Enforced wearing of blazer (wool) in hot weather

[Sweatingcobbles]

I know in the grand scheme of things this week it isn't a massive crisis but aibu to think it's stupid that in 29 degree weather today school refused to let the children take their fairly thick wool blazer off.
They said it is to maintain smartness and an office like uniform.
I'd rather kids could concentrate on learning and exams rather than feeling sick or ill.
Ironically I was in the office today with sandals and a short sleeve top.

Sapphire it was pretty satisfying.

Ridiculous rule. One very prestigious boys' school doesn't have a blazer at all, just a simple v neck jumper. In the summer term they wear a short sleeved open neck shirt.
I worked in a big secondary school in which outdoor coats could not been worn indoors. This meant in colder weather at change of lessons hundreds of pupils were having to carry coats as well as bags of books along crowded corridors.
As for blazer wearing being a punishment, words fail me 🙄

If a child/teen passes out and ends up with a head injury as a result a school will very likely be sued.

I think it is a bit daft once it gets really hot. The problem is that, once you factor in all the parents who will decide it is a 'stupid rule' at 20 degrees, then those who think 25 degrees is the 'too hot' moment, then those who think thirty degrees etc, it becomes more understandable that the school feels the need to impose a blanket rule. Our school has no blazer so we don't have this issue, but jumpers have been a slight problem for a few weeks. I appreciate they don't wait to wear them, and the rule has been that they don't have to, but they do have to bring them to school in their bags. But they don't bring them. So again the rule is flouted and when it gets to the point of the school asking for jumpers to go back on, lots of students will be like, "But I never bring a jumper!" Cue lots of silly arguing.

I fail to see how it is a problem, given there is absolutely no reason (bar perhaps the occasional special occasion) where everyone "needs" to be wearing a jumper. Who cares if some of the class are wearing jumpers and some not? In adult life that's called "normal." As long as all the pupils are wearing the same basic uniform it really doesn't make a jot of difference if someone has a shirt and someone else a jumper it's all the same uniform. After all you'll never get a class where all the kids are dressed 100% identically (boys and girls are dressed differently, some girls will be in headscarves, some in skirts and some in trousers or ankle-length skirts) so making a fuss about the difference between an official school shirt and an official school jumper seems bizarre and petty.

Using forced wearing of thick clothes in hot weather as an intentional punishment is a form of corporal punishment which is illegal. And frankly a form of torture. I'm amazed it is legal.

YANBU. I'll go as far as to say. Its a safe guarding issue. People can collapse in the heat.

TabascoToastie

I suspect a lot of parents fail to see why uniform is important. When you work in a school, though, you quickly realise that if you have a uniform, you need to make sure it is worn. Having a jumper but saying pupils don't have to wear it is all very well, but then why should they wear the tie? Why does it matter whether they wear grey socks or red socks? Who cares about skirt length? Why bother buttoning up the shirt? Why does it matter if they're wearing trainers or boots? Etc.

First, it undermines having a uniform to begin with. If you can't enforce one standard you can't enforce any of them.

And then there are practical considerations. At my school, ties are differentiated so that you can tell by looking at a student which year group they are in. Like most secondary schools we have a high staff turnover at the moment, so when there is an incident outside class (when you are on duty or walking round school) it allows you to identify a student more quickly. Shoes, again always a bugbear for parents, have to be leather and can't be boots. Why does this matter, you might ask? Well, plimsoll style shoes get soaked through in wet weather so you have disruption in lessons on account of wet feet. Boots can be steel capped - genuinely dangerous if a fight kicks off. Your standard leather shoe isn't risky in that way. Etc. So there are many reasons that aren't always obvious to parents why uniform standards should be maintained.

In offices across the country today, men and women have removed their jackets and hung them on hangers or the backs of chairs.
In even more offices, people didn't even arrive in a jacket.

I wouldn't imagine that there is 1 office in 100 where they enforce jacket-wearing at all times.

It is crazy.

I get that school uniform needs some enforcement, but taking it to ridiculous levels is one of the things that could turn me against it (and I am not against school uniform at present, though have had the odd wobble).

