to ask: What's the point in school uniforms?

[allrightluv]

They serve no purpose and promote conformity. Differences in income are expressed in other ways - shoes, bags, mobiles, in fact, even more so. Kids are judged by which school they go to (state/private). Thanks to the uniform you can tell by a mile off. Kids wear brands anyway - after school, at the weekends and in the holidays, so it's not any cheaper to wear a uniform to school. Consumerism is the most pronounced in the UK of all European countries.

Other countries like Sweden have no uniforms at school and few uniforms in work life, too, and rate much higher in terms of kids' happiness etc.

I'm not saying there's a causal link, but uniforms are not helping...

I love the fact that my DC wear school uniform and so do they. I like it because DD would be a nightmare if she had a choice each day and we would certainly have more rows. The uniform is reasonably priced and very easy to wash and iron (actually, don't even need to iron skirts/trousers but I mainly do). It's great when they go on school trips as it is easy to identify them. Also I think if an older child decided to play truant, they would be easily identified.

The children like the sense of 'belonging' to a school they are proud of.

In terms of being 'conformist', normally on a mufti day, they are all dressed v. similarly any way - they like to dress like their peers.

I do think there is something to be said for slightly more expensive natural fibre type uniforms. Instead of children having 5 cheap shiny sweatshirts buy them one nicer one and they learn to look after it.

Just choose a school that doesn't require a uniform? Personally i grew up going to a fee paying uniform wearing school... Summer uniform, winter uniform, blazers, tights the whole shebang! And as we all moaned about it i think we all secretly liked it... Except when i got in trouble for wearing the wrong colour hair elastic! But i felt it promoted pride and respect for our school. We always looked smart.

Saves me ten crucial minutes while the DC are dressing for school - worth their weight in gold

I would buy the uniform argument except I hate ours because it's of such bad quality and still expensive. And DD goes to what might be considered a posh school.
I'd much rather go to GAP or some such (uniforms are same price) and buy some nice cotton clothes which I would not care if DD mucked up.
Anybody have uniforms that are actually nice?

I'm very much pro uniform, for the same reasons as everyone else!

My Mum transformed a struggling primary school 25 years ago - establishing a uniform was a key part of their strategy for raising standards and behaviour and it worked.

I've never heard a primary child complain about a uniform

Come to my house and listen to my six year old whinge approximately four days a week! She had a year of no uniform and then they brought one in. She loathes it.

There is no evidence to show that uniforms are instrumental in raising academic standards, DewDr0p. The Sutton Trust lists it as among the least effective ways to improve a school.

I like it more than I thought I would.

DD at a church primary, apart from the logo'd t-shirt/sweatshirt (on their third school year now), the rest can be (and is) a mixture of inexpensive handmedowns/M&S/John Lewis/ebay/Sainsburys. The other regulations are sensibly relaxed - "grey", "dark", no specific shades or shops.

I don't do ironing anyway, but it doesn't need ironing.

She likes to wear her school shoes quite a lot out of school - so they do wear out, it's not just being grown out of.

And she looks so cute in the first day photos for the gps.

I also as a teenager had weeks of planning and angst for any non-uniform day. This might have been less if it was non-uniform all the time, but I don't think it would have totally disappeared. And I do agree with the "give them something to rebel against" school of thought.

My son had chronic eczema on his legs, and the teflon coated school trousers were a nightmare in making it worse..... We had endless to ing and fro ing with the Head, who would not bend on school uniform trousers ( and once humiliated him in front of the whole school for daring to wear identical, cotton trousers :()- there are several outlets now which do now produce cotton school trousers and skirts, but at a premium price - M and S do a range, and so do GAP, plus the dreaded Amazon did a good quality cotton range last year ( trutex cotton trousers).

School sweatshirts are literally that because they are usually polyester and also not great for kids with sensitive skin. - I have been part of a campaign to put pressure on school uniform suppliers to provide a decently priced cotton alternative to all components of school uniform.

I used to be a little anti uniform despite being a secondary teacher. However on a CPD day I spent a day in our largeswt feeder primary school. It was a cold day in February and I was so shocked by what the children were wearing. The school was in the poorest area of town and although there was a uniform it was not enforced.

The children were mostly painfully thin and wearing thin cotton clothes with track suit tops. They were mostly wearing plimsols. They were the younger siblings of my students. Yet at secondary school, where the uniform could be enforced, there was no clue to how poor they were by what they were wearing. They would mostly have qualified for a school uniform grant.

