to think school can cock off with their "patented shade of grey" £17 a pop trousers?

[QoFE]

Normal state secondary school, new head so obvs we need a costly uniform change (less than 5 years after the last uniform change) to reflect the new regime

Despite significant parental opposition (I know because I went to the so called "consultation") we now have to stump up for logoed blazers and ties. Expensive but hey ho, suck it up, whatever.

Except an email has just gone out reminding parents that the trousers and skirts HAVE to be one specific and expensive brand and cannot be cheapy or second hand because wait for it....

they are a patented shade of grey looks like tesco grey to me but what do I know

WTF? Is this even legal? The trousers start at £17 a pair FFS and ones to fit a 6th former are nearly £30

Our catchment secondary school for girls has a uniform that includes logos on everything and two suppliers. The trousers option (not actually sold by the suppliers) is a colour rarely seen on anyone since 1976 and certainly not in a supermarket or high street shop.

I don't know about patented, but the colour of our blazers is "exclusive" and the colour is called XXX High School Blue.

I'm not saying no-one else could use it but they'd need to order in XXX High school Blue on the order form. Of course there may very well be a different shade of blue that is very similar but has no restrictions - just another way to make money as the colour was developed by the supplier and I guess they'd be unwilling to pass on the colour code to anyone else.

I know it's not going to happen, but the sooner we get rid of compulsory school uniform the better

BarbarianMum and WaxOnFeckOff
Have either of you actually bothered to read my posts on this thread or are you just jumping on the last one so you can be outraged?!

I have said multiple times that I am not a fan of single supply uniforms.

I have said I would happily teach in a school with no uniform.

I have also said that one of the main reasons school seem to be heading towards single supply is when there's been a lot of problems with parents who can't seem to get their head around the idea that 'plain black straight legged smart trousers' means no jeans, leggings type trousers, skinny fit etc. (And yes, I do tend to find that people who argue their child should be allowed to wear trainers and jeans when the uniform says otherwise are the type who also undermine other school rules they don't like).

I have also said that in my school we don't have a full single supply uniform (blazer, tie and optional skirts). Our parents can buy almost all our uniform wherever they like and that's probably because they support the school so send their children in wearing appropriate trousers, non fitted shirts, appropriate school shoes etc. We don't really care where someone's trousers come from as long as they meet the uniform rules.

@SpaghettiAndMeatballs They pulled this 20 years ago with a school local to me (beige cords in their case) - trouble was they were really hot on it for the first year

DH went to a school approx 20 years ago who instituted beige cords. They looked fine until he grew and the hems were let down and the new bits were a different shade...

I'm not outraged Maisy

Just pounting out that there is a midddle ground between no uniform and the gestapo conditions that some schools seem to apply. It is possible to have a uniform policy that is broadly adhered to without it being a time sucker for teachers and that interupts learning, it sounds like your school seems to be following that. There is no reason why the rules have to be so rigid. What benefit is gained from everyone wearing straight legged black trousers when surely it should be enough that the trousers are black? Whats' wrong with slimfit/boot cut, pleated front etc.?

When schools start to specify the one style of trousers that are acceptable then it still means that the kids don't all look the same as those trousers will look different depending on the build. A child with heavy thighs will make them look slim fit and one with thin legs might make them look baggy.

e.g. My DS track cycles and has thighs like Chris Hoy, he needs a wider fit through the leg although waist size is standard, if he had to get one specific trouser then they would probably be falling down at the waist in order to accommodate his legs. thankfully the school just specify black trousers so we can shop about for a style that fits and everyone is happy.

I think it cuts both ways, parents and pupils need to get on board but schools need to stop being rigid where it simply doesn't matter. As I've said DSs to go a top performing school (top 5 in Scotland) and they seem to manage to teach perfectly well and have no discipline issues without being quite so rigid about uniform. Not sure why it seems to end up in such a problem elsewhere.

wax
We've specified straight leg because otherwise not saying a cut means you get anything from sensible trousers through to wide palazzo trousers and skinny leggings types. Keeping clear guidance also makes it easier for parents to shut down any "but Tom's mum let's him... Sarah's mum let's her..."
At my school we don't go around closely inspecting so if it's slightly more boot cut than straight then we're not going to whip the tape measure out. But it's very clear if they are wildly outside straight leg. 99% of our students manage to come in sensible trousers, even if now and again they suddenly have uniform amnesia and turn up in very tight ones. Generally a reminder of 'not uniform' suffices.

But I imagine my school is similar to yours where almost all the parents read the uniform and send their children to school following the uniform, without trying to work out how tight they can go, how trainer-esque the shoes can get etc.

