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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think these school rules are OTT?

138 replies

greenandcabbagelooking · 06/03/2013 08:19

The Tesco store on X road is out of bounds to pupils in uniform, including before and after school.

Pupils may not eat or drink in school uniform on public transport or whilst walking.

So DD can't grab me a loaf of bread in Tesco on her way home, or have a banana on her walk home. Are schools allowed to dictate what pupils do in their own time like this?

OP posts:
MrsMushroom · 06/03/2013 08:20

No I think it's fine. It's to stop them all marauding in there at the end of the day and buying loaves.

Callisto · 06/03/2013 08:23

Don't see a problem with it. I had the same when I was at school. Maybe the Tesco store manager has asked the school to ban children from visiting? There is nothing worse than queuing behind 20 rowdy children all spending £1.50 on a couple of chocolate bars.

seeker · 06/03/2013 08:23

The rule may very well have come from tesco- ours has a real problem with before and after school shoplifting and with crowds of kids trampling little old ladies underfoot in their rush to pay for their energy drinks.....

RustyBear · 06/03/2013 08:23

It's probably been requested by the supermarket - it happened at a Sainsbury's near us a few years ago which got fed up with the hordes of boys from the school over the road hanging around after school.

LadyIsabellaWrotham · 06/03/2013 08:24

I'd be cross about the Tesco thing, because there are lots of legitimate reasons to go in. If it's because they've been causing trouble/shoplifting and Tesco have complained then fair enough. If it's because they might buy doughnuts then that's out if order.

LIZS · 06/03/2013 08:25

Very sensible imho. At my school admittedly 30 years ago!) we had similar rules. Sounds like Tesco may have had issues with shoplifting and behaviour, littering etc and the school wants to ensure their pupils are not marked out as culprits.

Callisto · 06/03/2013 08:25

Also, the school children round here chuck their litter everywhere on the way back from the shop.

Original poster
greenandcabbagelooking · 06/03/2013 08:26

Fair enough. I can see hordes of teens would be very annoying for other shoppers.

OP posts:
Dawndonna · 06/03/2013 08:26

More than reasonable, and not remotely OTT.
Sorry.

Pollydon · 06/03/2013 08:29

Same with my daughter's high school, at the instigation of the shop, still a PITA if I want her to pick up a pint of milk on the way home.

plonko · 06/03/2013 08:33

The tesco rule is not unreasonable. However the no eating in school uniform one is completely unreasonable! We had the same rule at my school and I was repeatedly caught out by it. I travelled a long way to my school so I didn't usually get home til after 5.30, and they expected I could just manage from lunch til tea time the swines. As if eating a banana at a bus stop is a crime.

Essentially I would get 'extra duties' for being hungry Hmm

purpleroses · 06/03/2013 08:38

Personally I think the rules are both unreasonable. Tescos should employ its own security guards or limit the number of kids in the shop at a time if it has a problem with shoplifting - and shouldn't be asking the school to sort the problem out for it.

And not eating on drinking when it may be hot weather, or they have a long journey (say, after a club at school) is completely unreasonable. Could your DD put on a different jumper or something so she's not recognisably in uniform? What would they do if she was seen drinking a drink in uniform?

MidniteScribbler · 06/03/2013 08:41

Reasonable, and every high school I know requires the same. Students can get a note from their parents if they have legitimate reasons for going in to the shopping centre or they can change out of uniform first.

babybythesea · 06/03/2013 08:51

"Tescos should employ its own security guards or limit the number of kids in the shop at a time if it has a problem with shoplifting - and shouldn't be asking the school to sort the problem out for it."

Maybe - except that any locals who are annoyed by the children or spot them behaving badly etc will look at the uniform and promptly blame the school, even if it's not in school time. 'Tis how it works. Which means the school needs to protect it's own reputation as people won't differentiate between when the kids are the responsibility of the school and when they are not (ie after home time). They will simply say "The kids from that school are a nightmare - badly behaved etc".

ProPerformer · 06/03/2013 08:52

Tbh there's nothing stopping kids just changing their jumpers in cold weather or changing their t-shirts in hot weather.

