To be pissed off at the complete change of school uniform?

[MycatsaPirate]

DD2 is in year 6 and has another two years at her middle school.

Just before Xmas an email was sent to parents asking if they would be prepared to pay 'a little extra' for a better quality blazer and asking if they agreed with ties being compulsory. Just to state that DD doesn't wear a blazer and I have never seen a child at the school in one at all.

Their current uniform is grey logo jumper (£22 from uniform shop), light blue shirt (high street), grey skirt or trousers (high street and girls can wear either), black shoes and grey or black socks. PE kit is a logo rugby top £22 from uniform shop), black shorts or joggers and a blue polo shirt.

All the kids always look very smart and neat walking to and from the school.

Today DD came home and told me that 2 children from years 5, 6 and 7 were picked and asked to model the new uniform.

This consists of long checked skirt for girls (no trouser option and will only be available in uniform shop)
Checked trousers for boys (again, uniform shop and apparently they look like Rupert the Bear trousers)
Navy blue logo jumper (uniform shop)
Black/Navy tights for girls with black slip on shoes
Not sure on shoes/socks for boys
White or pink shirt for boys and tie
White shirt for girls and tie
Blazer. (uniform shop).

None of the parents are happy. Especially the year 7 parents whose DC only have a year left at the school! This is coming into effect in September. There has been no parent consultation at all except for asking about a better quality blazer.

It's a new HT and she seems hellbent on making her mark but I am so pissed off that the majority of the uniform is now only going to be available in one place and that place is bloody expensive!

I doubt there is much that can be done now, but really, it's not like it's a private school!

Surely it is sex discrimination to force girls to wear skirts if the boys are allowed to wear trousers?
When I was at school (back in the dark ages) the Muslim girls were allowed to wear skirts - if you have even just one Muslim girl in the school and she is allowed to wear trousers then than is religious discrimination against the Christian / Jedi / Animist / Whatever girls.

My dd's podiatrist would be horrified at slip on shoes - she has severs disease and needs to have a supportive shoe or boot, the clawing to keep slip on shoes would make it worse!!

Trousers sound awful, slip on shoes are surely a health and safety issue, impractical for children who run round at break or between lessons. I think there will be one year of parents pissed off, yes, but if a change is to be made, better to do it all in one hit, or it will be a mongrel uniform.

I would be lobbying against the stupid skirt only rule for girls.

Modern indestructible lightweight machine washable polyester blazers with zipped inside pockets are brilliant though. Regardless of whether they're "elitist" they're supremely practical garments.

The rest needs challenging though - starting with "Exactly what benefits will this change give our children which justify us shelling out two hundred quid of money we would rather spend on something else?"

Are you sure you will have to buy it or are you taking a child's word for it? I've known many schools change their whole uniform but it is always for new starters with children already at the school making small modifications or wearing the old uniform until they leave.

My 10yr old can't wear slip on shoes. Well she does but it involves a lot of stopping to puck up a lost shoe. She also can't wear a shoe that is too 'low' at the front. She really can't walk in them.

But that whole uniform sounds ridiculous.

YANBU agree with Bunny cost is totally inappropriate, plus no trouser option for girls, WTF?
And slip on shoes only?!? What about those kids who wear insoles??

Buying DS uniform last year cost me £490. This year he needed new trousers £38 and new shirts. Bought a aecond hand jumper £10 and replaced a tie £5.

DD2 has had a £5 pack of shirts plus new shoes as all her uniform has fine from DD1.

Have a read of this official government guidance which states that it applies to schools maintained by the local authority, academies and free schools

And includes The school uniform should be easily available for parents to purchase and schools should seek to select items that can be purchased cheaply, for example in a supermarket or other good value shop. Schools should keep compulsory branded items to a minimum and avoid specifying expensive items of uniform

The message from the HT to the PTA made it clear that year 8 would also need to be wearing the uniform so yes, the whole changed in one go.

Even if was just year 5 starters I still stand by the logic of saying No to the ridiculous skirts and trousers when plain blue or black or grey would be acceptable.

DD said slip on shoes. I don't know if she also means lace ups but at the moment she is wearing ankle height boots under her trousers to keep her feet warm and dry. She wouldn't be happy if she couldn't wear her boots!!

One of the parents on the PTA has said that girls should all be wearing skirts with proper socks (I am biting my tongue very hard!).

I don't know if there's an option for girls to wear trousers but they weren't modelled or discussed in school on Friday. I also would not want to send my DD in looking like Rupert the bloody bear.

Audit Good grief! How much?? that's awful!

Well it seems like it's a done deal.

The new uniform is now on display in reception apparently although we only know because one of the parents told the fb group. Still not been actually notified by the school.

Uniform confirmed as:

Girls: checked kilt type skirt (uniform shop), white shirts, navy jumper with royal blue running through it and logo (uniform shop), blazer and tie (uniform shop), tights and black shoes (lace ups or slip ons)

Boys: charcoal grey trousers (high street), and then the rest as per the girls.

I am fuming. There are parents saying how smart it looks and it's such good quality it will last for ages. I can only assume their fucking kids don't grow then! Or fall over! or lose things!

We also have the 'girls should only wear skirts' brigade, clearly we are still living in 1950 and once they leave school should be at home chained to the kitchen sink.

The PTA have sent an email to the HT with a ton of questions about price and availability and quoted the government guidance a few helpful people on here posted. Thank you for that, it's very helpful.

We had it presented to us as a fait accompli too (at a previous school) even with a "fake consultation" meeting.

