Schools insistence on uniform rules are behind the times

I've no idea why you had to have bad teeth when dental care for children was free on the NHS? My parents were anal about three things - our feet (properly fitted quality shoes), our eyesight (three out of four of us were/are shortsighted, and teeth. All of those things have to last you a lifetime. And I am sure there were times when my parents struggled to afford the paid-for parts too, but they absolutely prioritised them, and I did the same with my children.

Yeah our school sixth form insists on a suit for boys which I find a bit OTT given few men wear suits to work these days. I work for the civil service and it’s become very casual, which I think is fine if in a non public facing role. As long as it’s appropriate which it always is, though I do find shorts a bit much for the office but that’s just me

DD is in primary 3 (scotland) and she started p1 at 4 and they wanted them in shirt and ties from then. P.E days she can wear leggings and a polo shirt but from p4 they want them in shirt and tie 5 days a week and taking their kit with them.

I wear the same uniform as most of my class. The whole school wears it, from the head to the youngest child. Some children don’t wear it due to sensory or other need. We all wear a polo top, trackies/ shorts/ leggings and comfortable shoes (mainly sketchers or trainers). All wear navy jumpers/ cardies and staff wear fleeces. It tells the kids that we are “safe” adults, we are part of their school and we will help them. We are a school for children with significant learning disabilities: comfort, the ability to move and practicality are the key features of our uniform.

In your anecdotal experience.

Trust me, there is nothing cheaper than a decent school uniform! Biggish initial outlay but the cost per wear must have been peanuts!

My school uniform was expensive, uncomfortable, and didn't work on many body shapes. The skirt (trousers weren't allowed for girls) was also fairly light coloured, and I had horrendously heavy periods as a teenager. It was awful. Plus all the weird rules about hair.

A local private primary school still had straw boaters as part of the summer uniform and flat caps for the boys and rounded hats for girls well into the noughts!

Fair enough, have a dress code (which caters to sensory, cultural, medical and body shape needs) but don't have ridiculously prescriptive uniforms! Even the "smart" uniforms look scruffy when they don't fit properly!

I agree with OP. My daughter’s secondary made a big speech during the assembly about the importance of uniform in preparing young people for the world of work.
My immediate thought was no one dresses so formally anymore, why are we asking 12 year olds to dress smarter than adults do.
But the UK school system is outdated in general with some bankers rules re. attendance, fines for absence, uniforms, toilet use etc.

I never has a school uniform in my infants and primary school in my days but I guess no one did
Uniforms for our secondary school were expensive as schools were tied into a shop or two

Now days much better and from what I can see, all schools for all ages have school uniforms and its a good thing

Where our grand kids attend a primary school, they have uniforms and I hate the so-called free days etc where children pay school one pound each to wear non uniform

we are lucky as we were financially comfortable but I wonder what goes through some parents minds when these days crop up

The kids love it as they would ie the no uniform days

Unfirms for all age groups is the way forward

private school a few miles from us for 11/12 to 17 age group wear smart suits - its a boys school

There is zero evidence for this, either in UK schools without uniform or other countries.

Trump was president and BoJo PM. The popular view is not always the correct one.

School uniforms at best enforce gender stereotypes (my daughter stopped wanting to wear trousers when she started school because she realised that 'girls didn't wear trousers') and at worst sexualise underage girls (we've all seen 'sexy schoolgirl' outfits). They are predominantly plastic so bad for the environment. It costs more money to send a child to school with a uniform than one without because you don't need to buy an additional set of clothes just for school. If a child gets their school shoes wet there isn't time to dry them for the next day, if there's no uniform then far more children would have the option of wearing another pair of shoes or trainers the next day. Or indeed wearing appropriate shoes on a wet or snowy day that won't get wet.

There is no evidence that uniform provides any benefits to either children or parents. And in schools with no uniform (I went to two) there is no competition about what to wear, that is purely an outcome of children having to wear uniform and having a single mufti day a year to express themselves. Just look at 6th form colleges and universities, teenagers dress very scruffily when given free choice, they don't go crazy for designer logos. I wore trainers, jeans and a sweatshirt throughout my entire school career, nobody was bullied for having the wrong clothes.