I think both rules are unreasonable. Tesco are doing themselves out of some good trade if it's their rule and if it is about shoplifting/litter then it's punishing the majority for the minority. (I know if the kids from our school were going to drop litter or shoplift they'd change out of uniform as the uniform makes then easier to trace so I think Tesco are missing a trick there and the school are just trying to gloss over a known problem! Hmm ) and as for 'no eating and drinking in school uniform on way home/to school - certainly a health and safety risk in summer, I have hyperhydrosis and if I was waiting at a bus stop or walking home for half an hour I'd certainly need a drink. Flipping ridiculous IMHO!

Pollydon · 06/03/2013 08:57

Sons school used to have a rule, blazers must be worn at all times, cue pupils fainting in the summer exams .

ProPerformer · 06/03/2013 09:00

The school may well be trying to protect its reputation granted, but by doing that that are also doing themselves out of some great compliments too. I've seen some wonderful behaviour from kids in school uniform in supermarkets. It's just another case of punishing the majority to keep a minority under control.

ProPerformer · 06/03/2013 09:03

pollydon that's ridiculous Shock

babybythesea · 06/03/2013 09:08

"The school may well be trying to protect its reputation granted, but by doing that that are also doing themselves out of some great compliments too. I've seen some wonderful behaviour from kids in school uniform in supermarkets. It's just another case of punishing the majority to keep a minority under control."

Yes on both counts. The problem is that people tend to remember the negative more than the positive so people are more likely to phone the school with complaints than compliments, and they also are more likely to grumble to neighbours than to praise the kids. Also, because it's out of school time, identifying any culprits would be a nightmare and involve presumambly teachers giving up time to go over and see what's happening etc. Easier just to lay down a blanket rule.

As for the eating, it is daft. Except that we used to live on a route between one big local secondary school and the train station, which lots of kids used. There was litter left along the road, blowing into people's gardens etc etc, every single day. It got everyone's backs up. It was where kids ate a chocolate bar and the wrapper blew away and they couldn't be bothered to go and pick it up etc. Maybe that's why.

Lavenderhoney · 06/03/2013 09:08

Those kids are tescos and other big supermarkets who have banned kids, future customers. Or they were- assuming there is actually anywhere else left to shop and utilise your buying power by the time they are adults.

The second one is ridiculous - its not school time, and its unreasonable to dictate eating and drinking needs after or before school. Who is going to police that? Any reasoning behind it? Or is it just " not nice" to eat and drink in public ?

babybythesea · 06/03/2013 09:11

I'm not trying to be difficult by the way. It's just that it's unlikely, in my experience, that staff at the school have sat round thinking "Now, what ridiculous rules can we think of that we can impose on the kids?" They will have been prompted by something - I'm just suggesting what that something might have been!

YouWithTheFace · 06/03/2013 09:17

pollydon I went to that sort of school. In a subtropical climate. So 5km steep hills to walk home every day in temps up to 35 degrees and 100% humidity, wearing a brown blazer.

fluffyraggies · 06/03/2013 09:17

Shop rule is pretty standard. Small corner shops have had this for years - 1 or 2 school kids allowed in at a time, kind of thing.

Pupils may not eat or drink in school uniform on public transport or whilst walking. is OTT. That is not the schools business to dictate.

WorriedTeenMum · 06/03/2013 09:28

If this rule has been set by the school then IMO unless they pay for the uniform they have no business telling people what they can wear outside of school and what they can do while wearing these clothes. Some schools do have delusions of power!

If the rule has been set by the supermarket then I wish they would do something about the crop-top and crack-tat brigade before they fuss about people wearing school uniforms!

MidniteScribbler · 06/03/2013 09:38

Just want to add that the rule about not eating and drinking here is about not going in to McDonalds etc. Students are encouraged to carry water bottles at all times, and eating something from their lunchbox is fine. They just don't want students hanging around the fast food places.

No human being should ever be restricted from water whenever they want it and if they tried to stop my child fromdrinking water when needed they would find me switch in to feral mummy mode. Not on.

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