To think blazers for school are the stupidest idea?

[PPaka]

So impractical
Just looking at a few friends pics, 4yr olds in blazers? It's cute for the first day, but it has to be massively impractical. How do they play?
And watching that educating Essex program, they all have them on in class, it's got to be so uncomfortable.
I understand wanting the to look smart, but I think in the vast majority of cases a sweater could look as smart.
Maybe it's just me, I hated wearing suits for work, very uncomfortable and restrictive

Dd is 4 and wears a blazer. She loves wearing it very proud and smart. They wear and remove it as they wish though during the day.

I liked my blazer in secondary school. It wasn't uncomfortable or restrictive and I had ample pocket space the like of which I have never been able to replicate since without having to wear a proper coat!

I liked my blazer as well, ours were pretty comfy. Though am baffled at schools asking children to wear them indoors - they're jackets! Like charleybarley we just wore them to and from school/at outdoor school events, and wore a jumper/cardi indoors. We had big gabardine coats to wear instead in winter.

DD 14 really wants a blazer. The sweatshirts her school has are awful and look 100 years old after a few washes.

I think they are ridiculous for primary school though. I hate seeing little kids dressed up like adults. Much to MILs dismay my pageboys all wore chinos and jumpers not the suits she wanted them to.

Mine was navy and had a fake furry bit on the inside for extra warmth!

Also baffled at schools not having coathooks...

I had a school gaberdine, too! Ours were navy blue.

We didn't have blazers at my school, but did have school jackets. I don't remember wearing them in class though - I think we mostly wore them outside. We had a rather ridiculous cockle shell shape felt hat too.

We've found the blazer pockets essential in secondary school to hold the bus pass, locker key, dinner money....

*They are not even allowed to take them off in the classrooms unless the teacher thinks it's hot.

I'm sure they are quite capable of knowing if they are too hot or not.*

This used to happen at my school, ridiculous rule. I remember spending some lessons hot and uncomfortable, probably not concentrating the same way I would of if I was more comfortable.

I'm glad that my dd's are able to wear jumper or cardigan with school logo instead.

Also don't really understand why children have to wear a tie to school.

They are not even allowed to take them off in the classrooms unless the teacher thinks it's hot.

I'm sure they are quite capable of knowing if they are too hot or not.

They had that bastard rule when I was at school and I'm my sister has to suffer it at the same school, the blazers are black with a shiny in lining.

My dses went from schools where they had to wear blazers, to a school where blazers were optional,when we moved to Scotland - and I found it so much more sensible and practical.

They could wear a v-neck jumper, cardigan, zippered cardigan, zippered sweatshirt or fleece - just no hoodies. It made buying uniform so much easier - and cheaper. And if they got dirty, their top could be so much more easily laundered.

Of the two blazers they used to wear, one was machine-washable - but it was still not as easy as a fleece or cardigan to launder. Plus we could afford for them to have more than one.

The cost is a big issue too - £45 for a blazer, compared to a black jumper etc for under a tenner.

It certainly hasn't impacted their learning either - both ds1 and ds2 got excellent Highers, and unconditional university offers - the quality of the teaching, and of the work they did, wasn't affected by the lack of blazers.

I had a blazer all the way through school. In year 10 / 11 you were allowed to wear it in class, so we wore them all the time to look 'cool' to the little kids, even when it was baking.

The uniform shops advised you to buy big in year 7 - most of us had the same blazers all the way through secondary and looked pretty stupid for the first couple of years

I wear a jacket in formal meeting at work now, as do the men, but take it of at my desk if its warm enough.

They were optional at my school - no one wore them!

All secondary schools here have them. Expensive, impractical, waste of money. DD looks very smart in it but secondary school uniform is a bit of a farce, especially for girls. DD's school specifies a particular style of blazer (which can only be bought in ONE shop), along with the style of skirt (same shop) and a tie in house colours.

