Ridiculous uniform policy for secondary

My ASD girl can't wear Trutex.

Yes, that is ridiculous and schools in particular secondary never seem to follow the guidance.

Luckily at Dd's school there is no blazer and tie. But still have to pay out for expensive logo jumper, checked blouses and most of the P.E kit has to be got from the uniform supplier except plain navy sports leggings. I get her trousers and skirts from Next. They have to have their skirt knee length too. I have to say none of the girls I have ever seen have super short skirts but they don't seem to say anything if they're a bit above the knee. At the end of the day girls are different heights so a standard skirt will fit differently on different girls.

How can you spend £350 in one go?

Quite easily when it is £50 for a rugby shirt ds never wore because rugby wasnt till later in the school year and by that time they had redesigned it and everyone had to have the newly designed one

£75 on the specific coloured blazer with school emblem which you could only get from one particular school clothing shop

School shirts with the school emblem on the pocket

School colour for PE shorts, track suits, polo shirts and t.shirts

£35 on the school jumper

school tie

These prices were from 10 years ago.

Everything had the sodding school name on with no secondhand uniform shop (Apparently they wanted the pupils to feel good about themselves wearing new clothes. They failed to realise that some children just felt a bit shit that they were the cause of their parents having to cut back to afford all this over priced stuff)

I spent £350 on ds’s state school uniform.

@Natsku Why are decent leather shoes stiff? Thats the general choice here for children’s shoes. Maybe you should read about what’s best for growing feet? I never bought stiff shoes. But Crocs are informal leisure shoes and most schools I know of will not want them. If you can find a barefoot school here - well done. But you aren’t here I assume. Many parents do prefer a uniform but not an expensive one. It should be washable, long lasting, comfortable breathable fabrics like cotton and wool, and smart to instil belonging to the school. It’s not Forces standard but to me, it’s part of school life.

Here dc definitely wear expensive trainers and get high end designer gear for school if parents fork out for it. A uniform and limited choices can reduce this.

I went to a private school whose uniform was actually considerably more sensible than that of many academies today. The main uniform in winter was a simple skirt, shirt and jumper combination, and it was our choice whether to wear a short- or long-sleeved shirt and/or the jumper. In the summer it was a cotton gingham dress and the same jumper. So long as shoes were flat and sensible we had a free choice. There was none of the current nonsense of insisting on wearing a blazer in class and needing permission to take it off.

It's perfectly possible to have a sensible uniform without making children uncomfortable and without making their parents spend a fortune. The problem is that some academy heads seem to opt for a new uniform as an easy fix, because they think it will impress parents and it's much easier to be strict about uniform rules than to improve teaching and learning.

Maybe in this case they have a reasonable issue that this type of policy is directly contrary to government guidance and, in some instances, the law? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms

This requires that, amongst other matters:

Parents should not have to think about the cost of a school uniform when choosing which school(s) to apply for. Therefore, schools need to ensure that their uniform is affordable.
In considering cost, schools will need to think about the total cost of school uniforms, taking into account all items of uniform or clothing parents will need to provide while their child is at the school.
Schools should keep the use of branded items to a minimum.

"Branded items" includes both the unnecessary use of logos, and insisting on things like Trutex when cheaper alternatives are available. The Equality Act means that this school shouldn't be differentiating on trousers as between boys and girls. There is also a potential discrimination issue in relation to the insistence on having a skirt on the knee, given that that is obviously going to affect girls more and doesn't recognise the obvious fact that children grow.

Trainers are better than the horrid stiff school shoes you have to wear in the UK!

Its only hot enough for crocs for about a month of school time here, tops, so I'm not worried about children wearing crocs to school at all. The vast majority of the year they are in proper trainers or winter boots (and barefoot inside the school, which is even better for feet)

High standards in a school for me is about the quality of education, and the way students and teachers and the school building and its surroundings are treated, not about what shoes they wear. They might look scruffy in their crocs and joggers and hoodies at my daughter's school but the children are treated with respect, the teachers don't have ridiculous work loads, and everyone helps keep the school and the area around it clean and tidy. That's high standards to me.

@Needmorelego Lots wrong with crocs. Children need shoes properly fitted when feet are growing. That’s been known for a long time. Slopping around in crocs all day is terrible for feet and should not be acceptable in school. What you do at home is up to
you. I definitely would avoid a school that thought this was ok. I want higher standards. Some trainers are not much better. Sweaty horrible plastic “shoes” is a no from me and to be fair, I’ve never seen them worn around here.

@Yalta well, that's your opinion but I doubt you're familiar with every school in the country?

While I'm with the OP fully on fabric and cut/ sizes as my kids had to get trutex throughout secondary, but I'm confused on price as it really isn't that expensive. One positive of trutex is its longevity and its easy to wash. I bought 2 blazers for each child plus a handful of trousers/ skirts each in their entire 5 years. At the end I thought it had been economical. How can you spend £350 in one go? That would be loads of blazers and trousers/skirts. But can only agree that restricting fits that are allowed (and trutex does a few) is crazy and I just can't see how it would work in practice, plus the uniforms are heavy and hot to wear in summer.

