Wearing PE kit to school

[DappledThings]

Our primary school (DC are 8 and 9 in years 3 and 5) have decided that from next term they will be doing what I know a lot of other schools do and spending all day in PE kit on PE days.

I hate this for multiple reasons so if you already do this and you don't hate it please can you explain why as I can't see past the extra hassle it is for me and I'm fairly pissed off with it.

1 - I have had to order extra kit. If they are wearing it all day they will get food down it and it will need to be washed every day so I now need duplicate kit for when one set is in the wash. Previously it just came home on Fridays so easy to wash at the weekend

2 - I have to remember every day who is wearing what and tell DC. Minor but just another thing to remember in the morning rush I could do without

3 - Both have a sports based after school club once a week on non-PE days. This used to not matter because they just changed into the kit that was already on their pegs. Now it's a day they have to go in uniform and remember their kit that I've had to give an additional wash to. So three different routines in one week.

4 - they will just look scruffy 2 days a week in a mishmash of blue and black joggers and hoodies and whatever else vaguely PE related people.chose to send their children in wearing.

It just seems like a massive hassle the school are putting on us to save themselves a few minutes of chivvying the class into changing quicker.

So your children previously had one set of PE kit that they wore on separate days for PE and then additionally for school sports and each time just took it off and stuffed it back in the bag and it was only washed once a week.... If that was ok they're clearly not messy children so you won't have to worry about them dirtying this lot, if you didn't wash it when it was in school why would you now? (I would but I also wouldn't have let them wear the same screwed up PE kit 3/4 times a week without washing it)

DS has two sets of PE kit and 3 sets of uniform. That does him for a week, I wash it all at the weekend. DH irons it on a Sunday and it's all hung in the wardrobe ready for the week. It's no hassle.

My child’s school changed to wearing PE kit for the day. Wish they had informed us before the start of school because I had brought enough shirts to cover the week. I have brought two PE jumpers as it was a pain to get the one washed in the week for the second wear but you soon get into the habit

I'm similar in that 1 in year 3 and one in year 5, they wear their PE 2x a week or more. I find it easier, I have 2 PE kits each, but it balances out with less uniforms. I do a mid week wash on Wednesday so it works out well for me. If I need a faster turnaround I will do a quick 30mins refresh wash. You get into a routine.

PE kit wearing all days at school is just amazing. All that wasted time faffing changing when they could be sitting in much more comfortable clothes ALL day! Uniforms are basically a hang up of some weird Victorian era. Bring in practical PE kit everyday of the week is what I say! And actually I think the supermarket basic joggers and t-shirts are actually cheaper and the footwear is better for feet. Literally nothing to not like about it.

So your children previously had one set of PE kit that they wore on separate days for PE and then additionally for school sports and each time just took it off and stuffed it back in the bag and it was only washed once a week.... If that was ok they're clearly not messy children so you won't have to worry about them dirtying this lot, if you didn't wash it when it was in school why would you now?
Because kit worn for 3 x 1 hour sessions away from food and pens doesn't get dirty in the same way as an outfit worn all day does. It's not comparable.

I have 3 aged 4, 8 and 11. They all remember when their pe day is - I don’t need to remember.

I like it, we have 2 PE days and 3 normal, it means I can buy less uniform overall as i can wash the PE kit on normal uniform day, and vice versa. My child also prefers the PE kit, the joggers and being able to wear trainers is much comfier than school trousers and shoes.

I find it much easier. I don’t need to iron his joggers like I do his school trousers. The PE t-shirts were like £3 for 2 from Tesco and his black joggers he wears on weekend and school holidays as well so they’re just a normal part of his wardrobe and not really saved for school, I just make sure he has a pair clean for Mondays. He doesn’t a sport based activity after school on PE day so he doesn’t have to get changed if he doesn’t want to (he often does as he prefers shorts and vest for his activity). He’s only 5 and he can remember which day is PE day mostly….although we did get halfway to school before I realised he’d put his shoes on instead of his trainers last month so he had to wear his shoes with his PE kit for the day 🙈.

I much prefer it!

I have two at different schools, and the one who has to take his PE kit into school has lost 2 things already this year. Also carrying extra stuff in his already heavy bag is a complete pain.

The other one has no problems - he just has one afternoon a week of sports, so I wash at the weekends normally, but the kit is very light and quick drying and it’s been easy to wash and dry overnight when I’ve needed to.

It also saves a lot of lesson time - changing in and out of uniform can take 20 minutes that could be used for actually playing games.

I hated PE kit at school, it looked rubbish on pretty much everyone and felt much more exposing than normal uniform. My ongoing body image issues are very largely PE kit related.

I’ve got two in different schools and neither has done the ‘go in pe kit’ thing.

School 1: pe kit stays in school all the time and acts as a spare set of clothes. It quite often comes back muddy and I wouldn’t love it if they were wearing it all the time.

school 2: pe kit worn a lot more but still tend to go in school uniform but sometimes stay in it. Child often comes home in pe kit if they have stuff after school. School 2’s pe kit is about 10 times the cost of school 1 though but is more practical.

School 1 is less effort. I don’t have to think about it at all.

Our school decided to do this in September when the school year had just started. So I’d annoyingly already purchased all the uniform for 5 days a week!

DS has PE twice a week and the days switch every other week, so we need to have it in the shared calendar with a reminder set to go off the evening before. I get all the clothes out each night for the kids as they always get dressed downstairs in the family room after breakfast. We have two sets of PE kit, but the sweatshirt is black so this can often get reused for the second PE day.

DS also does after school sports clubs twice a week. He has a separate kit specifically for this that he takes in on the day. Thats also in the shared calendar with a reminder set for the night before so I can put the bag by the front door ready. It takes a lot of organising in the calendar, but once it’s in and set to repeat we just follow what it tells us 😂

I love it!

