Is there ANY proven correlation between school uniform and performance?

[Hullygully]

Any data (either way) anywhere?

Dress code fine, uniform not fine.

I don't believe wearing a uniform makes a student work harder. Especially at 6th form level.

After all you don't wear uniform at university do you.

My DD's (Parisian) school has a dress code - all clothes must be solid navy, white or grey. Coats must be navy. Shoes, socks, scarves and gloves may be any colour.

I find it restrictive, but not intolerably so. It certainly gives enough room that children can dress to suit their own morphology and tastes.

bonsoir I like that idea.

Oh ds goes to a school where no uniform at infants. Has been hugely expensive for me. Can't wait for a uniform to kick in.

I had to buy my kids uniform and normal clothes. I would rather have spent the money I had to spend on crappy sweatshirts etc on clothes they actually liked.

cornypringle - it certainly is quite consensus-building. What I find useful is that you can shop for most of it at Gap/Benetton/Zara and buy reasonably fashionable cuts so that DCs can wear the same trousers and skirts outside school, and just vary the tops for more colour.

I had to buy my kids uniform and normal clothes. I would rather have spent the money I had to spend on crappy sweatshirts etc on clothes they actually liked.

Yes, this. I really resent having to spend money on clothes that are ugly, no more practical than normal clothes and which my daughter hates wearing. And yes, you can buy them super-cheaply, but you can buy normal clothes cheaply too and they tend to be more comfortable and attractive. I hate the ugliness aspect of it so much I got my sewing machine out when they started the uniform thing at her school and made DD a pinafore, skirt and two summer dresses that were actually nice to wear and fitted her and looked good. No such thing was available in any shop. And they cost a grand total of about a tenner for the fabric for the whole lot, good quality thick cotton twill for the skirt and pinafore and 100% cotton gingham for the dresses plus lining fabric so that the skirt and pinafore wouldn't stick to her tights. I also found nice plain grey cords in H&M for when she wants to wear trousers. No way am I buying that horrible teflon-coated rubbish they sell in the shops.

My Nanna used to knit my jumpers... they were awesome.

School Uniform is a good thng in most schools, I would take out Stieners for obvious reasons, but even in that example we see the kids forming a 'uniform' of sorts.

uniform, strict enforcement and finally cane the grades in to them.

By the end of that school year, GCSE were back up where they'd always been.

so laqueen - did the new HT make no other changes in the school what so ever? Are you suggesting that for any school to get pupils to pass there gcse's they just need to stand at the gates of the school for three days and turn away pupils wearing uniform incorrectly?

As I think the new HT came to the school and made several changes and one change was the enforced school uniform and if you make several changes then how will you know if each change on its own would have had any impact on exam results

you need to just make the one change and see if that changes the results and if it does then you know the results

but usually a new head wouldn't start at a new school and for 12 whole months only make one sole change.

and for that reson I think your results are flawed

But LaQueen it was obviously getting rid of the rubbish head and bringing in a good one that brought about the improvement in results, not just that the school got stricter on uniform. Strong leadership is the issue not what the children are wearing.

Just wondering, why do so many schools not make sixth formers wear uniform, what is the reasoning behind that?

No 6th form I know of has a uniform.in fact I had never heard of the wearing business suit thing at 6th form until I joined MN.

All comprehensive around here so maybe thats why I have never heard of it.

Although a lot of students opt for 6th form colleges and none of them have a uniform.

I know of a grammer school wannabe comprehensive school that states business dress formers 6th formers.

I always wonder why they aren't called 12 and 13 years - why do they get reverted back to 6th formers - unlike 10 and 11 years which stay as that rather than being referred to as 5th formers

Laqueen it would have been interesting if the new head had come in and not altered the uniform and carried out all the other changes and then seen whether the results improved - I wonder if they would have been better results due to just focusing on the other changes and giving teachers more time for those other changes rather than have to spend time on the uniform?

What I don't get is the 'it prepares them for the world of work' reasoning.

Really?

So we make them wear uniform from age four until age 18 (if they attend a uniform-wearing 6th form).
Then we send them off to university (many of them) where they wear whatever the heck they please. And then they tend to get jobs.

The question arises - are our children stupid enough that we need to spend 14 years teaching them that they need to adapt their clothing to their situation just so that they remember it through university?

Me, I'd favour not having uniform and letting them come a cropper for themselves. The moment they turn up for an interview in board shorts, flip flops and a string vest and don't get the job, they'll learn the lesson. No need to kit them out in ugly, uncomfortable, expensive clothes for a decade and a half. If we need to spoonfeed our kids something as simple as this, what hope is there for the future?

Have to say, as an 80s/90s kid living on hand-me-downs and having to share clothes with my brothers (I'm female), I can remember feeling very very pleased we had a uniform thoughout primary school and the first couple of years of secondary school!!

My orange ginger never brushed hair, abundunce of freckles and enormous brightly coloured NHS glasses were enough ammunition for some pretty hurtful comments from both classmates and teachers, I dread to think what would have happened if I'd turned up in my weekend wear as well!

When I got to year 10 and started being into boys and more aware of what I wore, I got a job in a local hotel to earn enough money to buy my own clothes and I have worked hard ever since. Uniform may not have developed my individuality, but it gave me confidence and helped foster a great work ethic.

Seriously cannot believe people get so worked up about it! This thread has been a revelation to me!

My work ethic has nothing to do with wearing uniform.

I was the poor kid at school, you could still tell by my shabby uniform.