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 ds starts Y11 this week, it's his last year in uniform since he was 2.5 as he had uniform at preschool, primary & secondary. Both he & I can't wait for next year where we don't have to buy uniform & school shoes, he will be able to go to school in Jean's, T shirts, hoodies & trainers. The shoes are the biggest things, he is HHH fitting & trying to get shoes to fit him is a nightmare, he will no longer have to wear shoes 3 sizes too big to get the width, thankfully trainers are more forgiving.

Agree with PP, secondary schools should just have polo shirts and trousers. My DD school has this for summer uniform and it looks smart and everyone is comfortable. Wish they could wear it all year!

😂😂😂 whatever!!!

I’m sure we’d get used to it but we had enough angst about what bag and what school shoes (new year 7) so I for one am pleased we don’t also have to work our own clothes for every day.

And it is a (logo’d) polo shirt so hopefully comfy and hopefully won’t need ironing

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Can you explain why you think it’s better to have no uniform? Or what your answer is if you don’t?

It’s not a perfect system but the kid who wears Asda jeans and primark trainers every day will be noticed more.

If nobody wore uniform, the sport of identifying who was wearing the same clothes two days in a row would quickly become very boring.

Why not just try to teach children that parents differ as to the amount they are able to or willing to spend on clothing, and that differences in perceived financial situation are (1) how life is, (2) get over it?
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
This ^^

The earnest focus on uniform's importance as a leveler just perpetuates the idea that how much money you have and how much you spend are the most important facts about people.

It also serves to turn an issue that is completely separate from uniform and clothing into one that is all about uniform and clothing. The issue is the tendency to bully. Getting to the bottom of that - unearthing what it is in each bully's life that causes the mean streak to emerge - is the important thing, and trying to remove the detail that bullies focus on is not going to accomplish that.
Why are some children so jealous and insecure?
Where are they learning to treat others so badly?

It’s not a perfect system but the kid who wears Asda jeans and primark trainers every day will be noticed more

Only if the rest of the children are a bunch of little shits.

My DCs went to school in the US, in a uniform free high school and a uniform wearing elementary school.

On mufti days in elementary there was pressure to wear something 'nice', purely because it was such a novelty. On our way to school we passed kids heading to the local public schools wearing clothes that were practical and ordinary, rarely co-ordinating, rarely any recognisable brands. My DDs would have spent quite a lot of time figuring out what to wear the evening before. The public school kids did not look as if they had spent two minutes thinking about their clothes.

In high school it took exactly one week before my DDs all got over the thrill of wearing clothes of their choice and the pressure to dress to impress, and started wearing whatever clothing was on top of the heap of clean clothes in the morning, or sometimes if they hadn't done their laundry, whatever smelled least from the laundry basket, just like everyone else.

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.

You might or might not spend £250 in the last week of August on civvies though.

And the clothes you might buy throughout the year would be clothes your child could wear anywhere, not just to school.

You could buy warm weather and also cold weather clothing. Your child could dress appropriately and wear the clothes all day and at weekends too.

You could hand down the clothes to younger siblings if they were still wearable. You could inherit clothes/outerwear from cousins or friends too, which would make dressing your children for school even cheaper.

You could buy clothes that were easy to wash and dry.

Completely agree notso but its the uniform provision thats sorely lacking, not that uniform in itself is a bad thing.

The provision is often poor quality. Needs to be done properly so that dc sre always comfortable in the clothes they wear to school, stands to reason

I can't believe that there are any sizes not catered for, its bonkers that they wouldn't expect some boys to be mansize and so on.

My DC prefer school uniform. They hate choosing shirts and ties for their sixth form every morning and wish they could just continue with their usual uniform, when they did not have to plan outfits to look “cool”.

But if they had uniform, that would just defer the problem which would crop up again when they started college. Have you pointed out that they're going to have to choose what to wear for the rest of their lives, so they might as well start now?

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.

It's highly unlikely that they'd be wearing blazers and ties though. Nor would there be danger of having to spend the money all over again if some new broom head comes in and wants to change the uniform.

Having uniform doesn't really mean need less "own clothes" anyway - otherwise what would you wear at half term / Easter / six weeks' summer holidays? And I would never buy my 11yo a £35 blazer (or indeed any other item of clothing costing that much) for out of school.

