What is the issue with the coats?

Most of the kids at my school wear coats but they have to take them off and put on the back of their chair in class

Hi, So I’m a high school teacher and often wonder about the coat situation.
In my school there are lockers but as others said they are often miles away from where they are and it wouldn’t always be allowed to go to the lockers. Their main option would be to keep coats on the back of their chairs in classrooms. They are NOT allowed to wear their coats inside the building so would need to carry them around. Which as they move every hour I think is part of the off put.
It is peculiar though as what you may count as the more popular children often do wear coats. Obviously ridiculously expensive designer ones. A few children wear normal plain coats. I’ve never seen anything said to or about anyone for wearing a coat.
Having said that even in snow the most I would see is about 5 of my form of 25 wearing a coat. There are definitely more year 7s wearing them and it gets less and less as the year/ years go on.
I genuinely assume it’s because they can’t be bothered to carry them around all day along with their other things and constantly lose them and leave them places.

I'm 68.

I never wore more than a blazer at secondary school, not matter the weather.

I can't even remember about it being 'cool' or not. It just didn't happen. Most of us walked to school - and at that age, if we were cold it was a brisk walk. Other schools there was a bus ride. Bus stop was cold but the journey and riding bit were warm. We were kids, we were active, we had built up immune systems and it worked fine.

I think that now the poor children should be made to wear coats because .... errrrrr no let them make their own choices.

And for teens peer pressure is understandably the most important thing

My son’s school don’t have lockers as they were constantly broken into and stuff stolen so they got rid of them.

He takes a thin north face coat if it’s raining but if not he doesn’t take anything. They have to put them in their bag so they can’t really take anything bigger anyway. He wears thermals from m&s and will wear gloves and a hat too if it’s freezing cold.

Also Scotland. DD won't wear a coat but finaly relented and wears a gilet.

The problem is that many schools don't have lockers for each pupil or pegs, therefore a coat is heavy and bothersome all day.

I remember at 14/15 going out to a concert one night in February in the snow and only wearing a hoodie - my mum wanted me to wear a coat which at the time I thought was unreasonable so I compromised and took a scarf . I honestly couldn’t tell you why I refused to wear a coat, but I used to think a hoodie was sufficient.

I don’t know how I used to do it but I am now that person with about 100 layers on still complaining their cold

Must be down to schools with stupid rules. My DD13 and y9 wears a coat. A full length winter coat. I’ve seen a mix on school drop off. It seems to be the ‘cool kids’ that like to freeze and get wet. My DD tells me she gets told she’s a bit nerdy (she’s autistic and just follows rules). Their school doesn’t seem to have any will rules about not being allowed to wear a coat on site. What a ridiculous rule. They don’t have blazers though. Must wear their jumper or ask permission to remove it and if they do they must have a tie on. Y7/8 must wear v neck jumper and tie. Y9+ round knock but tie only if no jumper.

Exactly this, my daughter lives in her North Face coat … I have to remove it from her in the summer 🤣

My yr7 DD refuses to even take an umbrella because no one else uses them and apparently it’s embarrassing 😂

They don't want to carry them and they get nicked all the time

My DS2 (year 8) wears over his blazer - and DD wore a coat as her school didn’t have a blazer. DD’s school had cloakroom. DS2 has a locker. DS1 was cooler than DS2 and has not worn a coat since he left primary school.

Both of mine wear Nike puffs coats.'one has a 35 min walk, the other 15 mins. Stuffed in locker and retrieved at the end of the day.

Some 50 years ago, I had a gabardine mac for my first year. After that, I complied with the rules by having a nylon mac folded up in 1 blazer pocket. You couldn't fasten the blazer as the pocket was over-full. I walked a mile uphill from the station in all weathers, rain hail snow etc with my blazer undone and wearing a skirt about 16" in length.
Times haven't changed much.

