Just read the bloody uniform policy!!!

I think the point is that the rules themselves are stupid. Sounds to me like having the rule there (which is stupid), is causing more trouble than if the rule wasn’t there. Just because it’s a school rule doesn’t make it right. And regardless of who chose the shoe or whatever, putting a kid in isolation because a shoe has a logo on it is inexcusable.

No one who has an office job is allowed flip flops. Safety rules still exist. But we are allowed to wear comfortable shoes.

You can’t say that! No one would stop us wearing flip flops. I Wouldn’t for safety reasons but one of my colleagues wears Birkenstocks which are basically posh flip flops

DDs school has a thing about nose piercings. I honestly don't understand why a very small, discreet stud is unacceptable on the nose, but earrings are okay. To me, it seems controlling for no good reason.
I'm largely a supporter of uniform - it's keeps things simple and saves arguments. But it's truly not adding anything to a child's education, to excessively control things like hair colour, shoes and jewellery which isn't a safety concern.

It would also be nice if uniform was designed with comfort and practicality in mind. Whoever thought that polyester blazers were a good clothing choice for sweaty teenagers?

Teachers - and their unions - should refuse to have anything to do with enforcing uniform. It's not teaching, or safeguarding, or anything that should be part of their job after all.
I'm ambivalent about uniforms and go back and forward on the issue, but the idea that not following a school policy has no effect on teaching is nonsense.

If we're being really honest, the sort of students (and parents) who see a very clear uniform rule like not having giant logos plastered over the front of your shoe, and then go and spend over £100 buying a pair of shoes that are impractical, not in line with the uniform policy of being closed over the top, AND has a giant designer logo over the front are the students and parents who think any rule doesn't apply to them.

In my experience if it isn't obviously doing the opposite of uniform rules, it's doing whatever they like whenever they like and the parents will STILL be ready to complain and in the press with their sad faces on. It's why there's always some sob story about how they care about their child's education, but the mean nasty school doesn't and they slung the innocent child in isolation for asking a question/(insert other selective retelling of events that minimises their child's refusal to follow basic rules).

This was a pre-school, FFS. It won't have hundreds of pupils, and they presumably have systems for organising things like coats, gloves, spare clothes etc. I would also hope that, if they allowed the children to play outside, they put hats on them given the amount of heat that gets lost through the head. If nursery teachers can't deal with discipline for under 5s, they have a real problem.

For older children, the argument that you should send your child to a different school simply doesn't work. In many areas it simply isn't possible and people don't have that choice.

That’s great. But a great many number of kids are not out of nappies by 3.

But why do children have to be prepared for those jobs by wearing uniform? How much practice do you need, FFS? As people keep pointing out, all over the world the majority of schools don't require uniforms. The countries concerned have very similar uniform rules for some adult occupations, and people seem to have no problem at all in dealing with those jobs, probably because there is actually a point to having uniform for those purposes.

It just isn't a valid argument for school uniforms.

But you really don’t have to be prepared for the real world by wearing a uniform. It is perfectly possible for people to wear a uniform/uniforms in the workplace, which will be supplied, despite never having worn a uniform at school.

I suppose I am in the fortunate position that I can rock up to work in flip flops but as I drive there it wouldn’t be sensible! I think most people in the workplace can dress appropriately without any particular rules being imposed.

At DT’s kindergarten children had a smock which they wore over their clothes so they could play with sand/water/paint etc and uniform stayed clean. They were all toilet trained by 3.

"they are allowed to keep their jumpers off till October"
Fucking hell
So young people in that school are not allowed to ascertain for themselves their own body temperature?

Literally nothing about those kind of rules is for the pupil's benefit

You still haven't explained why you think it's wrong for people to exercise their right to vote against this rule in a poll.

If schools didn't have all these petty little rules, it would actually make teachers' working days so much better. Do any of them actually like having to spend time making a fuss about uniform instead of teaching? All those schools without uniforms seem to manage fine in terms of enforcing sensible rules.

