Uniform is supposed to equal the DC out......but of course it doesn't

[JoceHark]

At DC's school everyone knows who has money and who doesn't. First it was the designer coats, the school then cracked down and said no brand names on coats.

Then the bags.

Now it's the belts. Kids wearing designer logo'd belts to school (no current ban in place).

Also a bizarre rule which says girls can wear one single ring (plain) and boys can wear a signet ring. Firstly I know plenty of women who still wear a signet ring (seems sexist that only boys can at school), but the signet rings they are wearing are bling'd to all hell and back.

Should we just accept that school uniform is actually a load of bollocks.

It doesn't prepare them for work, how many office staff do you know who wear a tie and blazer to work everyday? And how many of them are women?

It's a huge bill for parents

It creates a wall between parents and the school and kids and the school

It's just an unnecessary cause of stress all round and hasn't been proven to have any benefit on education. We seem to just cling on to it as a British thing which has always been done

My DC don't wear school uniform, and not once in 4 years have either of them had any kind of bullying regarding any aspect of what they wear, not the shoes, coats, bags, trousers, literally nothing! Admittedly we are not in the UK, but kids are kids and we don't have this problem.

Think how much worse this would be without uniform?

I never understand the 'it's so expensive' argument. Yes it's a lot to buy at once but they have to wear SOMETHING every day. You would just be spending money on other clothes.

Besides there are many reasons for uniform. Not just as a leveller.

Ds1s school is bringing in school logo trousers from next year. I just find it completely out of step with what is going on with families struggling. I'm really disappointed tbh.

He has ASD and clothes are a bloody nightmare tbh. He wears the uniform including jumper all year round. Won't take his blazer off, even in the ridiculous heat. But non-uniform would mean the only style trainers he will wear would be a source of ridicule too. He sticks out when he's so desperate to be invisible

Uniform is brilliant, if kids wore sparkly dresses, or T-shirt’s with slogans, ripped jeans etc it doesn’t create a working atmosphere, and kids would choose inappropriate clothing which also may not be right for eg science.

If some parents want to splash out on a coat they can! Some people really care about the weather for example and will buy a quality coat, some of those people aren’t even wealthy but it’s just a priority to them, my mom wasn’t in the best financial position but always made sure we had expensive shoes as she didn’t want our feet to ever be ruined.

I’m tired of people not allowing people to just be who they are without feeling insecure.

Teach your children to be humble and not jealous instead. Show them the joys of other things they do have, which is still richer than many children in different countries

I don't mind uniform when it's plain polo shirts and sweatshirts with the option to buy the logo sweatshirt. I object to buying a £33 blazer (and I have to buy 2 for my ds1 who comes home from school looking like he has been dragged through a hedge) and football boots that are worn twice in a year.

The problem Smotheroffive is that the school expect them to wear smart trousers. For his size, he's 6ft 3, that means wearing men's workwear which aren't appropriate for playing football in or cycling to school in. It's really hard to get decent fitting ones as he has a mans height but not really a mans body. I used to be able to buy cheaper ones but the cheaper 'long' leg ones don't seem to be as long as other brands.

I honestly think uniform is detrimental to my kids learning, they seem to spend most of their time being hot and uncomfortable. Both my teens have felt self conscious about having to wear clothing that doesn't fit very well.

I didn't wear a uniform at primary school.
Not having the popular named and branded tracksuits and t-shirts to wear to school really affected my confidence and made me a target for bullies.
At secondary I wore a uniform however if you didn't have the right coat or bag your life was made hell.
No win really but I'd prefer a uniform.
The 'wrong' coat or bag is less noticable than a whole outfit.

I agree with uniform, but it should be basic. Ours isn't too bad.

Black trousers, black jumper, white shirt and school tie. Black shoes or all black trainers with no obvious logos. Coats and bags are anything you want. S5-6 years wear blazer.

Some kids have the expensive trainers, and jumpers but not allowed big logos so it's not as noticeable.

Jackets are mostly the cheaper basic north face circa £70 which are at least practical.

notso yes I completely agree with that.
I suppose I'm soft with ds but he has lost a huge amount of weight in the last 18 months ( just on 6st ) so he's thrilled to be able to wear certain things.

I won't be doing it all the time

That's fantastic Zoflorabore well done to your DS

We do not have uniforms and there is definitely no need for more money / wealth / well-to do ness for this (And I have reason to know this.)
I have hundreds of informal school fotos (different schools) all kids wore basically the same: robust trousers / jeans + t-shirts / hoodies / sweatshirts.

