To think that school uniform policies can be a little ott?

[anditwasallyellow]

Probably in the minority here.

I agree with the principle of a uniform but I think sometimes they are a little impractical and uncomfortable. Cannot see the point in blazers, blazer and work style trousers you are basically in a suit which is hardly the most comfortable thing to wear all day. And ties, especially for small children, ds new school has a tie policy even for the reception kids, it's on a bit of string!

My school had a great uniform a school tracksuit which consisted of a sweatshirt with the school logo, polo shirt underneath and sweatshirt trousers, looked awful but we were all the same and it was comfy and practical. Summer uniform was summer dresses for the girls and polo shirt and sweatshirt style shorts for the boys.

There is no evidence at all that uniform promotes good behaviour or academic success, that's just nonsense.

A high achieving results grammar gets good results because it's creamed off the brightest kids not because they wear ties.

Conformity does not achieve success but good senior management team in s school does.

My ds is a head teacher of very sucessful huge Kent secondary school, she would gladly abolish uniform as issues with it take up do much teaching time, how fuckin sad is it for an adult to be constantly telling s child to do top button up or worry about the length of s teenagers skirt, pathetic.

At dds school on non uniform days no one actually does turn up in a short skirt, ironically they dress much more sensibly in jeans or legging.

Lots of work places now have a smart/ casual or even dress down policy, time schools caught up.

Hang over from stupid class system. Look at the ridiculous Eton uniform.

Let's celebrate and encourage our kids diversity and originality not stifle and hormoginise them.

To add I went to a high achieving grammar in brum( you know in the days when working class kids could and it wasn't the preserve of middle class kids who are expensively tutored from the cradle)

My parents really struggled to buy the uniform for me and ds, we didn't get a holiday that year. Sickening.

I can't see why DD can't wear any trousers she likes (she hates jeans), polo shirt, hoody and boots like she does at weekends.

The grief we have, over finding school shoes.

I personally liked that I had to wear uniform at school. It meant not having to plan what to wear everyday, and as a girl especially when in my teens it was o much simpler.

I agree with Sirzy - blazer pockets are really useful.

I went to one of the highest achieving secondary schools in the country which seems to do just fine without a uniform (by the simple method of only selecting intelligent children). Also, despite the huge disparities of wealth that there were in the school (really, the full spectrum all the way up to children of actual millionaires and aristocracy), there was never any clothes-based bullying or unpleasantness. One of my best friends wore a parka with a giant appliqued carrot on the back every day for several years (this was before parkas were in any way fashionable). A good school will teach you quite easily that it's what is going on inside your head that matters, not what you are wearing.

Wish we were like the continent - jeans & sweatshirts!!

What carycach said! I'm all for school uniform. I never wore school uniform when I was a kid, it was obvious I was the poor kid from what I was wearing aswell!

NI has its problems but scruffy schoolchildren isn't one of them. Both Grammar and Secondary schools have smart uniforms including blazers and the pupils look tidy and ready for studying. I am horrified when I see the state of pupil's attire in England, mini skirts, Ugg boots, sweatshirts, dangly jewelery, trainers, ties not knotted properly etc. What hope do they have when they need to look smart for work?

I hated school in almost every way. The one thing they did right, IMO, was having a very strict uniform policy. No, the clothes weren't particularly comfortable, but we were all the same (right down to the navy skirt which would only be bought from one supplier).

I had no idea of fashion back then, and my parents had very little money to buy clothes anyway. If there hadn't been uniform I would have even more been bullied and excluded for not fitting in, I am absolutely sure of that.

I was teased at school for having the wrong trainers, no school uniform would have been my idea of hell!

I missed alot of time from secondary school as I didn't have the correct uniform and I knew I'd get a bollocking for it so I just didn't go.

I used to miss PE days most of the time as well because my
Mum never bought me a hocky skirt and knickers or a rugby shirt or the logo-ed Tshirt.

I actually think you get a lot more clothes-based teasing at uniformed schools. It makes what you are wearing into a huge issue, which it really shouldn't be. Also, the idea that because teenagers are scruffy they'll never be able to be smart at work is frankly bizarre. Haven't you changed at all since your teenage years, axure?!

I don't mind the smarter look of our uniforms but I don't see why they can't incorporate some sort of smart shorts for the boys in summer.

The girls have the option of wearing a skirt in warmer weather but the boys are still stuck in the same long black trousers they've been wearing all winter.