I think there's some in North London

Not in the uk there isn’t

I remember that in another thread somebody described a blazer to be a portable cupboard with 6 pockets full of stuff 😄

@TizerorFizz what's wrong with Crocs?
I mean they are ugly but (apparently) very comfortable.
Nurses wear them because they are comfy for such long working hours - plus they are easy to clean.

@TizerorFizz why would you not want your children going to a school that allows crocs? Your children wouldn't have to wear them so how would it affect you?
Meanwhile it's great for children who find them more comfortable than other footwear, why is their comfort an issue for anyone else?
You can't hide inequality with uniforms, everyone still knows who is rich and who is poor and the sense of belonging it might bring just meant fights with other schools in my experience. Rather foster a sense of belonging in the wider society than just in the school.

@oustedbymymate There are. Which is why I have some doubts about the truth of this from a non parent - just a resident. Post the policy and I might believe it.

I thought there were rules to stop this now?

@Natsku I would not want my dc going to a school that allowed Crocs. I think a decent uniform does allow for a cohesive ethos. Even then poorly fitting, unwashed and dishevelled uniform still marks a dc out as poor. I think uniform should try and level
up and promote a sense of belonging. It’s clear most private schools value uniform.

@OldBattyBat We had grey wool hockey culottes. No tights. Grey socks. Beret in the winter and boater in summer. Gabardine raincoat with felt lined hood specially made for the school. Very very expensive. There was a hardship fund via the LA though so I don’t know anyone who did not go. It was a very traditional school with standards and no one complained. Most were so pleased dc had qualified to go!

Boaters ended up floating down the river on Founders Day. I boiled my beret to make it looked “lived in”. Over 55 years ago for me!

My kids love their blazers. Loads pockets to keep everything in. Carry more in blazers than their bags!
BUT rest of uniform is supermarket & just black / white apart from tie

Oh yes, the list was long, wasn't it?!

I had to have white PE shoes for indoor PE, black PE shoes for outdoor PE, a PE top, PE skirt, hockey boots, hockey stick, science overall and art overall in addition to the main uniform, which comprised skirt, white blouse, school branded tie, summer dress for the summer term, school branded jumper, school branded blazer, school bowler hat (and optional boater for summer - the only optional item!), gabardine raincoat, a briefcase and a school scarf.

In the first 2 years I was there, tights were not allowed, so in the winter I either wore thick stockings or long socks.

If anyone was caught not wearing their full uniform (including the lovely green felt bowler hat) when travelling to or from school, they were fined a penny when they arrived at school! The same punishment was applied to anyone seen eating whilst wearing the school uniform. There were spies everywhere, prefects on the bus etc 🤣 but we usually managed to evade discovery and happily bought sweets and ice-cream on the way to the bus stop and ate them on the bus going home! 🍦😂

Hard to get my head around the fact that it was 55 years ago! 😱 Omg.

There's no uniform in any schools in my country (nor dress codes, legally schools aren't allowed to curtail children's freedom of expression via their clothes or hair, except in terms of hygiene and safety, so all kinds of hair styles and colours too) and it works fine, my teenager says there's no pressure to wear any particular clothes, everyone just wears what they like which is mostly comfortable weather-appropriate clothes (so shorts and t-shirts and crocs when its hot, and joggers/trackie bottoms and hoodies when its colder, with comfy trainers or boots in winter and decent coats)

@OldBattyBat Same problem here - my grammar uniform was three times my DFs wages. We had an outside loo and no central heating. Priorities were different! Even in those days we had gym shoes, hockey boots. Inside shoes and outside shoes! Most uniforms these days are horrible fabrics. I cannot stand polyester sweaty blazers! At least when DDs went to private school we had long lasting quality fabrics. Simple shirts and no ties Cheap tat sweatshirt at primary fell apart in 6 months.

I remember my dad being horrified at the cost of the uniform when I was starting secondary school in 1969.

I had passed the 11-plus and was going to an all-girls grammar school. The uniform could only be purchased new from one specific outfitters in a nearby town.

Fortunately, there were a couple of places that sold 2nd hand uniform, so a lot of my stuff was bought from those. But we were unable to get a blazer 2nd-hand, so off we went to the outfitters.

The blazer cost £14. I remember it so well because of the fuss my dad made about it. He wrote to the school to complain about the uniform policy and how the uniform was far too expensive (he had to get an overdraft to pay it).

Looking at the two inflation calculators online (from Hargreaves Lansdown and the Bank of England), the equivalent cost of the blazer today would be somewhere in region of £200 up to possibly £300!

My child’s secondary had every girl in the equivalent of a mini skirt regardless of school uniform rules. I so wish they’d be stricter on uniform.

@Metempsychosis but you must have to buy a coat the next size bigger to fit over it ?
It's just one of those things that as a parent I would just prefer to buy one coat that fits properly suitable for both school and home.

I'm down south, I wear blazers March to October, with or without a trench on top. Never had a problem finding a coat for my teens to wear over the top in the winter.