"Having a jumper but saying pupils don't have to wear it is all very well, but then why should they wear the tie? "

Nonsense. As you will see on this thread, most schools have reasonable policies where students do not have to wear jumpers or blazers if it is hot, and this has not led to a slippery slope of everyone not giving a shit about any other aspect of uniform.

It is absolutely horrible being too hot and miserable. If my kid's school did this, we would do what Sparkly did and just refuse to send in the stupid blazer, and tell the school that my kid had better not face any consequences as a result.

My dd will most likely be going to school for the rest of the term in shorts and a t-shirt. ds will wear summer weight dress trousers and a light blazer. Their clothing will as usual have no effect at all on their learning or behaviour. School appears to be able to manage things without the need for a highly enforced unsuitable and uncomfortable uniform. It's a weird archaic largely English convention that uniform, the more rigid the better is a good thing.

I bet none of the teachers are wearing wool blazers or jumpers.

MysteriousJackelope

Sounds exactly like my school. Same uniform

MaryTheCanary

I've just said our school has a reasonable policy. But yes, it does lead to a slippery slope, to some extent. Loosening the uniform policy further so that we never insist on jumpers or ties would exacerbate this.

I am usually very supportive of schools, particularly publicly as a parent (usually am on here too). However, when it is a health and safety concern that support reduces. Confuugled, and awlookatmybabyspider, good points re safeguarding. I'm not a doctor but am a HCP. My children are not in senior school yet but when they are then perhaps I will speak to the school. Hopefully by then they will not need a blazer!

Trifle, good point re. the ties and that is something that I wouldn't have thought of as a parent - thanks.

TBH though I would struggle to get onside (but would as a parent) with telling a student they had to bring a jumper with them if the had no intention of wearing it - as long as not needed for identification purposes. Unless it is needed to stop pupils disrupting lessons saying they are cold?

I appreciate that I am not a teacher and so could have it wrong. However, my 6 year old is capable of deciding whether she wants to take her jumper to school. I won't make her if she doesn't want to bring it. If she gets cold she'll probably decide to bring one the next day.

Thanks all

Ironically because the kids have complained the acting head is now wearing a large size school blazer to prove a point.

That doesn't make me respect him it makes me think he's a bloody fool tbh.

Oh goodness, how is that going to get any respect? Poor kids. I really wonder sometimes...

Ironically because the kids have complained the acting head is now wearing a large size school blazer to prove a point.

Tell me you're joking. What a div.

To echo PPs, it's ridiculous and forcing kids to wear thick a thick woolen layer in 27 degree heat (if you're in London) is basically irresponsible.

I don't care about creating an "office environment", most offices don't enforce a strict dress code anyway.

Gawd, I though this my generation were the last to deal with this type of bollocks and I left school in 1998.

YANBU.

(Oh and 10/10 to Sparkly!)

Academies are trying to emulate private schools with plaid skirts/pinafores, blazers, ties and draconian rules

Or they are uniforms that have to be especially ordered and therefore the risk of non-uniform being worn as uniform decreases?

We're an academy and are having a 'no blazer' policy this week due to the heat.

DS is at an independent.

Uniform here is - school shorts, short sleeve check shirt, jumper optional.

No riotous behaviour going on as far as I know.

We don't make kids wear blazers after May half term at all and if it's hot before then like this week then we bring the summer uniform in early. We also have a summer dress option (girls school) similar to what they wear in Australian secondary schools. Nobody benefits or learns better if they are unnecessarily uncomfortable. Classrooms are horrible places in hot weather.

Luckily for the kids in the school I work in even though it's the rule then must always wear blazers (not jumpers too though) the office people usually email as soon it gets hot enough to permit blazer taking off outside the classroom

My eldest is at a secondary where they have to wear business dress

That's such a good idea - I wonder why more schools don't adopt it.

And I would add, certainly in a secondary like mine, it is sensible to hold off on softening the rules for the heat, because doing so has a clear impact on behaviour. We have GCSE exams ongoing like every school, so the last thing we need is the party atmosphere, and unfortunately that is what happens when you tell kids 'no jumpers, no blazers, no ties'.

Nobody benefits or learns better if they are unnecessarily uncomfortable.

This.