SIL has recently emigrated to a hot country and is sending lots of photo's of their children in their uniforms, which are not as smart as blazers etc but are at least designed so the children are comfortable in the climate they are in and I think that's as important as the look of the uniform.

Getting into the right mindset by dressing the part is one thing but being too hot and uncomfortable to to concentrate surely makes it pointless.

It's become a cliche that great artist talk of the repression in their youth that was so important. So I doubt the need to wear a uniform will repress the truly creative.

Rebelling over uniform is a pleasing way to challenge authority without the pupils having to do worse to get a reaction.

But I think I would rebel over a clip on tie.

dd adores her blazer. Loads of pockets to stash stuff in. it dries really quickly and I know that in the winter, shes at least going to be wearing something half resembling a coat.

I don't mind small childrens uniforms - Smart trousers, polo shirt and school jumper is sufficient though, IMO.

I think secondary schools can be a bit OTT though. I'm not a fan of blazers for KS4 students especially - My brother was 6ft1 a the start of year 11 and is big built and the cost of the school blazer was ridiculous, especially for someone like my mum who is only on disability benefits.

Its not so bad if you kid is a normal size, but when you're paying nearly double because of needing a bigger size its a bit ridiculous.

In a work place you would shop around, so I don't think the "getting them used to work rules" applies here.

Plus you don't wear uniform at college or uni?

Most uniforms are ugly and uncomfortable. What's more, DCs who have to wear uniforms never learn for themselves what suits them in a formal context (hence, IMO, why many British adults are so badly dressed).

I'm with OhYouGreatGreatBritain's dd. I was really shocked when I left school and found that most women's jackets didn't have pockets! Blazers are great!

And I wore a tie to school from the age of four - never found it a problem. We wore them in everything from a double windsor knot to the way it's wrapped round and round so a huge knot and very little else. Hardly regimental.

And I absolutely agree with Edith - "Rebelling over uniform is a pleasing way to challenge authority without the pupils having to do worse to get a reaction." Amongst my friends we would compete to look as un-uniformed as possible, BUT our rule was that you had to stick to the uniform rules. I felt greatly complimented when my English teacher remarked that although I was wearing the uniform, I really didn't look it.

The argument that school uniform prevents clothing-based bullying is a fallacy. It just makes it more subtle. Our secondary school had a relatively strict uniform, but if you were caught wearing a pleated "schoolwear" skirt rather than a women's skirt from Dorothy Perkins or M&S, it marked you out. The same went for boys in flannel school trousers rather than suit-style trousers. The absolute worst was being found to be wearing second-hand stuff from the school "nearly new" shop. Even charity shop stuff was better - normally because the bastards didn't see your mum going in and out.

DD's school is exactly the same. When the head tried to tighten up the rules, the bullies homed in on bags. If regulation bags were introduced, it would be how you carried the bag.

If schools were really committed to having a functional, identifiable uniform for boys and girls, they'd have them in combats and logo t-shirts, which is what a large proportion of adult uniforms consist of.

Thesmallclanger I agree. In secondary school especially - Not only the brand of your uniform items, But also, we did socialize outside of school! If you turned up to the youth club wearing something dodgey you got ripped at school. So it made absolutely no sense that a uniform would prevent bullying excluding the bullies and not the victims would have been a much better start there

Also, how about giving them chance to use initiative (in secondary obviously, not primary). If I have to go somewhere, I wear the clothes best suited for the task.

In school, given chance, I'd have liked to have been able to dress up smartly for things like presentations (as you would at work) instead of just looking the same all the time.

When we went to berlin with school, we didn't have to wear uniform, but I seem to remember that on the day we went to saschenhausen we all dressed reasonably smartly as a mark of respect to what we were visiting.

With a uniform there's less focus on clothes, so more creativity and thought can be channelled into learning and other areas of expression. Young people can learn about accepting those of different personalities and views, rather than just the surface aspects of what people look like.

School uniform is great and the stricter the better imo - no faffing about what to wear each morning and having to wear the latest trainers etc.

Oh yes the catty, fault picking type of girl will still find a way to bully the less fashion conscious.

"Your trousers are too short".
"Your waist band is too high"
"Your shoes are comfortable and suitable for school"

And worst of all the having to choose being bullied or risking detention ones.

"Don't tie your tie up properly"
"Roll your skirt up to your knickers"
"Plaster yourself in make up"

All in direct contravention of the rules.

Also far too much freedom for power mad jerks of teachers to throw their weight about.

I never thought it was a coincidence that it was our worst teachers who cared if we did our top buttons up!