To think that if the school uniform states black shoes the kids should be wearing black shoes?

Its the inconsistency and mixed messaging that would annoy me. You follow the written rules in good faith, little knowing that there's actually another set of informal rules, that the footwear thing isn't actually a rule. And a lot of DC mums know this and their DC are following the 'real' rules of wearing their cool trainers. So your DC feel uncool in their sensible black goody two shoes. So you decide to send them in trainers. And...surprise! The one teacher who thinks the rule applies gives them detention and you get a letter home.

I had never thought of that, Ursula. I had a uniform, my son always had a uniform and that idea had never crossed my mind. However thinking of the odd thing that others have said occasionally, there might well be something in it. In which case it's awful!

I think it's to do with the class system. There's still a pervasive assumption that posh people are somehow better than others, and therefore that acting like them means we will become better ourselves. Obviously we can't all send our kids to Eton but if we dress them in formal clothes for school that means they look like posh people and will be better behaved and more clever.

Most countries ahead of is educationally and in terms of teenage wellbeing do not have a uniform. We are weirdly put of step with the rest of the world on this.

It's true that they do- but lets also remember that 83% of secondary schools in the UK wear a blazer. This doesn't mean that 83% of schools are aspirational or even any good. I've taught in a private grammar and I believe that those students would perform the same way in 'tracksuit and polos'. We had great funding, lots of parental support and the students actually believed in the importance of education.
Yes the top schools wear a fancy uniform, but correlation isn't causation!

Of course they should comply with uniform.

It's annoying esp if you've bought the required shoes BUT pick your battles. Is this really something to get het up about? Let the school enforce their own rules and don't bring unnecessary stress over things that ultimately don't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I sometimes have issues with school and will say my piece. I buy the black shoes and ds often wears black trainers. That's up to him. Their school gives lunchtime detentions if they get seen. .
He once asked me to say his injured foot (true) meant it was better to wear trainers (not true). Told him I wouldn't lie for him.
I leave it till him now. his choice his consequence

Another ridiculous reply.
What would you do if you lived somewhere that only has a few secondary schools, and none have a uniform? We're not all feral you know.

Yes, you’ve figured it out. All the parents whose children attend schools without uniforms lack aspiration.

Which is to say, they don’t aspire to the level of arrogant idiocy you have somehow achieved.

Yep. It's adherence to tradition. It's all about style over substance and selling the brand.

Let's remember that lots of things used to be traditional: slavery, women not having the vote, no ordinatino of women in the C of E.

Tradition is not always good and should always be held up to scrutiny.

Sorry, I wouldn’t send my DC to a secondary that had a tracksuit and polo uniform, and I suspect most parents with any sense or aspiration would be similar.

There’s a reason the vast majority of the best schools in this country have all DC in blazer and tie style uniforms.

Our school gives uniform awards every so often, for ex if lots of children forget their PE kits regularly, the ones who have it don’t will get an award. Same with not wearing their blazers. So not consequences but a way for pupils to want to wear the right things.
Could you suggest that to your school?

I think school uniform rules will have to change and adapt, as working clothing has also changed and adapted. The days of stuffy shirts and scratchy blazers was thought to prepare people for a working world where that was what all office workers wore. Nowadays, with flexible working etc., you are much more likely to find people wearing less formal clothing. And before any MNs come at me with "well at my job everyone wears a full ball gown or tuxedo everyday", I'm not saying suits have disappeared completely, but at a recent big partnership event with LEA + private shareholding staff, there was a lack of ties etc.
Maybe it's time to rethink secondary uniform, make it a little more practical, comfier and warmer.

Not necessarily a good reason.

There’s a reason the head boys/girls of the best schools in the U.K. will not be allowed to wear trainers.

Don't be ridiculous.

Exactly. In fact, I think it’s high time we required everyone to wear a uniform when they go out. Studies show that it will do wonders for public order.

Also, am I the only one who’s tired of seeing people who think they can just take their jackets off on a whim? How will they function in the real world, where everyone wears jackets?

Head boys/girls/simikarcrokes are meant to be setting a good example for the rest of the school. A school where even they can’t be bothered to wear correct uniform and the school allows this is going to be lazy and low-aspiration in other areas.

@Ithinkyou have you worked in any non-uniform schools to compare though? If your only comparison point is the mayhem of a non-uniform day then you can’t really stare that uniform has any benefits, either in terms of equality or discipline.

Many of us have been brought up in systems without uniform and find the uniform obsession in U.K. schools utterly baffling - it just seems a huge amount of stress for teachers who have to enforce it, students who push against it, and parents caught in the middle of it. Add to that the fact that many uniforms are impractical, poorly made and expensive for what they are.

The fact that schools impose draconian punishments like isolation for forgetting a tie, a non-functional clothing item that very few wear in the real world, makes it even worse.

You’re going to have a real problem if you ever relocate somewhere with no uniform with that kind of rigid thinking.

But those are OTHER countries (of which I have no experience beyond 2 weeks holiday)! Our children are DIFFERENT (in ways I can’t specify)!

And LOOK at this article from 5 years ago where a FN-controller school district in France briefly considered introducing school uniforms! That PROOVES that they’re better!

We're in an area of the UK with no uniform either. We manage also to produce mostly functioning adults.

Eh?
It's not the armed forces.

I agree with you in principle, my child always had school shoes, so did I and it makes sense because there's no competition. Those schools enforced that so everyone complied.

However if your child's school is casual about that and you see most of the other kids wearing whatever they want on their feet, you are fighting a losing battle. Let your child choose what they wear and wait and see what happens.