Primary schools without uniforms in West London

[DexterMoonboots]

We're Canadian and moving to London January 2020. We're looking for a home in areas like Chiswick, Ealing, Acton, Richmond and Pinner. Wondering if there arw any primary schools (public or private) that don't have uniforms? Getting our 6-year-old to wear a uniform is going to be a daily fight.

@MeanMrMustardSeed I think you could be right about that. Fingers crossed!

@meditrina thank you!

@TheQueef that's a great point!

I must admit that before my children started school I didn’t much like the idea of uniform. Now I lay it out the night before in the usual place and the children put it on.

I have one child who doesn’t much care what he wears, as long as he’s comfortable. My other child minds very much what she wears so uniform is a bit of a life saver.

@DurhamDurham I agree - it could make things easier for sure. Of course it's not the main consideration but being new to it all I wanted to get a sense of how prevalent uniforms are.

Haha alright settle down @mencken.

I have to say i am surprised how rare non uniform seems to be. Among our local (state) schools it's about 50-50 and my dc's school have only half a uniform (t shirt/sweat shirt with any trousers/skirts/shorts/shoes). Didn't realise this was so unusual.

I live in SW London, and around us, the only schools that have uncomfortable looking uniforms are church schools. Most non-church schools have a uniform of logo sweatshirt and polo shirt with generic trousers/skirt/pinafore. If you are hoping for a state school in year place, I would not expect to have much choice (definitely not in Richmond Borough anyway) and almost zero chance of a church school. You are most likely to be offered a school with a relatively relaxed uniform code. eg the school I work in turns a blind eye to leggings, and even trainers so long as they are black. We have objected this week to a couple of DC who turned up wearing joggers with big logos on though.

If you fancy private, Hampton Court House as mentioned above is superficially non-uniform, but very much has an expectation of conforming to a middle class bohemian aesthetic.

Little Ealing primary school has no uniform and is within Ealing borough.

Firstly, can you afford to pay private school fees?

Its not going to be quite as simple as - find a school with no uniform, get in, find a home nearby. For state schools you are going to need an address to apply from and the state schools without uniform are going to be few and far between. Application to private might not be such an issue, but where are you going to live? Are you planning to drive schoolrun halfway across West London twice a day? Rather you than me...

I would figure out what area you are going to base yourselves in dependent on work, environment, affordability etc and make uniform maybe one criteria for considering a school, but frankly I'd put it well down the list if on there at all. I think you'd be bonkers to make a school decision primarily on this basis, especially when a uniform sounds like the solution not the problem (getting dressed will be a Thing every single day at a nonuniform school with a picky child, whereas uniform is uniform, nobody can make a fuss about that every day for months on end).

Private schools are more likely to have restrictive, archaic, or otherwise uncomfortable uniform.

I love the idea that uniform saves arguments in the morning but unfortunately in my experience it's not true. Somehow whichever almost identical school dress will have the wrong zip on, or long sleeved polos are suddenly fashion suicide, or "everyone else" gets away with wearing something not on the approved list. And this is from an early peimary child, so i dread to imagine secondary. At the weekend age just gets dressed l. So i agree with the OP in some ways that uniform is such a waste of energy, but unfortunately there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to picking a school. Tgat said, in year places in London aren't so hard to come by ime - there's always lots of movement.

American schools don't have uniforms.. In terms of state schools, there are several more liberal, no uniform schools in the borough of Lewisham. Not sure of the exact names but the coucil should be able to help.

French schools don't usually have uniforms. But you'd need to move extremely close to one,and have cast iron reasons why your DC needs French education (Canadian families do sometimes get places). Some schools are joint Lycee/British state school, which might be worth a look, ad you can then choose either British or French system for secondary. But I think you have to make practically on top of the school to stand a chance of getting a place, even for French families.

most schools (primary) have a fairly basic uiform - polo shirt, sweatshirt and either skirt or trousers - ASDA do jersey stretchy trousers that most of the girls wear.

is she opinionated because you have allowed her to be or does she have special needs? if so you should really be looking at a school that can cater to all of her needs

Having a uniform means there is no fight, they know exactly what they have to wear. Primaries tend to be sweatshirts, polo shirts and trousers/skirts and black shoes. Some are stricter than others though, private schools tend to have more formal uniform

My dd was the same. She'd refuse to get dressed. So one morning I took her to school in her pyjamas.
She never refused again. The added bonus was the story lived on and her younger siblings caused my no such problems.

Hampton Court house school is a great small all through school with no uniform ( the “dress code “ is really not enforced in the primary school years) it is also bilingual ( English/ french ) might be interesting for you being Canadian.

As others have said, Little Ealing is non uniform, but massively oversubscribed. I would say that your chance of getting an in-year place there is very slim indeed. All other state school in Ealing have a uniform.