To not get schools issue with dyed hair?

[fitforflighting]

I suspect I may get flamed for this but I genuinely do not get it.
They have a rule against earrings including sleepers. That I get especially with younger children or in sports were children can end up getting them at worst ripped out.

I can kind of even get extreme haircuts with big shaved stars or strange styles that look unprofessional and might not be allowed by adults in a professional work place.

But this week and last term several of senior age children who had dyed hair brown/red/dark purple etc were sent home from school to re dye or put in isolation by teachers with errr brown/red/purple dyed hair! One of the children's teacher has bright purple hair. It does not make her any less of a English teacher or lesson her professionalism in school I don't reckon so what is the problem for teens?

Internal isolation is what happens to kids at high school who don't abide by uniform rules. Like fuck are they getting the education they are supposed to be, they are just sat in a room on their own all day, or a little cubicle within a room and given worksheets to do.

I think you should encourage your child to break uniform rules so that you can challenge this injustice. Someone should.

I am a teacher in a school that is very strict about uniform, has outstanding discipline and excellent results. We are an ordinary comprehensive school with a very mixed intake and constantly achieve over target.
The pupils respect the rules and the staff that teach them.
The only pupils who get put in isolation with extreme hair are those that stretch the rules to beyond ridiculous. Short back and sides - no problem, short back and sides with Mohican is a problem. Blonde hair fine, blonde hair with pink tips - a problem.
Our pupils designed the new uniforms and chose the blazer themselves. They actually like to be smart and have a sense of belonging - even I. Year 12 they are happy to comply.
There are of course those that try to bend the rules - boys in drainpipe trousers for example and girls with lip piercings. These are the kids who usually have parents who come steaming in to school shouting their heads off about the rights of their kids and how teachers should dress the same etc. I once had a parent tell me that I should not wear a scarf in class as her child couldn't. Mine was a silky neck scarf tied in a bow ...

Uniform teaches pupils about belonging and gives them pride. I have 20 years experience in education and have taught in schools with uniform, without uniform and with a basic uniform. The pupils where I teach now are the best as they have that respect for each other. I wish my son's school had the same standards.

Of course isolation is not the same as being in a classroom participating, but I'm quite sure that schools will be able to say the child is being educated.

I don't imagine it's easy to change school rules by a quick chat with the head or chair of governors, but if the rules are so petty and pointless and time wasting, wouldn't you at least try? Surely you'd want to do that rather than allow your child's individuality and creativity to be squashed without trying to improve the situation?

No, but it should be raised, especially if it's unlawful. Surely this is how schools, or indeed any organisation, moulder if no-one challenges the status quo? Which can't be a good thing.

I wouldn't necessarily encourage DD to break a uniform rule but if she broke one which resulted in her losing class time for something very petty, then I think it not unreasonable to challenge that, especially if that kind of thing was endemic. Directly to HOY/HT or via the PTA or board of governors. Yes, they may well have better things to do with their time but that applies to everyone involved in upholding unnecessary uniform rules.

Because the thing is, which none of the pro-uniform posters have addressed, is the fact that other countries manage to successfully educate their children without uniform. And if they can, we can, it's ludicrous to suggest that it's impossible to do otherwise.

The only good reason for uniforms, IMHO, is the idea that children will not be differentiated and bullied because of fashion and the amount their parents spend on their clothes. Unfortunately that all goes out the window when uniforms are so expensive in the UK.

I would much rather my child's school were concerned the important things in life, like a good learning environment and respect for others.

So how much credit are we giving a uniform here.

I mean surely exam.results and behaviour are down to the teaching and care of the pupils not because they were isolated over pink.tips.

not one of those tbimgs you describe are things that can only be achieved with a uniform. that pride and belief and sense.of belonging is a symbol of all the effort and care and time . you put in. and jack.shit to do with a logo on a sock.

From what I have seen when I used to work in schools. Isolation involved being given a worksheet by some staff but not others so reading a library book in that time while supervised by pastoral staff.

"Internal isolation is what happens to kids at high school who don't abide by uniform rules. Like fuck are they getting the education they are supposed to be, they are just sat in a room on their own all day, or a little cubicle within a room and given worksheets to do."

I'd go into the school where my child was being "isolated" for his uniform discrepancy, go to the room, take him to the class and plonk him in his seat. Then I'd ask the teacher to get on with his or her job of teaching.

The thing is, that with no uniform there will still be a dress code. Some students will still push the boundaries of that dress code, just as they would push the boundaries of a uniform code. Essentially it doesn't matter which a school has, it matters about how whichever set of rules is handled and enforced, and how parents support the school.

Oh pieceofpurple sounds like someone from the De souza academy chain in fact I am pretty sure I have an email with almost the exact same wording as some bits of that post re pride and belonging...

