Told to take off coat or get a detention

[beth111]

My teenage boys finally got the health message I have being trying to get through to them for years regarding wearing a coat on cold wet days. During lunch time and recess, in the play ground, they decided to wear their coats to keep warm and dry. However the assistant principal informed them that their coats were not apart of school uniform and if they wore them again they would get a detention. Angry and shocked I wrote the assistant principal a note requesting my children wear a coat for health reasons. With the note in his hand and before discussing with me the heath reasons I had, he told them to take off their coats and that I had no say in the uniform policy. I can't believe Victorian public schools, that offer no warm dry areas for the children to play, would deny children the basic human right to stay warm and dry by telling them to remove their coats. Coats have no 'social value' in schools, in fact my children run the risk at being bullied for wearing one. What makes me more angry is on school excursions children are often told to wear a school uniform and a coat is a mandatory excessary, And why? To ensure children stay dry and warm, so why not extend this basic human right to Victorian children who live in cold wet climates? Teachers wear nice thick warm coats so why are they telling the children not to? I think as parents we need to start standing up to some of the education departments out dated policies, that put our children at risk.

Because you can't catch cancer from a bit of rain?

I'm totally confused.

It must be somewhere where it's Winter at the moment? Australia?
Why is is she posting on a UK forum without explaining this?
Or maybe this is a spoof post from some Victorian novel?
Why does the OP not find out what the uniform policy is?
Why do other children not wear coats if it's cold and wet?
Are they indoors or outside whilst wearing these coats?
Why has the principal not replied to a parents note?
Are the temperatures in Fahrenheit or Celsius?

YANBU.
My school did something like this. I objected to taking my coat off when the central heating was non existent and it was 5 degrees.
Some people, like me, have medical conditions that make them suffer from the cold more than others. I have to wear gloves every year from September-May.

I'm an expat in Australia. I can't believe MY children are told to bring hats to wear in the classroom!

It's not even bloody cold! It's a bit grey and drizzly but they certainly don't need hats.

OP it's not that cold. YABU.

There's a lot of hoo ha here in Oz about kids and weather lately. It is Autumn here....for those who don't know Victoria is a State here. So people from there are called Victorians.

There was a bit of bother yesterday in the news about kids in Perth being made to play netball in the rain.

www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-netball-association-forced-hysterical-9yo-girls-to-play-in-wild-weather-20160525-gp3h87.html

I say they all need to toughen up here! The temp isn't even low!

I am posting from Australia and Liiiinooo it was my son's decision to wear their coats and it is my decision to support their mature decision. You come across as a hard arse mother that teaches her children to just except rules, regardless if they are right or wrong. My children have been bought up to think for themselves and if somethings not right attempt to change it. You know leadership qualities.

Beth are they asked to remove their coats in the playground or indoors?

Violet, do you live in Perth?! Because I do, and in all fairness, there was a violent bloody storm here on Saturday! It was very far from being 'a bit of rain'. There was lashing rain, gale force winds and huge tree branches smashed on roads.

No sane person would force a 9-year-old to play netball in that.

Had this pedantic shit when i was at high school in the mid to late 80s. We were told to take off our coats UPON ENTERING the building so as soon as the doors opened after lunch it was rammed with kids all trying to take their coats off in a tiny space and in a hurry cue missing buttons trod on hems and rips in coats. I remember once leaving mine on cos i simply didnt have room to take it off and i waited till i was properly inside and the power crazed assistant head told me to take it off and asked me why on earth i was wearing a coat into school at all that day as the sun was out.

It had clearly slipped his mind that it had been pissing with rain that morning and being.........oh wait a schoolkid at that time i couldnt /wasnt old enough to drive to school in a nice comfy car like he did.

OP, are the coats your children are wearing part of the official school uniform, or not?

In Victoria (state in Australia) it is moving into winter and is cold.

By law state school cannot obligate a child to wear any uniform- of course most kids want to fit in.
However if you go to a private school, it depends what their uniform policy is- an you would have signed up to agree to this policy.

I don't know how it works where you are OP. But the schools the my kids and their friends go to, have 2 rules.

The coat must conform to the uniform rules (no logos, no hoodies etc).

And not worn indoors. I send my kids to these people everyday and trust them. If they have a rule I am generally happy to abide by them.

What is the schools objection to the coats? Is it the coats themselves, or where they were wearing them?

Get a large school uniform coat an put a fleece underneath

In the UK, and probably a lot of countries, everyone will assume that Victorian = 19th century. Hence the confusion. It would have helped if you had said at the start where you were posting from.

Likewise there is plenty of evidence to support the fact that the immune system is compromised when core body temperature decreases.

You do not seem to understand what a core temperature is, I suggest you google homeostasis.

Your children are in school with a uniform, they must abide by the uniform rules. It is common to have a 'no coat' inside policy and only school coats/uniform coats on school premises.

Victorian schools meaning then climate in Victoria is often below 10 degrees in winter

So a summer temperature in Europe. Not really cold. Certainly not cold enough to lower core temperature.

You can not compare the Perth storm to not wearing a coat. I had to drive in that storm and it was scary. Trees were uprooted , branches all over the road.
If the school is private you can't do anything about it but if it's state then they can't stop your kid wearing a coat.

Yes, you won't find much sympathy here complaining about the deathly temperature of 10 degrees C!

Also "public school" means something different to the British, so your OP was super confusing for a UK audience.

A regulation coat?!?
Now I'm sorry but this is getting crazy.
I'm assuming you are talking about Y7 children (In primary I would tell them to get list TBH)

And yes I agree with you. This stuff about telling a child off for wearing a coat is just stupid. It's only in the uk (where it's cold and wet) that you hear that sort of stupidity
If they want all children to wear a specific type of coat, they need to give guidelines, such as it has be black or whatever. Just like this do for trousers. Or provide one. As they don't (a light raincoat isn't a coat - even though you could argue that at this time of the year, this could be seen as OK) they don't have a leg to stand on. Especially as they want the dcs to actually wear that coat on school trips and then it doesn't matter if it is a regulation coat or not.

I'm even more [shocked] at the number of posters who don't seem to think further Thant 'well it's the uniform, live with it'. As if any rules decided by the school was always to be logical and acceptable. And y should never contest them....

Well I missed the OP last post.

I just confirm what I was saying above though. Only the British will think no coat is acceptable in the middle of winter and not a health hazard. I personally believe they are worng too

If the rule is in the uniform code, then the school isn't being unreasonable in expecting your children to conform to the rules.
If there are no regulations on the type of coat or when they should be worn, that's a different issue.
But yes, the rules are the rules and you don't get to pick and mix. That's fairly basic understanding, isn't it? You could campaign to change the rule.

Below 10 degrees? You should definitely keep them at home in bed. Can't be exposed to those sort of temperatures

Also, I'm pretty sure that ignoring rules you don't like is not actually a leadership quality

What? Even if it's not a "health hazard", it's uncomfortable and unnecessary to be really cold. Coats are hardly an outrageous fashion statement.
Completely agree with you OP.

I think your children will pick up more colds and virus actually being at school rather than not wearing a coat, your children were brought up to think for themselves, leadership qualities? does that mean they can break any rule they want??