To agree with the Headmistress to send home pupils who do not conform to regulation school uniform.

[annemary12]

I am totally fed up with school pupils who look a mess and are not dressed in correct or regulation school uniform. I never understand why many schools allow 6th form pupils free will in their choice of clothes.

I think that if pupils are unable to abide by school uniform regulations what hope of they got when they leave school and are going to interviews.

I believe that all school pupils including 6th form pupils should wear a regulation school blazer and school tie so they can show which school they go to.

Headmistress like Leslie ellis are standing up for standards that have been in decline since the 1970"s and need to be fully supported in their desire to hold standards to at least the very shoddy standards that pupils display today. I for one am delighted that a head was prepared to take ridicule and derision in standing up for standards.

After reading the constant criticism of leslie ellis i thought it was time that someone stood up for a upstanding member of the teaching profession.

Sixth formers should be required to wear school blazers and ties? Are you serious OP?

They are young adults and should be treated as such.

As for uniform per se I can see the advantages but I also see them forrin school kids doing just fine without it which leads me to wonder if we're being sold a pup especially when schools have a nice little earner in commissions from exclusive suppliers.

What next? Regulation haircuts?

There is something a little weird about children being dressed like adults in an office. Shirt, tie and jacket? Surely they can be smart without being dressed like a fully fledged grown up chained to a desk?

It puzzles me how teachers would think that they would get the best out if their pupils if they werent comfortable. Surely that's the whole point of trying things on and shopping around. No one can honestly tell me that having to have tight belts or bunched up waist bands etc is conducive to being comfortable. Would drive kids to distraction.

Frankly, I don't get most excuses for uniform policies.

If it was really about preparing children for the world of work, there wouldn't be a school in the land where the girls wore ties. Oh, and all the girls would have compulsory make-up-for-work classes! They wouldn't be being told to remove it upon arrival at school.

Call me cynical, but I heavily suspect my make-up-free face would have been approved of at a school, but as adults, my husband and I suspect it factors against me at interviews.

Boffin, I let DS carry on wearing his (£28) school logoed jumper even after it had been decorated with acrylic paint and had burn holes in it. It still met regulations, if not normal standards of dress and decency!

Anyhow, I hate waste and there was no way we could hand it down. But an all-in-one camouflage suit would frankly have been a better bet for his school day.

Why can logos not be sold separately as sew on badges? Then parents could buy the right colour uniform at supermarkets etc and save money. Maybe MPs should lobbied in this time of recession.

Totally agree!! Round our way I often have the 'is that a skirt or a scarf' dilemma, hair like an explosion in a paint factory, mandatory odd socks and converse/vans and pin cushion faces. My old guidance teacher will be doing backflips in her grave at some of the monstrosities in my old school.

Threads like this depress me. Not because of uniform per se (I can take it or leave it except in extreme cases) but because of the frequently-expressed view that the (main? only?) function of school is turn children into little office drones who can sleepwalk straight into a dull but adequate career as soon as they leave school.

Teenagers "get" clothes and the statements they make with particular clothing choices. They may need some guidance on what sort of statement might or might not be appropriate in certain situations but they don't need to practice that by wearing an ugly blazer every day for seven years. Nothing looks scruffier than a teenager trying to look smart by wearing a rubbish cheap suit under duress. And you'll probably find that the only situation in which a blazer is expected dress outside of school is if you are invited to join a gentleman's drinking club.

Here's a game for a wet afternoon: do a google image search on Richard Branson or James Dyson and count the number of ties.

So if each logo was sold for £7 and you can get a supermarket polo shirt for £3 and the school logo polo shirt costs £8 which would be cheaper?

I would imagine a logo badge would only be about £3-4. And where can you get a school polo shirt for £8. Ours are between £11-£14 depending on size.

Selling a logo badge is pointless. The schools sell logoed trousers and skirts to regulate the style. It's nothing to do with identity or pride.

Boffinmum thank you, that's the school I've been trying to think of!
Personally I would be less annoyed with forking out for the overpriced uniform if the teachers were made to wear it too.
It's actually a very smart well thought out uniform with soecific allowances for anyone unable to wear pants with zips for example but it's damn expensive, even though there are no restrictions on shirt and blouses, everything else needs to be regulation and the cost mounts up especially if you have more than one lot of uniform to buy.

I don't agree that wearing uniform or not is what leads to young people turning up for job interviews in inappropriate clothing. My DS wore uniform from age 4. He wore shirt and tie at Primary and Polo Shirt and sweatshirt at Secondary.

He has no illusions about what is appropriate business wear - he was required to wear 'business wear' when he did work experience in Yr 10 and a suit/smart business attire when he attended an Enterprise event with other schools and local businesses. He has taken Music Grade exams and knows he is required to dress in black trousers and white shirt. It has nothing to do with the fact his schools have had a uniform requirement - he is just educated in what is appropriate to wear and when.
He is now in 6th form and wears jeans/chinos and t-shirts. If he was going to a business type event, his College would instruct him to wear "appropriate business wear". The rest of the time he can wear what he pleases. No way would DS turn up for a job interview in what he wears for 6th form.