And belive me parents have done more than just speak to the school and govenors re uniform. We have filled feedback and completed the trusts own questionnaires etc but academies can do whatever the fuck they want.

And I love the idea of choice, De souza has a nice monopoly on schools in our area. And as our local authority has basically agreed all schools will become academies there is sod all choice

Internal exclusion and giving the kids a worksheet is not educating them at all. They are all lumped in together as well, uniform infractions with kids who are disruptive (normally because they have special needs the school is failing to meet... Yet another area where academies do whatever the hell they want) etc and generally 'supervised' by an untrained teacher.

As others have said plenty of other countries educate their children well without uniforms. Hell I don't actually mind uniforms that are reasonably priced and practical so a polo shirt and jumper in specific colour with black or grey trousers no logos necessary is fine. Ties. Blazers, trousers, skirts with specific badges on that can only be bought from one supplier at much greater cost... Not Ok.

If i can't get a stupid and unfair rule changed and I felt as strongly as you do about it, Gruntled, then I would have to consider withdrawing my child from that school. Either to send to another school with rules I preferred if at all possible, or if not, then maybe home ed instead (yes, I know not everyone could do this, but really, if the state-provided education is not to your liking, and you can't change it, what other option is there?

The option is the one I took: to make it clear to the school that I did not support a rule that made my child uncomfortable and hindered his learning. I suppose in the final analysis I could have pointed out that they were in danger of disability discrimination. I suspect that the reality is that the school was reasonably pragmatic and/or that the staff also thought the rule was pointless, because they worst they ever did was to whinge at DS about it occasionally.

A lot won't allow corn rows/braids, completely ignoring how Black hair is cared for naturally, and imposing their own cultural 'look' on children.

Do they still do that? If so, I would suggest that anyone encountering it should point out that the courts have already found that this is unlawful - www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/17/school-ban-cornrow-braids-discrimination

Generally speaking, state education in the UK is heading up a creek minus paddles. It's underfunded, understaffed, teachers are treated with contempt by the public, parents and the govt. The curriculum is being savaged, the exams are being equally messed about with - no one with any knowledge of education is looking at the bigger picture from starting at 4 to leaving at 18. Academies don't improve education and often make it worse. The whole situation is a nightmare. Other countries do a better job because these things don't happen to the same extent in those countries, not because they don't have a uniform policy.

Don't know if this is purely an English schools things re governors etc making the rules.

Where I am in Scotland nobody tells children what hair colour'styles they can have. It's the same with uniform - there are school jumpers, sweatshirts etc but kids can wear whatever skirts, trousers, shoes etc they want

LordBrightside, a child can still be educated in isolation, I would have thought that would be sufficient to fulfill the legal requirement.

Only if the child is actually educated - that means being taught for most of the time by qualified teachers and covering the full national curriculum, together with any necessary special needs provision if applicable. Very few, if any, schools can manage that.

I have every respect for teachers Btw, I have many good friends who are teachers and some of my dcs teachers are bloody amazing. It's the system, esp the academy system that is a shambles, at least when schools were managed by local authority you have the lea to fall back to. The lack of accountability with the academy system is shocking.

And yes it's down to funding and staffing and a bloody government implementing half arsed ill thought out and poorly planned policies about stuff they don't understand with some vague idea of a vision.

Anyway I am ranting, and have gone off topic... But I hate what is happening to our education system.

LordBrightside
I'd go into the school where my child was being "isolated" for his uniform discrepancy, go to the room, take him to the class and plonk him in his seat. Then I'd ask the teacher to get on with his or her job of teaching.

Please try this.
Keyboard warrior springs to mind.

Blonde hair fine, blonde hair with pink tips - a problem.

Why, pieceofpurplesky? How do the pink tips affect the child's ability to learn and work?

Our pupils designed the new uniforms and chose the blazer themselves.

Were they given the option of no uniform?

How much time do staff spend enforcing uniform rules and dealing with the parents and pupils who aren't happy?

I am a teacher in a school that is very strict about uniform, has outstanding discipline and excellent results.

Do you accept that, all over the world, schools are achieving outstanding discipline and excellent results without uniform?

"Please try this.
Keyboard warrior springs to mind"

You say this as though you think there could be something to be feared from such an action. Odd.

"I have every respect for teachers Btw, I have many good friends who are teachers"

I don't automatically respect teachers. Some are very good and some are very poor and there is a whole range in between.

LordBrightside, what do you think would happen if you charge into a school and into classrooms to do what you say?

A school which my child attends? Nothing at all.

Really? Have you tried it already?

A school which my child attends? Nothing at all.

At my school, all unauthorised entry to the school results in the person being taken back to reception. In this case, you, LordBrightside would be unauthorised.