I.think.it depends though ,i.couldn't afford to.dress my son in designer track suits labelled trainers every day ,and whilst my son,s school.whilst good is in a fairly deprived area so probably most kids would be dressed in clothes from Asda,Primark etc in my nephews school.in a fairly affluent area of the less well.off kids turned up.in clothes from Asda etc they would get picked on ( I know from what my nephews have said this is an issue on non. uniform days)

Tbh the way these schools are rolling out blazers, tartan skirts,jumpers only from their suppliers trousers from their suppliers arent bridging the poverty and wealthy gap at all. Some parents can't afford all these expensive uniform especially for particular suppliers. It costed me £250 all to kit out ds and I had another two dc to buy uniform. You still need to buys coats for weather regardless so poorer people are just been given added expense. I'm glad it wasn't like this when I school my parents didnt have a lot we used to get shirts and skirts in the sales before I went back at the fraction of the cost. However all these fancy blazers and tartan skirts has put a stop to that.

Uniform is outdated and needs scraping completely.
What's wrong with a pair of trousers and a polo shirt?
I've seen office staff wearing that and they are smart enough.
We had uniform throughout school but in 6th form we could wear what ever we wanted. I never understood why and teachers just used to say "That's what happens in 6th form"
Don't get me started on the thing schools have against trainers
They're comfy, they're practical and easily replaced compared to school shoes.

I went to a non uniform primary.

The poor kids (like me) stuck out like a sore thumb - because we were the only ones who had a single school skirt/trousers, a couple of shirts and a single nylon jumper with holes in when everybody else had a choice in what they wore (and chilblains/a permanent cold in winter because we didn't have gloves, wellingtons, decent coats or hats).

The best time was summer, as a summer dress was cheap, nobody realised yours was halfway up your thighs because it was the same one you'd had for 3 years and every girl had them (although it was still obvious you didn't have the money for anything else, as you didn't have a cardigan or, if you had a pair of school sandals, your mother had chopped the bits nearest your toes off so they could poke out the front).

The thing is that poverty is obvious, whatever a kid wears - they have scruffier hair because haircuts cost money, they have knackered shoes that are too small because you were only allowed one pair a year (and ended up wearing plimsolls from February half term because you'd grown out of them - the teachers would take one look at you limping through the door and tell you to go and put some plimsolls on), they're coming in cold and wet, the clothes aren't washed more than once a week... and so on.

All an expensive uniform does is make poorer parents absolutely raging when something goes missing, gets damaged or, worst of all, you dare to grow. But it looks great in photos.

OP - where I teach there are plenty of “designer belts” which are quite obviously (and some not so obviously) fake. The Gucci GG ones and Hermes H ones in particular are very easy to fake and very easily (and cheaply) available on Amazon, eBay, most market stalls etc. There are YouTube videos in their hundreds about the best “dupes” which are in fact just fakes.

Yes, there is a possibility some are real. Just like in my area (v wealthy, South East) there are probably some girls at my school carrying genuine Louis Vuitton Neverfulls. But for every real one, there are 40-50 fakes and it’s really not worth getting hung up over.

Mine have uniformed everything including coat, bag and shoes at their school (private). No jewellery, no make up and they are very prescriptive on hair too including what you can put in it! They have become prescriptive about the pencil cases. Makes it so much easier!

DS has enough non uniform clothing to last the week as he needs it for the school holidays anyway, not just two days' worth for the weekends. It may wear out quicker as he'd be wearing it a little more than twice as much than if he had uniform too, but it would be cheaper to replace his non uniform clothing sooner than to have to double up by buying uniform as well as other clothing.

pointythings I pick my clothes every night before work and it's a ballache. That's without the designer brands that the kids wear which makes wearing non-uniform for school so much harder.

I wear my own clothes to work except for one work polo. If the work polo is available I wear that with jeans, otherwise I just wear grab a t-shirt from the drawer, no fuss at all. DS would do the exact same if he didn't have uniform, as that's what he does on non uniform days.

Schools could have a school polo shirt with a logo, and maybe a school fleece, that could be worn with jeans, trousers, shorts or a skirt that the child already has.

At no stage in my life have I cared if someone else was wearing more expensive clothes than me, had more bling on or wore more labels. I might have cared if I was always going to school wearing the same couple of outfits every day and most of the others were dressed in different outfits daily. I think uniform is the best solution.

This is very much a "not much money but desperately trying to prove otherwise" phenomena

Not really. DC go to an expensive school with DC whose parents earn small fortunes every month.

Plenty of girls wearing Gucci trainers, carrying Celine/LV bags and stacking Cartier bracelets.

I don't think kids need the added pressure of choosing what to wear each day. It's not just about who has money. It's also about who can be bullied for not looking cool or having the right clothes. It's bad enough with the limited scope kids already have - no uniforms would make it so much worse.

MrsJBaptiste it's a ballache? Really? I'm sorry, but unless you have some form of mental illness or are otherwise not neurotypical, this really isn't normal for a functioning adult.

EssexSexpot children in other countries manage the 'pressure' of choosing their clothes perfectly well in a non uniform environment. Are British kids really so weak that they can't? I think they're better than that. All it takes is for schools to take bullying seriously and deal with it properly.

I roll my eyes at some of the uniform rules I read about. Yet my dc like uniform. As dd1 stated once day, at 6.30 am she doesn't need to open her eyes properly to get dressed. A second mortgage was required this year though, with dc3 starting secondary.