DS is Y3 and goes in his PE kit twice a week. He has two pairs of black joggers, two white t-shirts and a school PE hoodie. If the hoodie gets dirty I have to wash it as he has PE two days in a row, but it's usually fairly clean so he wears it twice. It looks SO much more comfortable than the uniform, which is fairly relaxed in itself (polo shirt and sweatshirt/cardigan).

They introduced it when DD was in Y1 (early 2019, so before Covid) and it was a gamechanger. She really struggled with getting dressed then and it made life so much easier for her. She's Y7 now and is most disgruntled that she has to get changed for PE now, but I think it's different in high school.

It could be worse tbh. I have 4 kids with 2 in primary school, 1 in school nursery and 1 in private nursery. Our week is:

Monday - Outdoor PE for school age kids. Wear kit to school (Hoody, t-shirt/polo and joggers/leggings) plus outdoor PE shoes. Indoor shoes in bag in case they decide to do indoor PE instead or get dirty etc. Plus spare PE top and long bottoms in bag. School nursery child needs uniform which is entirely different colours from main school uniform and involves a branded cardigan, polo and leggings. Plus at least 1 full spare set of uniform in bag. Also outdoor and indoor shoes. Private nursery child wears own clothes but also requires spares, shoes and outerwear for messy type outdoor play. Oh and clean bottles and formula powder, dummy etc.

Tuesday - Indoor PE for older kids. This time they wear full school uniform. With proper school shoes. They now have to have indoor PE kit in their bags (usually shorts and t-shirt) but also have to take spare longer bottoms plus the indoor PE shoes. So this involves a whole reshuffle of bags on a Monday evening.

Wednesday - Older kids plus school nursery kid all back to full uniform. Plus spares. So the bags for older ones have had to be shuffled around again on the Tuesday night because now they need spare uniform rather than PE kit. Proper shoes worn and indoor PE shoes in bag. Nursery child and private nursery child same as Monday. But nursery child has probably had an accident on Monday so their bag will need spare clothes restocked.

Thursday and Friday - Same as Wednesday but private nursery child doesn't attend on these days.

Also, school and school nursery kids all get dropped off at 8:15am in the same location. Private nursery is 5 minutes drive away after this. School kids are picked up at 3pm. School nursery and private nursery kids usually picked around 5pm ish in 2 different locations. Obviously not at the exact same time.

I quite enjoy the lack of having to really think about what they're wearing at the weekend!

As a parent and a teacher I genuinely don't understand why this is an issue.

It's so much easier than remembering to send in PE kit. Plus y3 and y5 kids are more than capable of remembering the days and getting themselves ready. It's my son's fave days of the week. He never forgets! He gets to be comfy without the horrible school trousers.

That uniform is so outdated and needs changing to joggers and a normal t shirt. Dreading high school with shirts and blazers, but that's a while different thread!

I like it, PE uniform is low maintenance. Maybe I've got particularly careful kids (I doubt it) but mine have managed for years to wear the jumper twice in a week without it being washed in-between. PE jumpers tend to be dark in colour and so don't really look dirty in the same way. I did source 2 sets of joggers and 2 white PE t-shirts though.

Our school do this and it does bug me mainly because previously I bought cheap shorts, t-shirt and plimsolls that were left in school and sent home to wash every half term, the whole thing cost less than £10. Now they have to have the school branded kit at £30 a pop and it's awful quality, brand new in September kit looking worn on the knees and other kids in the class have already got holes in theirs. I also have to buy trainers as plimsolls aren't suitable for all day in winter and they need to be decent leather trainers to survive the walk to school in the rain. I won't let them wear their home trainers for school because they'll end up battered so it's an extra £50+ so for 2 pe kits and trainers it's over £100 absolutely ridiculous.

All three of my boys have been responsible for knowing which day is PE uniform and which day is formal uniform from when they were in Year 1 (so age 6). I wouldn’t have had a clue. We didn’t use a visual calendar, but if you think your children may need a visual prompt then you can make a weekly schedule easily. Also, why are they getting food down their clothes at age 8 and 9? Sorry, I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill here.

I wish we had either no uniform or Australian type, complete with hat.

OP one thing I think is really good about this is that girls on their period are not being forced to change in a classroom with a teacher there.

The lesson only starts when the slowest child is changed. And some kids won’t have opened their PE bag when others have been ready waiting for 20 mins.

That seems to be the irritation OP, it sounds a little dismissive to say the school are changing to save themselves ‘a bit’ of time and hassle. I used to help out at my kids school and honestly it can be bedlam waiting for 30 odd children to get changed, who lose things, take forever and or need help putting things on. I get it’s irritating for you to sort out your kids but I also get why the school are seeking ways to maximise the lesson itself and minimise disruption for 1 or 2 staff dealing with an entire class.

Our son had this is year 7.

1. It was cheaper to buy additional PE kit than uniform, so we were quids in.
2. Less lost PE kit/ uniform.
3. Less time lost at school.
4. You get into the routine of which days are which very quickly.
5. I found it reduced laundry time during the week, as PE kit didn't need ironing etc, so I could get away without doing the midweek uniform iron I had always needed with 5 days of shirts and trousers.

For us, it was honest a massively improvement!

If they’re wearing PE kit more often you just need more PE shirts and less school shirts. It’s really not harder to manage.

It takes far longer than “a couple of minutes” for a class of primary school kids to get ready for PE and then back into uniform after. Especially as kids increasingly can’t dress themselves when they get to school.

anyone else remember doing indoor PE in vest and pants at school in the 70s?