You can, and should, have both.

That's the basic uniform in most high schools in my area.

A blazer is preferred for seniors, but not mandatory.

No way, trainers are not supportive for growing feet!

It doesn't have to come from a specific shop, however.

At my last permanent school, parents were advised to buy our basic black and white uniform from whichever store was most convenient to them.

Most of our parents bought their kids' school clothes from Asda's.

The school measured seniors for their blazers and bought them in bulk at a discounted price. If it was known that parents had difficulty, the school fund paid for the blazers.

It's really not. Children can keep those things private. They can't keep it private when they are head to toe in Primark and their mates are in designer!

Why would any child share the size of their bedroom? Seriously?!

I don't know about teens in the EU. I think uniform works for teens in the UK.

I completely agree. It would have been a total nightmare trying to keep up in the fashion stakes. With uniform, we didn't ever have to think about it. It was absolutely a great leveller and avoided poor kids being teased/bullied over having non-designer stuff. Plus it last for ages. I had two DDs (admittedly short-asses like their ma!) go 7 years at secondary with one blazer each.

It gives them a sense of identity with their school, and it is good for discipline. Definitely in the school uniform camp here!

The argument that uniform being a leveller is bullshit- especially in secondary where everyone can see details like pics of your holidays, the size of your bedroom or what you wear out of school. Do kids in the UK become more obsessed with brands because of school uniform ?

I would like to see secondaries move towards having the same uniforms as primary - polo, trousers or skirt and sweatshirt is much more comfortable and probably miles easier to enforce than tie, blazer and shirt type uniforms.

You don’t hear about teens in the EU being wild because of a lack of uniform. 🤔

Straw man anyone? Those things are caused by this countries inability to rid it self of it class structure, ignorance, apathy and xenophobia. Nothing to do with textiles used in a specific context.

So much magical thinking about uniforms in this country. Socioeconomic disparities, disruptive behaviour, poor attendance, bullying - all of these things can be solved by a blazer. Amazing really. Don't know why they bother loading up those aid trucks to Gaza with food and medicine. Just give them all a bunch of blazers - that'll sort everything out.

The school I went to didn't have a uniform, most kids just wore Jeans, T shirt or sweatshirt & trainers, no competition in what they wore, the nearest to competition was how many holes they had showing in their Dr Martens boots.

Maybe we are lucky but I think our primary uniforms are pretty great- they have branded jumpers and polos but if you buy the unbranded supermarket versions they are fine with this. Any black school shoes are fine as long as they aren't trainers. White t shirt and black shorts for PE, any kind. Any grey trousers are fine. We live in a semi-poor area and I think its great they seem to be aware of families that don't have a lot to spend on it. When my sons school shoes unexpected ripped open at the front they were fine with him wearing trainers for a couple of days until his new ones arrived in the post. I think its useful not having to plan outfits and I like the distinction between school clothes and home clothes.

I binge watched the channel 4 'Educating xxxxx' series a while back and I was genuinely taken aback by the amount of time and energy spent inspecting thinks like tiny logos on shoes. It just seemed like such a waste of time and must have been such a pain in arse for teachers (the inspections didn't seem to serve as a deterrent). I know it's TV, and the programmes are quite a few years old now, but it seemed crazy to me.

I hated the uniforms. It was awful each night making sure everything was washed, dried and ironed and ready for the morning

It’s ok saying dc should do it but the stress it caused the following day when they realised they had got the wrong thing and the right thing needed sponging down/ironed or just finding was too much for one person to take on.

I remember dd showing me at 7pm how her skirt hem had come unstitched

Rather than being able to say just where your jeans or one of the other skirts she had I had to stay up half the night sewing the hem

Visited a senior school and the HT said the pupils in 6th form could wear their own clothes.
Then listed all the things you couldn’t wear
as it was to make sure everyone was “Office Ready”
Didn’t really cover those who wanted to do other things

Also ds’s senior school uniform cost over £600 and the £60 Rugby shirt (which he wore twice) changed design the following year and there was no 2nd hand shop to buy or swap uniform.

Lots of us had free school meals and I believe that it was a leveller.