Dangerous Uniform

Getting my secondary school aged children to wear any coat is a challenge in its self!

intrested in this as ds will be facing a 2 mile walk in the dark and on a very major road not lit and surronded by fields

My children have navy blue uniform coats, but their uniform backpacks have reflective strips. I also have fluorescent vests in the car.

Fantabulous! many thanks for the useful tips (and DS will love green straps - his fave colour).

halfords

www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/categorydisplay_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_cate goryId228860langId_-1 halfords]] do all manner of reflective gubbins, a good deal of which could be attached to a bag without upsetting the little darlings toooo much

I'm sure I got refective "slap wrap" arm bands from Tescos. They didn't have the LEDs mind you.

Primary schools still do hand them out from time to time, but not secondaries.

The good news is that the govt. is thinking about extending summer time to winter as well. I suppose it will be darker on morning journeys but I am glad it will be lighter in the evenings, when children seem to hang around on the streets more.

Abride: at your experience. That is my fear exactly.

I've had another think about glowsticks. The only problem is that they lose their glow after a few hours. I've just ordered the following: tinyurl.com/ykjt5m5, which DS confidently tells me is all the rage at school (why didn't he tell me this when I was searching for a solution before?! It's a tenner with postage, but cheap for peace of mind.

What I'd still like to find is some sort of florescent tag to hang off his bag. I remember the police used to hand them out for free in the distant past (1970s) when we walked home alone from primary school .

I had a terrifying experience crossing a busy country road with my daughter: both of us in dark 'uniform' coats. We'd been having hot chocolate in a hotel bar, killing time while we waited for my son to finish drama club, and I hadn't realised how dark it had got. When we went to cross I realised that we were both completely invisible in an unlit area. I turned on my mobile and waved it around to act as some kind of light, but really we couldn't have been seen until it was much too late.

glowsticks is fab idea

Oh brilliant! glowsticks. Hadn't thought of those. Perhaps they'll have them at the Science Museum shop (which we might got to if I'm feeling brave about the crowds).

This was a problem at one of our local secondaries, and even staff were aware of the problems of them wearing dark coloured coats.

Think the governing body got involved with rewriting the policy.

Prinnie: My DS is very careful crossing the road, but where his coach drops him off is a rat run with no safe crossings, it's pitch dark when he gets home and he's only 11 and not especially big for his age , so not easily visible.

ISNT: I do agree about the problem with getting a secondary age child to wear a vest, but I was thinking more along the lines of an arm band and something to hang off his (dark red) school bag.

any ideas? thanks. Just a girl.

the school that my dd2 will go to states a dark coat

I have emailed both police and school

school replied, police said they would look at it and get back to me - they havn't yet it was a month ago

school replied that dc could wear flourecnt strips

school is ignoring the fact that trying to get a teenager to wear a flourencent strip is about as easy as using a chocolate tea pot

it seems stick unifrom is more important than keeping dc safe

my second choice of school the head teacher thinks uniform is simple and safe and ecourages bright coats in winter, has organised with the local bus company to move there bus route to include the school drive at coming to and going to school time. Head teacher was worried about children on the dark cold pavement half a mile away.

One head has common sense and relates to children/teens

i can't comment on the other as he is new this term.

Good luck getting a secondary school age child to wear a reflective vest to walk home

By Year 7 SURELY kids are able to cross a road safely?! I would say it's their own responsibility (and their parents to teach them road sense) to ensure they're safe.

I suppose if your DC has to walk on a stretch of road that doesn't have a pavement or is cycling that might be different but if not this seems very OTT!

Hello, same problem here with all black uniform. Where do I buy reflective strips/arm bands/safety gear? I've tried the internet for cycling gear, but it's not appropriate.

It's not so much the uniform regs, it's more that teenagers (1) won't wear coats anyway and (2) they'd rather walk down the street naked rather than wear any reflective/safety gear.

Sadly.

(They will wear neon day-glo accessories to parties, mind )

Both DDs go to schools which insist on dark coats - we have neither streetlighting nor footpaths in our village.

So frustrating when you try to back the school enforcing rules, then they come out with a dopey one like that!

A lot of bags have reflectinve piping on them, and neon gloves are very fashionable at the moment.

DD's uniform coat and hat is dark, but she is primary achool and never unaccompanied. She does have a bib but only uses that for when cycling, not with her coat. You can also get the strips too.

Her waterproof school coat is red with the reflective strips on it.