The only good thing was that there was a 2 year phase in period which meant your child could outgrow old style uniform rather than have to buy all new. It also meant that some of the new style became available in the second hand uniform shop too before you were forced to buy brand new for one year only.

Perhaps you could suggest that a similar phase in would be appropriate?

Have they dropped the checked trouser idea now then or was that crossed wires?

Checked trousers and a pink shirt?! Reminds me of The Chuckle Brothers playing golf or something. There's really no need for them to go fannying about changing the uniform so radically is there agree with you

When DS was due to move up to junior school the kids usually kept their existing uniform. DS grows slowly so I bought him new policy shirts and jumpers mid year, thinking he could continue to wear them at juniors.

Of course the head of the juniors then announced a logo change to differentiate them from the infants. The logo is on both the polo shirt and the jumper and the colours are not ones stocked in supermarkets.

Thankfully the head understood that with siblings etc the change wouldn't happen overnight. Two years on there are still kids in the old logo jumpers - hand downs from older sibs. DS only grew out of those old jumpers that I bought in year 2 when he was in year 4! So no, not all of us buy complete new uniforms each year. I buy based on what wears out or is grown out of as these things happen at different times of year and it works out better for budgeting.

I'd be OK with it if there was a reasonable phase in time. Has that been mentioned yet? I wouldn't be OK with no trousers for girls. Are the female teachers allowed to wear trousers? If yes then it's discrimination. When I was at school the head insisted the female staff wore skirts always unless like students they had good reason not to (ie. On field trips or for a religious or medical reason). As soon as a female head took over trousers were allowed!

So the boys can buy any old cheap grey trousers and the girls have to wear expensive kilts?

I really think some heads are just not fit to be in charge of a school.

Chuckle Brother playing golf.

Chuckle Brother playing golf 😄+1

Or MASH

When the uniform was changed at DS's school, we were given a three year time frame for the new uniform. The school shop had a sale evening, where it sold off all its existing stock, and from then on you could only buy the new uniform. The school said that it was quite happy for pupils to wear either the old uniform or a mixture of old and new until the end of the three year period. In reality, I would say that everyone was in the new uniform after about 18 months. The school is going to be changing its PE kit in September and is doing the same system again. Another school in town became an academy, changed its uniform totally, but gave parents one complete set of school uniform as they said this was the only fair way to introduce the new uniform from day 1 of the academy's existance.

My eldest daughter's old school merged with the boys' school next door in September and created a new uniform and logo. However, it is only year 7s who have to wear the new uniform - years 8-11 can wear the old until it needs replacing. This means that there's an interesting mix of three colours of blazer and jumper around the school.
My youngest's school changed the logo and we were given a blazer badge to sew over the old one.
My eldest would not want a school which did not allow girls to wear trousers - she hasn't worn a skirt for 10 years and even wore trousers to her yr11 prom.
I don't buy new uniform every year - my youngest is in yr 11 and had a new blazer, jumper and skirt in year 10 and all are still in reasonable condition. If she grows taller then she needn't roll her skirt up as much

When my kids school became and academy they changed the uniform to blazers with blue piping grey logoed jumpers with stripes on the v neck ties and logoed polo shirts or white logoed all over priced and crap quality it washed awful and it was impossible to replace because it had to be ordered through school and nothing was ever in stock. The school was took over by a new trust last year the new head said the uniform was ridiculous and too expensive so changed it to all plain black blazers jumpers trousers and white shirts and polo shirts she said she would prefer we spent our money on better things like trips for the children. And now offers expensive trips all year long

So the girls are at a disadvantage as he families have to shell out to a uniform shop for these extra special smart skirts whereas the boys families can just buy from the high street?

Can you claim discrimination?

Id be sending my daughter in trousers and I'd wish them luck to stop me. Why should parents of girls be financially penalised? A school near us changed uniform and the girls have a hideous burgundy and gold kilt, it looks like something my nan used to put over the table. But they are allowed to wear trousers instead and they're just plain black.

Apparently school uniform cannot be legally enforced in primary school, is this a middle school? I assume the same rules apply

I never wore uniform at either of my schools so find the whole concept a bit odd. I do except that most schools have gone to way of uniform, but for state schools to have poncey overpriced items is outrageous and I dont know how it seems to be the norm these days.

Our head has recently had a little rant in the newsletter about children wearing trainers or shoes that look like trainers and ^Please remember
that a uniform is an important part of our school identity and the expectation is all children follow the uniform
policy – it is an important lesson now and lays the foundations in preparing children to respect that many future jobs
will follow a strict uniform code.^

I so wanted to reply..."well they could always go into the teaching profession"...some of DS's teachers turn up looking like tramps

I emailed the school earlier and the HT rang me this evening.

She said the girls can wear trousers (same as the boys)

I pointed out that the girls who won't wear trousers are at a disadvantage because they have to buy from the uniform shop.

She also said that pupils who get pupil premium can use some of that money to pay for it. I pointed out that a lot of parents don't qualify for help but are still struggling.

There is now a 2 week consultation period where we can leave feedback on the new uniform proposals. Blazers and ties are compulsory but jumpers aren't. I think I'd prefer it to be the other way round, blazers are bulky and uncomfortable whereas a jumper can be worn in class a lot more comfortably.

She also said that they hadn't shown the children the uniforms. But had chosen some children to model it and then take photos in the reception area (where half the kids were walking past). I suggested that next time they try to avoid something like the weekend of social media chaos we have just had by actually communicating with the parents.

I also told her that there will be a lot of parents who are very well off and will be happy to see their dc in private school type uniform. The rest of us just can't afford it.