School want to change uniform, I'm not happy....

[chubbleigh]

I thought I would be in the majority by saying I don't want it to change but as it turns out I might not be. Proposal is to change from polo shirts and sweatshirts to shirts, ties, v-necks and blazers - this is for a primary school by the way. I can't imagine why anyone would want something that costs more and takes more time to look after - I just don't get it. The few opinions that I have heard so far are 'it looks cute' but to me that is not a good reason. Furthermore I have heard the school have the idea of subsidising the new uniform for a set period of time. That really gets me, I don't know where the cash would come from for this but object greatly if it is from within school money.
I have a many many reasons for not wanting it to change but the main ones are time and money.
Any experiences please.

Sounds bonkers to me. I'd remind the school that uniform is not compulsory for primary schools and inform them of my intention not to dress my child in the new one.

Blazers and ties for primary? FFS!

What a barmy idea.

Our school has 3 sets of uniform.

Year R - polo shirts and sweatshirts with trousers/skirts.
Year 1 and 2 - polo shirts and jumpers with trousers/skirts.
Year 3-6 - shirts/blouses with ties, jumpers and trousers/skirts.

That is enough and early enough for ties imo.

No NO NO. Much prefer polo shirts on primary aged children.
Why are they changing???

Our school did the opposite much to my disappointment (Junior school)

They changed from proper shirts with collar and tie (no blazer though) to little white polo shirts with the school logo and sweatshirts to go over them in winter.

The kids looked so much smarter before

Having said that, they phased it in slowly and didn't demand parents buy new uniform...they just asked to replace with the new one as and when they needed to.

soverylucky is thinking like me. It is not an academy it is RC and I fear a top down suggestion from the governors rather than something parents identified as a need for change.

It's more likely the Head identified a need for change and consulted the Governors about it.

Sounds as though they just want to smarten the kids up. A blazer is way OTT for a primary school imo.

this happened at my DS's school last year.

Previously the uniform had been white polo shirts and school jumpers etc and it was changed to "proper" shirts and ties (no blazer though)

Have to say much prefer the new uniform as the kids look much smarter. Think a blazer is OTT though.

It's the governers decision, so you need to talk to them and find out why they think it's a good idea......

Sounds like a terrible idea to me. And if you can convince the govs that it is terrible then it won't be brought in.........

I had a choice of 3 schools. I didn't even bother looking at the one that makes the girls wear kilts and blouses, and the boys wear shorts, shirts, and ties. And that uniform starts in Nursery!

I think the school can enforce it's uniform policy though - www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_4016078

Write to the governors and ask how much money they are planning to put aside to spend on clothing, and which budget that money is coming from.

Sounds nuts to me.

Shirts will need ironing. Blazers will need dry cleaning if they are wool. Young DCs will need help with ties (and they can be a throttling hazard too). And then there's the cost of buying them all.

I think you need to set this all out to the school and ask what their counterbalancing reasons are for making the change.

I think shirts, ties and v neck jumpers are much smarter. Asda does nice v neck jumpers for £2 each, shirts - well every supermarket sells packs of three or more for less than a fiver. Not exactly going to break the bank and the children will all look much smarter. YABU

It sounds silly to me - firstly what's the point of changing when there's nothing wrong with the current uniform? And the current one sounds more comfortable/practical for primary age children, who surely should be running around and playing at break time.

And it seems weird to me to put kids of that age in blazers and ties - in fact I don't really see the purpose of ties at any age!

I disagree that shirts and ties are smarter.

They are if they are worn properly, and I'm sure the majority of children look very smart at the beginning of term or first thing in the mornings, but the majority of the time they aren't worn properly.

Primary aged children cant be expected to keep their ties straight and at the right length the whole time, and have shirts properly buttoned and tucked in at all times. So the result is that they end up looking a mess and frankly, quite scruffy. Especially as the collars and cuffs on white shirts seem to look constantly grubby, and there are parents who understandably don't iron the shirts their children have to wear every day.

My children have a polo/sweatshirt uniform, and honestly, they do look much smarter than the children from the neighbouring shirt/tie school, simply because there really isn't any scope for them to wear the uniform incorrectly.

Teachers will hate it come games and PE time; they're bound to be on your side given they will have to help with buttons, collars, ties etc.

It does look cute but really ... shirts need ironed and that's dull. Polo shirts and sweaters are the way to go at least for primary.

But surely polo shirts also need ironed too!

Come on, how hard is it to iron five shirts a week!

Our polo shirts go in the tumble drier and come out perfect!

I hate ironing and save it up to do in one big go, or I pay someone else to do it. So for me, ironing five shirts a week would be a major PITA if if was an unneccesary uniform change.

I'm in Canada where there are very few uniform schools, but I would resent having to iron anything for children to wear... ridiculous! Even dh wears non-iron shirts to work!

I like the polos and sweatshirts uniform that DS has. It's for Yr R - Yr 3. Yr 4 and above wear shirts and blazers. The main gripes that I have with blazers are:

1. Cost
2. Washability (or lack thereof!)

DS gets food on his sleeves and down the front of his sweatshirt most days. I can't imagine what a blazer would look like - at least I can shove the jumper in the washer and the dryer!

My 2 DS wear polo shirt, sweatshirt and trousers/shorts. Nothing gets ironed - just washed and hung out to dry!

I don't iron my own clothes so certainly wouldn't start ironing school shirts!!

Also agree with whoever it was that said polos etc look smarter - you can't really 'wear' them untidily IFYSWIM. Whilst with formal shirts and ties they just end up looking a mess.

Def question the school on their reasons for doing this.

when we lived down south i was really pissed off at the amount of schools that just had polo shirts there were only 2 or 3 in our area that had shirt and ties im so glad we never got round to putting DD in class down there as we moved back to scotland where it is extremely unusual for polo shirts to be the norm, where i live its deemed as chavvy to wear a polo and sweatshirt/cardigan.

my DCs' last school changed the uniform and logo several times while they were there. It was ridiculous because they had to phase it in, so obviously the older children carried on wearing their previous uniform and the parents carried on handing that down to their younger DCs! There were so many variations in the same school they might as well not have bothered having a "uniform" at all.

Euphemia Having had kids attend schools in both the west of Scotland (Ayrshire) and the South of England I can completely agree. When Ds started school I was £140 and that was just the order from school (school coat, sweaters, tie (for a few special days), polo shirts, pe kit and book bag). I was the same for both DC's in England as no need for school coat's, tie's or school pe kit's.

DC's school now have a tie for yr 6 to wear on special occasions and I feel that is more than enough time to get used to the idea in time for secondary school.