@LynetteScavo seemingly here Lynx is out and vegan organic citrus shower gels and aftershaves are in 🤣🤣🤣. Miss the cloud of lynx that used to emerge from the bathroom in the morning. Your comment made me nostalgic

Well, a good coati g of Lynx seems to keep most of the boys warm enough not to need a coat.

We had lockers at school, and we definitely all wore coats
. My friend even kept a selection of shoes in her locker.

My DC had lockers and were encouraged to wear coats, but they found it difficult to wear a coat and a blazer, so often chose not to wear a coat. They were happy to wear base layers though.

Other high schools near here don't have lockers and and the pupils don't wear coats, but none of them are shivering. Depending on the fashion at the time the girls might just be wearing the tiniest slip on shoes in snow, well as this is the UK it'll just be slush.

I once went to my DCs primary school in February to drop something off. No child in the playground at lunch time was wearing a coat, but the all seemed perfectly happy and healthy 🤷🏼‍♀️

High schools in the UK are strange OP - the uniforms involve lots of black nylon, no coats, shoes which no child should have on their feet are deemed perfectly acceptable, yet shoes which are perfectly healthy and comfortable for a child will result in a detention. In UK high schools certain haircuts also prevent children learning. Especially if hair is too short

I'm 69 and wore blazer, no coat to school however cold. Also had my skirt rolled up to a mini - happy days!

It isn't always about being "cool" - though obviously for some it is. I never felt the cold as a teenager. I remember being in uni wearing jeans and a turtleneck jumper which only just covered my bra. In Edinburgh. In winter. I was never even attempting to be "cool" (which wouldn't have worked anyway as I was an engineering student). I just didn't notice the cold.

Now I'm much more namby-pamby though, and need a super warm coat, hat, scarf and gloves to venture out if it is below 5 degrees!

No coats here - and the lads all wear shorts - Dublin school. Snow on the ground last week - I thought there would be a crack but nope.

Clothes is probably one of the first areas parents ease up on as the teens grow so they naturally rebel. To be fair he never gets sick so I leave him be he has a collection of pre approved clothes available and I let him figure it out. As the teen who slipped on ice in hot pants I ain't judging!

I do see a lot of the teens passing in the mornings taking off their coats once out of sight of parents - they could be doing worse so let them be.

"I think everyone is inexplicably lying except me".

DD's teacher had a whole 'what on earth is wrong with you idiots?' talk with DD and her friends about it the other day. They love their teacher but thought it was hilarious he didn't understand.

I don't think she's had her coat on in the last 18 months.

Back in the day when I was a teen you wouldn’t have been caught dead with your hood up even in monsoon like rain.

That's so true!

I'd forgotten that.

I was perplexed when my middle child went nuts over wearing a perfectly decent school jacket, I mean it's not like in my day when we had a god-awful bottle-green gaberdine to wear.

He is happily enough wearing a black North Face one he got for Christmas. School are ok as long as it's completely black.

My DD wears a coat sometimes but only a puffer jacket she can shove in bag on arrival and put blazer on. 80% of her big high do not wear a coat ever. Even if pouring. Girls might have an umbrella. It's just not the done thing

Our schools don’t have lockers or blazers. Schools don’t discourage the seating of coats. They’re allowed to carry and wear them between classes. It’s just that teenagers co aider costs the height of uncool, and at their age school isn’t going to police them and tell them to put a coat on!!

Coat wearers here all throughout secondary. They put them on the back of their chairs.
Never been an issue and they've never refused to wear one.

Primary school children will also not wear coats.

I used to wear a coat in both primary and secondary but I was never trying to be cool at any point.

'Twas ever thus. I teach at a private school and tbf a lot of the pupils do wear North Face puffas (the challenge is getting them to take the cost off), but lots also go coatless. We are waging an unwinnable war against the illicit hoody, however.

I remember walking to school through ankle high snow aged 15, wearing a shirt, blazer, scarf and gloves but No Coat.