Coats on at school

@annahay

Absolutely! I think parents often envision something the size of a primary school or their open plan office and not the common reality- something a cross between a battery farm and a Victorian prison with 60’s west/ facing windows which is often hotter than the inside of the sun in summer and muggier than the Amazon when all the windows are closed in winter but with added smells 💨

They also under estimate the wild cunning of a teen who would really rather be at home playing Xbox. In my experience it goes like this: late because in toilet, sat in coat doing nothing/ argument about taking coat off/ reluctantly gets out book/ forgot book/ short snooze/ wild conversation across room/ the sulks for being asked to do anything/ asks to go to toilet again because it will waste another fifteen minutes = a grand total of ten minutes actual work in an hour lesson.

If they leave stuff in cloakrooms then it gets pinched. Ours have lockers but they like to show off expensive coats - Canada goose, moncler etc and use them to hide phones and vapes.
if your dd is that cold tell her to put a base layer on

We have 4 coat pegs in the staff room for over 100 staff. My only option is to have my coat on the back of my chair- which then drags on the floor and gets filthy.

The problem with a cloakroom is location. We could request a locker but it wouldn't necessarily be where you needed it, especially for those who had to get the bus.

Sorry! Baby swiped my phone before I'd finished!

The idea of cloakrooms for 1200 children when we can't afford teachers and TAs seems like a misappropriation of resources to me.

Cloakrooms for 1200 c

@Coldia

Yes, I can leave my coat in the Staffroom too. But our kids are also allowed to use the back of their tutor room as a bag drop and leave their coats there. But this only works if they have cheaper coats that they don’t mind going missing.

The issue occurs when parents give in to moaning and buy expensive items that the kids want to parade about and are surgically attached to. And because it was expensive mum and dad tell them they have (from home) permission to wear it where ever they please.

When you have 1500 kids in one building the rules have to be the same for everyone for fairness- especially to create better social equality. The uniform makes everyone to same so that the focus can be learning, not showing off your bling and social status.

£1k for a coat? Hmmm.
OP: Why is your daughter wearing a short skirt when it makes her so cold?

If your DD isn't wearing a short skirt, why isn't she wearing tights or leggings under trousers & a thermal layer under her blouse, as well as jumper & blazer. Since she feels the cold.

If you're complaining about what happens to other kids wearing short skirts and their coat habits, then wind your neck in.

To be fair the classrooms also being cold would have made it easier for me. I'd have just worn some layers under the uniform.

Can the kids wear cotton vests and a woollen vest for the colder days along with shirt and woollen jumper. School blazers are very warm.
Do the kids wear tights under their skirts?
They should hang their outdoor coat up during indoor school hours or keep it in their locker or bag with their PE kit..

Fakes and second hand I can understand but new? Paying over £1k for a teen's coat is crazy. Ironically no one in my affluent area where half the dc go private would dream of spending that

But I never need my coat inside and I am always too warm.

Presumably you also have somewhere to put your coat other than your bag.

I would say you are unusual in being able to fit your coat into your bag. I can't fit mine into my work bag. Nor do I need to because at my workplace, same as yours, I have somewhere appropriate to put it, unlike your students.

Btw I would always prioritise buying a winter coat for my child over buying the impractical dress shoes that school requires me to spend money on in order that he can access his education.

At my old very rough comp years ago we had cloakrooms - long since turned into extra rooms. We all had dirt cheap coats off the market partly as that's all anyone could afford and then no one really nicked them. We used to write our names in marker pen all over the inside too in massive letters

A teen in a coat is a rare sight in my area. Cloak rooms - coats would get nicked within days if decent. We do have lockers although most don't use.
At best girls use a brolly and Ladd might have a thin rain layer.
Our school must be warm as mine have only just put jumpers on.

@brokenhearted2

Yes, they are. I think some are good dupes and some are second hand. Some are obviously brand new. These are the same parents that tell us that they can’t afford school shoes.

The teachers saying they make students take them off Id assume are from schools that are well heated. My two sons said the fraught in the classrooms are horrendous and since Covid the windows are open too. 15yo says last year he was actually shivering in class

Are people really buying their teenage dc £1000 coats?

Well the 3 mile walk home in all weather's helps.

@Coldia Yes, I can. I have a huge rucksack so I can fit in a whole class set of books and and my coat. But I never need my coat inside and I am always too warm. All those breathing, sweaty bodies make it quite hot.

I don’t expect anything from them that I don’t do myself.

As a non-practical subject, coats are the bane of my life at the moment. They use them as blankets, to hide the fact they are texting, to drape over each other and get up to stuff (yes, really). Yr11 are the worst for this- slumped in their coats without a pen and half asleep and refusing to do any work. But come parents evening mum and dad are all fire and brimstone at me about why their child isn’t doing better. Perhaps because they were up until 2am in their x-box and then too tired and ratty to do anything. This is apparently my fault.

@Ratsoffasinkingsauage can you fit a coat inside your work bag?

A base layer under the shirt, jumper and blazer should be more than enough inside.

It's highly likely a directive from the top and very little to do with the classroom teacher, unless a practical subject when coats can be dangerous - using a Bunsen burner in science ect so take your complaint to the Head.

@ReadyForPumpkins

So your assertion is that because your open plan office is closed then the tiny sweaty classrooms that most kids sit in for lessons will also be cold.

They have the option to wear a vest, a jumper, a shirt and a blazer. That’s four layers. If they are still cold then they need to wear a base layer- which is far more effective than a coat.

And I will also say that the students who assert that their bags are too small to fit their coat in usually have huge fashionable puffer coats and tiny fashionable hand bags instead of rucksacks. Almost as if being practical and functional was not the point.

Problem is that the schools aren't heated properly either. It costs money to keep the heating up.