I'd much rather (and so would she and the majority of her friends) that they could just wear skirt/trousers in navy blue, with white/light blue shirt or blouse and a jumper or cardigan. And that they could be bloody plain! Having to buy everything with the logo on in the one shop costs a sodding fortune. And that's without adding on shoes/trainers and PE kit each year.

And I'm entitled to the uniform grant - yes, a whole £50 per year. Just about covers the blazer and part payment for the skirt. And it has to be claimed back after buying the uniform, takes weeks to be processed and is paid by cheque!

I would have loved to have had a blazer as uniform at school, it would have changed my life. I was painfully, horribly self conscious of having big boobs and was the butt of constant jokes and snide remarks. Blazers would have eliminated that because they disguise your shape far better than a nasty clingy jumper. My old school has blazers now and it's impossible to see the girl's bodies in the same way, the young girls I know who attend the school say they find it very liberating, as they are not being stared at and appraised.

It certainly is stupid. Who ever came up with this idea, should be shot.

treacle, interesting point but I developed big breasts as a teenager (F cup at age 16) and the blazer just made me look fat. Which I wasn't. So it made me feel miserable, given how self-conscious you are as a teenager.

My old secondary switched from jumpers to blazers after I left. I was glad that I'd left by that point, but now wear a suit for work and can't resist a nice jacket/blazer even for wearing outside work.

One of the perks of going to 6th form was no longer having a uniform but they've since added a pretty strict dress code of suit and tie or dresses for the girls.

Loathe them. Don't think they look smart at all. A jumper or cardigan is far more practical and looks a lot smarter.

I left secondary school just as they were rolling out the new uniform which included a blazer. I was so so pleased I was going when I did. The year sevens in particular looked ridiculous swamped in what is essentially a rigid jacket.

Noticed this morning that DD has caught the pleat of hers on something and torn a big hole in the back of it.

Great. I have to hope I can mend it now. I don't have £40 to get a new one. Fucking things - I hate them.

They seem impractical but as I have never had the misfortune to wear one I don't really know. However, they look awful a lot of the time. They are expensive so parents either swamp their child in a massive one so it will last or they make them wear them long after they should have bought a bigger size. They also look grubby because they are harder to wash. The untidiest children I see as I go about the place are usually boys in blazers. The sweat shirted lot generally look much tidier.

I also think they are difficult as they are neither coat for bad weather nor made for warmth indoors but they don't sit well with proper coats or jumpers. Glad DSs don't have to wear them.

The school my DCs attend switched to blazers as part of their cackademisation process. Because of course black polyester has magical properties which will improve behaviour, attendance and academic performance.

For some reason the magic wasnt working because the following year the school plunged to the very bottom of the league tables.

The school my DCs attend switched to blazers as part of their cackademisation process. Because of course black polyester has magical properties which will improve behaviour, attendance and academic performance.
Yup. I've heard many a parent suggest that a uniform will improve standards.
Happy to say my dd has never had a school uniform of any sort and both schools were good - with a good anti-bullying policy (in secondary school it was peer-led rather than 'telling a teacher' - excellent idea imho). And the secondary in particular was excellent.
But if a uniform was required, I'd much prefer a polo shirt/sweat shirt, with a

I would have loved to have had a blazer as uniform at school, it would have changed my life. I was painfully, horribly self conscious of having big boobs and was the butt of constant jokes and snide remarks. Blazers would have eliminated that because they disguise your shape far better than a nasty clingy jumper.

Not necessarily (mine didn't, it just never hung right as my boobs pushed it out to the sides), and particularly not if you also have to wear a shit and tie, like I did, which basically just made me look like I was in some kind of school girl porn film.

I hated my blazer for the nasty shininess which somehow managed to be really hot and sweaty in summer and not warm enough in winter!

I had a blazer in secondary school. It was ace. Lightweight but warm, had excellent pockets - pen one, coins pocket, zip up bus pass pocket, pocket big enough for homework diary. It was dead practical, although a bit stiff when new. Always better once worn in and a bit scruffy.

Don't see the point of them for primary kids but I have fond memories of mine from secondary. It was part of me.