Uniform doesn't equal children out, of course. But in my view it helps. I know someone who was delighted to have a uniform at secondary school (after not having had one at primary) because for the first time she didn't stand out as wearing odd clothes. That was in the 1970s.

I think these days uniform is even more important as so many people are obsessed with brands and being cool. Yes, that might be an issue at college too, but at least at 16 many children can have part-time jobs and use their wages to buy cooler clothes if that's important to them.

There is no easy answer but school can very easily desend into a fashion parade without uniform.

Who has what £££ trainers, who has Tesco, levis, Hilfiger jeans, unbranded T-shirt, oh on it has to be a Ralfe Lauren polo.

Uniform just makes it one less thing to think about or be bullied over. Kids are cruel why give them more ammunition?

I get the argument about not having to decide what to wear. I wear a uniform to work but the company pays for it, there is only one of me and, if I do grow, it's oprional and only outwards!

I know of families that genuinely struggle to pay for the uniform. The fact that our local homeless shelter stocks uniform is very telling.

Also, some heads really use the uniform as a stick to beat children with - and sometimes I think it's more specifically directed at parents to exert control, when bullying and falling grades are ignored . The uniform is an easy target.

I refer to the constantly changing rules and downright lacking in common sense rules - blazers in 30 degrees, white trainers only, no logos on shorts (so you have to go to the uniform shop where it's 3x the price)

Perhaps a solution would be, if schools feel the uniform is so important, they should fund it or at least subsidise it. This is the case with most company uniforms. I even get tax relief on laundry

It's highly unlikely that they'd be wearing blazers and ties though.
Or white button up shirts that are only remotely close to 'no-iron' if washed at 30 and spun on a slow speed, which means taking them out the machine and re-spinning the rest. Not if you have to soak them, but then they are white... Now that is what I call a ballache, not choosing jeans and favorite t-shirt, then second favorite, and so on until the wash has been done, then simply repeat .

outofideas no uniform or dress code in DDs sixth form. They are encouraged to make their own decisions about what is appropriate. It's such an outdated notion to get them to wear 'business attire' as thats just not how lots of businesses operate these days. I'd be fuming having to kit them out to look like bank clerks!

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

This for me too - is it too idealistic?

I think schools in the OP have the choice between banning more and more things to quell students' desire to be individualistic/on trend/whatever, or create a kind of school-wide ethos that students are there to learn and grow together, and that includes sensitivity towards and acceptance of learning alongside fellow students from all walks of life. So a prat in Gucci is still a prat.

I could take or leave uniform as a principle. There's pros to uniform and not having a uniform.

The problem, personally, is the growth of single supplier uniform (which seems to go hand in hand with parents refusing to realise that if the uniform says no trainers and they buy little Timmy trainers or Jess wears leggings instead of school trousers then that's ridiculous).

TBF while I'm pro uniform, I'm also quiet anti blazers. I think they are the most useless pointless garments ever invented.

They don't keep kids warm or dry and in summer it's too hot to wear them.
A midweight waterproof jacket / fleece makes much more sense.

It’s not a perfect system but the kid who wears Asda jeans and primark trainers every day will be noticed more.

I don't think that is a given. Neither of my two wear loads of branded clothes and their friends are the same. As I said before DS lives in Primark straight leg jeans as they fit him so well. DD works in Primark so buys most of her stuff there too.
They are more likely to actively avoid brands because of the 'Roadmen' connotations. Nike, The North Face, EA7, Hype and Under Armour are all no go, and Superdry and Hollister have now become 'Dad' brands apparently!
Perhaps it's area dependant though. We live in a very poor area.

DD is starting pre school and has to wear uniform for it and they strongly encourage the book bag.
They made a huge thing about labelling everything because of the stuff getting mixed up.
Of course they get mixed up when you have 30 toddlers wearing identical outfits and carrying identical bags!
I think they should specify the type of clothing - long sleeve t shirts. Leggings or jogging bottoms, velcro shoes and leave it at that.

My kids independent school, everyone buys huge uniform sizes which last 2-3 years for girls, blazer for boys lasts years too but I get you would fitted trousers for boys, but m and s always have 20% off

You can also just buy eg 2 sets and wash midweek....