Pupils when at school are at their place of work and therefore should wear some form of smart attire even in the 6th form.

Why do some posters want pupils to be able to show off what ideas they have about fashion. Although there is no proven fact about whether school uniform improves academic performance. If the school monitors and has a sensible uniform policy the pupils wont look like a disgrace. If they was no benefit to be gained by school uniform why do public school and private school pupils use the old school tie .

Pupils when at school are at their place of work

No, they are at their place of LEARNING.

My kids aren't at school yet but it wasn't all that long ago I left school.

Does anyone think of the kids when designing these uniforms?! blazers and ties are so bloody uncomfortable! Boys trousers are really really unflattering on young girls who have hips and other curves and not allowing makeup is pathetic, I don't go out without makeup now let alone as a hormonal, image conscious teen!

I thought that one of the points of uniform was to avoid bullying and discrimination too, so why ask for flipping school logos on everything and have a uniform where the blazer alone costs £30? Nothing wrong with plain white polo shirts, black smart skirt or trousers (allowing those designed to suit a female shape too!) with low heeled black shoes, to include plain black pumps, maybe a jumper with the school logo would be cheaper than a blazer, or even better get a logo that can be sewn on to a plain black jumper or cardigan! job done, more of teachers attention can be focussed on assisting the children to learn!

OP, Old school tie = Old boys' and girls' network - all about giving jobs to your mates, not to the most competent people. Is that really what you want to promote?

And I notice you haven't said a thing in response to the many posters who have raised the point that in this particular case, students were not able to obtain the correct uniform because the supplier messed up - so presumably you think in this instance it is still OK for the HT to have reacted in the way she did? I would respectfully suggest that there was no common sense or reason involved in this particular case and that it is not a good example of why uniform should be enforced.

As for the 'preparing them for the world of work' and 'school is their place of work' arguments - yawn. The world over, in countries where children do better than in UK schools but don't wear uniform, these children seem to manage to get themselves appropriately dressed for work. Are British children really so much thicker than their international counterparts? I don't think so, do you?

In that case OP teachers too are at their place of work and should always be appropriately dressed like the students then. No flip flops, no tattoos, no bare shoulders, no tee shirts. No? Respect has to be earned in my opinion.

What would you prefer the focus to be on OP? Bullying or uniform? Disruption or uniform? Do you have teenagers OP?

I support uniform; ds had to wear a business suit in 6th form; didn't stop any of the boys at his public school from personalising within the rules. Pink Friday, odd cufflink day, black lace ups as pointed as they could get away with, wearing their reading bands because they weren't jewellery.

Go on OP - how old are your children?

My DD is 14 and at a Girls Grammar school,the girls wear blazers and ties up to the sixth form and wear business suit in the sixth form the few boys in the sixth form have to wear ties with thier suits. My DS is 17 at a boys Grammar and he has to wear a smart suit in black with the schools sixth form tie.

My DD attends the school in question. I think the news reports are inaccurate. Children wearing non logoed trousers or skirts (of which my DD is one) have been given a card to cover them until half term as long as they are wearing appropriate items, ie no jeggings. She doesn't know anyone who was sent home. I'm not defending LE in any way, the trouser style does not fit DD so it is causing us a bit of a nightmare, currently have two pairs on order which the school are going to have to cover the alteration costs!

And if they change the uniform at short notice and you try but fail to buy the new uniform what would you do?

You're very lucky your dc are at selective grammar schools OP - presumably their lessons don't get too disrupted by trouble makers and the standard of teaching is high.

I have no issue with uniform but I have an issue when schools make it more important than dealing with behaviours that are actually illegal. I also have a problem with staff who attend work looking unprofessional whilst insisting on styleless conformity among the pupils. Our dd attended a top 100 comp with a rigorous uniform - we moved her to the independent sector because more important issues were not being dealt with yet there was a weekly letter about length of skirts and hair colour.

With the exception of tights and underwear I don't think one item of dd's uniform can be bought on the high street. The blaxer was £130. Not an issue as a percentage of the overall expenditure but for many families in the UK it is and it is wrong that uniform takes a higher place in many schools than quality of teaching environment and ensuring conduct is acceptable and conducive to learning.

Our dd is top average - a selective state school with few problems around behaviour was not an option where intake covered the intellectual and social spectrums. Do you not understand that it is a question of priorities?

My DD and friends have pride in their school and actually enjoy wearing their uniforms. DD and friends like showing their school of in a positive light.

DD and friends have commented how much a dump one school is in particular, that School has loose uniform requirements. They call the sixth formers "SCALLYS" because of the strange and scruffy clothes they wear.

It is not the 1970s or 80s when it was a pupils mission to protest about school uniform. Organising walk outs after watching GRANGE HILL, many pupils much prefer to be smart and show a belonging to their school.

I accept that maybe the head tried to change the uniform requirements without making sure the uniform was readily available. However as Shrum as explained what was reported may not have happened.

I hope you don't encourage the name calling OP...