To think that switching to polo shirts makes the school uniform look low-rent?

DT’s have cousins in the US, Belgium and France - none have ever worn a school uniform but all have grown up to be high achieving students, went to high ranking Universities and got excellent graduate jobs. How was it possible without an outdated school uniform?

Every time these threads come up I ask why it is that hordes of young people across Western Europe manage to move into the world of work and dress appropriately without 12 years of training by wearing uniform. I haven't had an answer yet. 16 years and counting.

FFS they are not dressing them in T-shirts with offensive slogans on them, it’s a polo shirt. If it is a comfort and quality issue, then raise it with the school. But I think you’re pissed off that your kids are not at the posh school and think that if they are seen out and about wearing something as “low rent” as a polo shirt, people might not think that you are properly posh and treat you with the deference you think you deserve. Normal kids don’t care what they wear, you are teaching them to be insufferable little snobs and that will not serve them well in life.

DT’s went to a non uniform school from ages 4-18. Normal outfits were jeans and hoodies or shorts and T-shirt. Amazing they have successfully transitioned to the world of work (one at the EU in Brussels and one at a global environmental engineering company in Amsterdam). The lack of a formal (ridiculous) school uniform had no negative impact on their schooling.

You don't need uncomforable school uniforms to teach children that, as you say it is parenting stuff.

What do you think is inappropriate about small children wearing polo shirts?

They are so much more comfortable for young children. My DC have to wear shirts and ties (yes from reception!) and they just look so uncomfortable, especially with the top button done. 5 yo DS with SEN also can’t fasten his buttons independently. Polo’s are better in summer too.

Oh, I'm in favour of clothes that are for school to be changed out of the minute they come in but it's what they end up having to wear. Ties for girls? Never happens anywhere outside a school. 'Smart' blazers? Fantastically expensive, no practical necessity & girls' blazers are frequently significantly longer than their skirts - this is not a 'smart' look anywhere.
I am still traumatised by the (compulsory) rugby shirt I had to buy my son at eye watering cost which he never wore because he never ever played rugby.
Polo shirt, fleece, trousers/shorts - job done.Smart bedamned. There are people who will look smart in a bin bag & there are those who will never look smart whatever. Mercifully, I don't have to have the endless worry of finding the money for nonsense articles of clothing.

It’s admirable that you claim to care so much for the kids who don’t have parental support to encourage reading but calling a new uniform “low rent” is a horrendous example to set your kids if you want to bring them up to be inclusive, not materialistic or judgemental and kind to everyone, regardless of how much they have. Having language like that used around them is likely to turn them into insufferable little snobs as if you use it, they’ll think it’s acceptable.

God, I hate school uniforms.

Woah thats why we will always have a social divide, silly attitude 'low rent' jeez take a look at yourself

Maybe you need to move your little darlings to a more affluent school then.

I imagine this is cheaper so those families struggling a bit don’t have to spend so much. Kids in primary school will constantly grow out of clothes so smarter shirts won’t last long either.

if your concerns are staining and discomfort rather than appearance, talk to other mums and feed it back.

Yes in the “old days” clothes were expensive and laundering them was hard work so children would be in trouble for messing up their “good” clothes. But children also walked miles to school and played outdoors all the time after school (not in uniform) so got plenty of exercise and were usually quite skinny. (My DH, growing up in a rural community, walked a couple of miles each way to his primary school and after school he and all the kids in his village were allowed free roam to play football or run about until dusk - which in the summer meant hours of exercise).

Nowadays children are often driven to school, aren’t allowed to play out as much due to modern fears, and we have the opposite problem of child obesity. But doing laundry is easy and clothes are much cheaper.

So all the more reason to put children in clothes that encourage rather than discourage physical activity during the daytime since if they don’t run about at school they will have almost no exercise as part of their day. (2 half hour of PE a week isn’t going to cut it.)

Haven’t read all the answers but my son’s London private school uniform no longer includes blazers, ties or white shirts. Sports kit and polo shirts all the way. I can assure you it’s anything but “low rent”.

I think practicality is more important. I work in the NHS and see the impact of children being an unhealthy weight, it's heartbreaking. I'd like to see all primary school children wear clothes and footwear they can play and move around more easily in, most children these days aren't active enough to benefit their health, and being in the comfortable clothes suitable for being active in would be really beneficial. I'd put polo shirts in this category, so I'm all for it.

Yes, all those Europeans looking scruffy and unprofessional at work, because they haven't had years of training in how to wear a set of clothes that's the same as everyone else they work with (which most of them don't need to do in their job anyway)! The French and Italians for example. Famed for being scruffier and less presentable than the Brits. Oh hang on....

Agree. I only wore “uniforms” for dance classes (classic leotard and tights) and summer holiday clubs (coloured 👕 to differentiate the different age groups).

I grew up with a dress code. There was rarely a disruption over clothes and we also knew what and what wasn’t allowed to be worn which would be on par with most workplaces today.

The last thing they were going to do is send a child home or prevent them from entering over clothes and shoes like I’ve read here. You had to do something pretty bad to be sent home.

If there was a uniform, it would be basically jeans, a top and whatever shoes we were comfortable in, typically trainers all year round with options of boots in the fall/winter and sandals in the summer.

A very high percentage go on to some kind of further education of training.

There is nothing in your post that addresses the absurdity of 4 year olds in school uniform to 'prepare them for work'.

If it's important, bring it in at 16. Though I'm not convinced anyone needs practice in wearing smarter clothes. Absolutely no need for pre teens to be concerned with it.

But none of that explains why young people in countries where there is no school uniform manage to do this perfectly well. Do we really think British children are so thick that they need 12+ years of practice in order to be presentable at work? I certainly don't.

@TheKeatingFive Well no, they don’t all go to university. 37% go. For example, my hairdresser recruits at 26. They want presentable young people. The trainees are looking great because they have a dress code. Lots of employers do. It’s not just about the uniform, it’s about understanding that employers in many cases, will have dress standards. Young people are representing their brand. They want standards upheld and a uniform promotes this way of thinking. You cannot always do what you want in life.

Goodness me this is just a sad post I think. Worrying about ks2 kids looking affluent over their comfort or what other people might perceive them to be. I am so glad I don’t live in that world. My kids go to probably the best primary in the country we live in, they wear polos and jumpers and trousers, on PE days they have a school tracksuit. They’re happy, healthy and full of curiosity, most importantly they love school - if that makes them low rent, I’ll take being a scrubber any day over that kind of snobbery and nonsense. Blimey the worlds gone crazy