the uniform, in which case be prepared for offers of help from school or other parents, or else people will think that you are difficult and that you think you are special.