I think that is disgraceful. I feel so sorry for those Year 7s, their first experience of their new school is being made to sit for hours in hot classrooms in totally impractical blazers. If teachers can't establish authority without letting them take off their blazers, they should not be in the job. In fact, any teacher with an ounce of self-respect is surely telling them to take them off.

THIS.

Teachers - and their unions - should refuse to have anything to do with enforcing uniform. It's not teaching, or safeguarding, or anything that should be part of their job after all.

And parents should unite in the face of the ludicrousness of rules imposed by weak school leaders who have their priorities out of whack, and demand for simple, basic, affordable, comfortable and inclusive uniforms/dress codes.

No sorry, it’s ridiculous. Apart from some professions where certain clothes need to be worn for safety (eg firefighter), even adults with uniforms are allowed to take their jacket off if they want to!!!

Seriously how are people defending teachers forcing pupils to wear blazers in these temperatures?

The thing is there is no real excuse for wearing boots when the policy clearly says shoes, the parent knows full well it wouldn't be allowed so the excuses are pathetic. Obv if half way through the year and shoes break the day before and they need them in an emergency fine.

I think the issue most people have is that there is no reason not to wear ankle boots if they are smart so it could be on the policy however there are loads of shoes available so it's a non issue really.

I doubt any child walked so far over such tough ground that they needed boots !

The excuses are hilarious

It was 28° yesterday, I wouldn't even wear a coat on my way to work let alone in it so yes it's absolutely unreasonable. If they insist on them wearing them walking in and out of school then fine but in classrooms in this heat, my DC had to wear blazers and ties to go into the school (obv they didnt on their 50 mun walk in as was too hot) then were told they can remove them, you know in order to learn in a comfortable environment🙄 they still had smart trousers, white shirt and shoes on so hardly an issue its it.

Your post is actually ridiculous. Loosening the rules? It's nearly 30° and you don't think it's a bit warm for blazers as it would be loosening the rules. Your poor kids.

Yes to all of this.

I don't mind a uniform generally, ambivalent really. Just as well, since there's no local school that doesn't have one. But the imbecile policies of some schools, academy trusts and heads erode support.

But the teacher outside in the hat presumably was stood out there all morning as pupils arrived. The pupils will be in the warm very soon if they're pretty much at school.

OTOH, the pupils could have walked a considerable distance to the school and the teacher could have driven before being consigned to hat duty, so the time spent outside could have been pretty similar.

A link might be useful OP.

@NotAMug

I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the expectation to be that blazers are worn at all times during the day. Obviously exceptions should be made if a particular classroom is absolutely boiling.

At the DC’s school, some teachers are allowing removal of blazers at their discretion. Others are expecting normal uniform- for example, year 7 haven’t been allowed to take their blazers off as teachers need to establish authority with their new classes before loosening rules.

I have no issue with it- they are allowed to leave their jumpers off until after October half term.

Yabu on the grounds that the school you send your children to isn't a free choice. There are very few schools without uniform policies and some of those policies are absolutely ridiculous.
Children are in school to learn - they don't need every aspect of their physical appearance to be controlled, in order to do so effectively.
Now I get that shoes should be practical but if schools generally weren't so difficult about tiny, inconsequential things, maybe parents would respect the rules that actually matter.

There's 101 reasons why this isn't always a good idea. Not least that it's making a teacher's working day a bloody nightmare. Teachers don't set the rules, they're just the poor sods that have to live with the consequences of parents kids believing those policies don't apply to them. Of course everyone should have the right to challenge situations, but there's ways and means of going about it that don't result in making someone else's life difficult.

Fwiw, the young girl in question and her family KNEW the school's policy on piercings, and the timing of her having the piercing was to purposely to coincide with the start of the new school term. The parent said that she was fully supporting her DDs right to individuality and how she chooses to endorse that. My point is, children DO have to know that they can't just turn up to school and do what the hell they want. I can't imagine the chaos if every school child adopted the same attitude with every element of school life.