Since that experience I have been 100% for school uniforms.

I think school uniforms look much smarter. I worked as an english assistant in France for a year and just thought the whole non-uniform thing was a bit scruffy looking in general. Plus, the number of times I got mistaken for a pupil and was shouted at for being out of class was unbelievable!

Definitely for a uniform! Easier for parents and also teaching staff as we all know what is expected. If there isn't a uniform, are they allowed jeans, are they allowed shorts, how short can the skirts be, and so on. A uniform takes away all those issues and makes family life easier in the morning.

I wish uniform for little kids would just be a sweatshirt and tracky bots in the school colours. I hate all this polo shirt/ scratchy grey "slacks"/shiny black shoes awfulness.
It's not comfy or practical.
School uniform for older kids mainly exists so that men in white vans can lean out and shout at the girls with their uniform skirts as short as they can make them.
Secondary kids always look either scruffy/ geeky or slutty no matter what. (I always managed all three!)
In fact, if I was prime minister secondary school uniform would be plain jeans and a sweatshirt. Easy.

Those who don't understand school uniforms have obviously never been the poor kid of the class.
^^
This

I would have LOVED a uniform in my school. I was always the kid with the "wrong" clothes and my life was made miserable because of it.

But I guess it doesn't matter if the poor kids to get bullied as long as the OP's children get to express their individuality.

Plus, the number of times I got mistaken for a pupil and was shouted at for being out of class was unbelievable! I hope they were very apologetic when they realised!

My dds wear a shirt and tie from Y1 and although they don't ever complain, i notice that my 5 year old always strips down to her vest and pants as soon as she gets home, so she can't find the uniform very comfortable. I dont remember her doing this in Recep when she wore a polo shirt and sweatshirt which was probably more comfy.

I don't have a problem with DC wearing a school uniform, for many different reasons pp have already listed.

I felt I had to add my bit though: to the posters mentioning uniforms hampering their DC individuality - there are many, many other ways of expressing individuality/being a free thinker without being obsessed with what you look like.

Another pro uniform

Love that it gives a sense of belonging. its like wearing your team colours. It's easy for parents and means students focus their energy on other things rather than what people wear.

I used to like wearing my school uniform. i also remember wearing brownie uniform to school once a year as a highlight of my childhood.

Weirdly i chose a career where you can wear whatever you like..

*I actually think wearing a uniform cherishes & supports valuing an individuals personality over appearance, rather than teaching them to conform.

Of the many way a child can grow and express their personality and individuality, what they wear and how they look is way way way at the bottom of the list.*

Ah, you said it a bit more eloquently than I did parttimemodel!

Well said Cakecrumbs: Individuality is so much more than fabric

Love school uniform.

Cheap as chips (per wear, agree £14/blouse for DD2 isn't cheap but 3 blouses last a year or more, and she's still wearing D1s old sweatshirts as spares!).

The stress of non uniform days at times it untrue. That, every day? No ta!

DD1 (and DD2 will) had a dress code for 6th form. Total pain. Open to interpretation - eg " skirt/trousers to be worn with jacket/cardigan of same colour- yup but the " wrong shade of grey" and you'd be pulled up, several skirt/cardi combos needed- can't wear the same every day... etc etc DD is into the 2nd year of her one school skirt!).

DS has the same uniform in 6th form as lower down. Easy! They do seem less strict on what constitutes a " school jumper" which is nice though LOL

Those who don't understand school uniforms have obviously never been the poor kid of the class.

Yes, I was. I wore stuff my grandma knitted and stitched together from my granddad's old clothes. When I was older (14+) I combined this with cheap non-brand, but stylish, clothes. I wasn't bullied for this.

guineapiglet that's the reason DS doesn't wear the school jumper, yes. I had luck in the supermarket for pure cotton school jumpers in standard colours (royal blue, navy, grey, red, dark green) and his current sweatshirt was 50p from Sainsbury's.

The next size up were 28p each in Morrisons...

I agree with the OP.

I hate school uniforms and I was the kid who had to go to school in home made clothes and charity shop hand me downs.

I agree that wealth and status are still shown regardless of school uniforms - haircuts, school bags, even pencil cases have vastly different costs.

Yes some kids get bullied (I never was) but they will get bullied regardless of the clothes that they wear.

If people's individuality is suppressed by wearing a uniform, they can't have had that much to start with.