Honestly, the reason it's an issue in some schools (in my experience, not saying it's true for all) is that a school with ongoing behaviour issues has them because little things have been let slide for a while e.g uniform, homework, attitude, conduct in corridors etc. None on their own are awful, but together create a culture of 'I'll follow the rules when it suits me' and sadly you find there's a group of parents (as you'll see by week 3 of September on MN) who will tell their child that they don't have to do x y z and they'll be complaining to school. Cracking that culture when it's prevalent is difficult and I think that's why some schools go overly prescriptive on their uniform.
I don't like single supplier, but am can understand it as part of the bigger picture

Ha ha , I've never seen palazzo pants but otherwise I think my school is less strict than yours, lots of the girls wear leggings and boys/girls wear tight trousers and I've seen kids in trainers. DS had to wear trainers for a few days as his feet were so swollen after his DofE, I gave him a note but he wasn't called on it. Trainers weren't black but bright blue - at least they matched the blazer... :o

I can see where you are coming from, but as I say DSs school don't have an issue but then they don't have general discipline issues either. Some kids are fashionable, some are geeky, no-one seems to care one way or another. They are marked on effort in their reports and the vast majority seems to thrive on it.

That's actually quite a good price considering this kind of 'one brand only' thing is usually the preserve of private schools. My uniform (prep school) used to be around £400 a pop. That said, it's worth seeing if they open a second-hand shop for the blazers and such in a year or so, that was always popular at mine (even rich mums like a bargain!).

I honestly don't see why schools can't look at the uniform offered from Tesco, M&S, Primark etc & state which of the uniform for each store meets the standard of the school. Then parents have the option to buy the uniform within their budget & to school specifications.

It was a few years back, sort of an odd mix of palazzo type trousers that looked like you know those wide leg jeans that more Emo type kids wore? I actually thought they were quite nice, but not uniform.

hootie Good idea. Runs into the same issue as single supplier, just cheaper. Getting them to fit different sized kids is a hassle.
Personally, I'd just think it's easier if there was a broad uniform code and people didn't take the piss. It would be so much easier.

You can't patent a colour. You can trademark a colour, but not under these circumstances - there has to be an enhanced distinctivenmess of some kind. So Cadbury can trademark their purple, because it's so strongly and disctinctly associated with their chocolate and their brand, but I can still make dresses in Cadbury purple and it could still be used for a school uniform.

A pair of uniform grey trousers - ask to the see the trademark (or patent if you want to use the same language, even though they've got that wrong) documentation and laugh at them.

DS1/2's school blazer was in a colour affectionately known as "shit brown" but other than that they didn't really specify where you had to buy the other bits of uniform for. They suggested the main supplier but we always got their trousers and shirts from Matalan as they were of a better quality.

Here's an example of what DSs school are happy with Maisy - taken from the website.

Other than skirts that's fairly similar to ours.

I'm in Scotland, and our school recently introduced 'voluntary' blazers complete with condescending email comparing them to the cost of designer trainers. The blazers come from a single supplier and cost between £35-£50, and come in S1-S3, S4-S6 and boy/girl versions. There was lots of chat from the school about how great the blazers were (I've seen polyester blazers vs wool blazers, they're really not) and how you'd have to buy them a coat anyway (but you still would, because the blazers don't have a hood, aren't that warm, aren't waterproof) and how they would foster excellence (how they would do this was not specified).

We decided not to. Thankfully there is no rubbish about excluding people here because we have decided not to support their money-spinner.

YANBU.

In my view, almost certainly there's a kickback involved. Quite possibly it's going to the personal pocket of the governors or the headteacher, or something else that's not the school operating costs.

Unfortunately your choice is either get ripped off comply or have your child's education fucked up.

My DS is starting at an independent school and I was bracing myself for the cost of uniform but they sell blazers and jumpers (and other bits of uniform) second hand through the school so I got his first blazer and jumper for a quarter of the price, and they say we can get the shirts, socks etc from anywhere. The shorts don't cost much either. So beyond the cap and tie and scarf (which I hope will last a few years) it's ended up being no more expensive then most schools. Also indoor shoes are strictly black plimsoles all through the school which cost barely anything compared to trainers. If they made us buy something as basic as socks or shirts from the supplier though I'd think it was a bit ridiculous.

Next schools will insist on logo'd undies.

That is so wanky and have been there and done that with all my children. Lost my shit with head of year last year saying have you not got better things to do. Black shoes no log no brand name, but not right! New head too! why don't they go all out and have those stupid fucking boaters and we can all pretend they are at fee paying schools. What a crock of shit. Sorry touched a nerve ! How are struggling parent/parents carers supposed to do this.

Steam trains logos on undies !

Can I just state for the record that schools are not allowed to make any profit from uniform sales ever. So it doesn't go into the headteacher's pocket or into paying for anything. Ever.

I'd love to know the exact shade - the patent should be very detailed in this. But it's fair enough really, it's a way for the school to raise funds.

But the head needs to just be assertive and say 'your child's clothing does not conform to our uniform guidelines' when there's a problem

Of course we say this to students. A million times over.

Can you unroll your skirt please?

Oh yes of course, no problem

Or

Errrr no? Everyone else has theirs rolled up

Or

My button broke

Or

Or