AIBU to think that parents should buy the correct uniform and stop moaning

[Loveluck7]

I am getting increasingly irritated by people on FB moaning that their child's human rights have been violated because they were put into isolation for having the wrong uniform.

I understand that some rules can seem ridiculous but unfortunately some bad parents who have let their child wear spray on trousers and tiny skirts, have necessitated schools stipulating the exact items they need to wear.

Isolation does seem a harsh punishment when it is the parent's fault but how else can schools enforce the rules when some parent's think rules do not apply to them? The child cannot attend class without trousers and parent's would be angry if the child was sent home.

You also often find that it is these parent's who also complain when a school is no good at discipline, yet will not follow the rules themselves.

I thought that schools had been told by the Govt that their school uniforms had to be fair priced and not only available from one supplier? Here

My kids have left school now but when DS1 (22) started secondary school the only things we had to buy from them was the rugby shirt, the tie and a badge that could be sewn on any blazer.

By the time DS2 went 2 years later we had to buy the blazer from John Lewis which, tbf, wasn't massively overpriced. I think it was about £22 and could be bunged in the washing machine so that was fine.

When DS2 went into Yr11 they changed the trousers and tie but we didn't have to get that because he was leaving. The following year they changed the skirt and the blazer. More expense for parents.

Then eighteen months later the HT retired the Deputy HT took over and he completely changed the whole bloody lot. New colour for the skirts/trousers, different tie and the blazer had a new badge and piping. There were some really pissed off parents and I can't say I blame them.

WRT uniforms for work, I always did, DH always has, DS1 does and DS2 will (he wears one for training). We've always been given them. DS1 and DH even get issued with socks, shoes and boots. If it gets changed they get issued new.

Yeah cos who cares about ripping people off if they appear to be able to afford it

I don't give a shit if they wipe their arses with fifties or have a shed filled with iphones.

Still doesn't make it ok to con the parents like that

Maybe she is going to the papers to make a point about the draconian uniform rules - complaining to the head / governors would do nothing. If she gets some money along the way good on her.

Why on earth should she take her phone back to pay for overpriced uniform? A smart phone is not exactly a luxury these days anyway.

Personally I am sick of ordinary schools having ludicrous and pretentious uniform rules. Some academies think if they dress kids up like Little Lord Fontleroy they will be mistaken for a Public School

Uniforms are fine.
Black trousers, blue sweatshirt and white polo shirt = sensible, fairly smart, comfortable and affordable. Parents and children more likely to stick to the rules
Prescribed trousers from certain shop in prescribed shade of grey, starched shirt, v necked jumper in exact shade of bottle green plus blazer from ONE shop that MUST be worn at all times regardless of weather and lace up brogues from ONE shop costing £££££ for your big footed child = The school only has itself to blame if minor infractions occur or mutiny follows.

There is not much choice around state schools. You don't get to say 'not going to send him there because the uniform policy is ludicrous'. There are also lots of schools who have redesigned uniforms and insisted on everyone swapping within a term.

As a PP has said, stupid, draconian uniform policies are a sign of something lacking in a school

As a contrast, DC's primary school has just changed uniform. The first thing the head said was that the old uniform would be fine to wear for the next few years and also to hand down to younger siblings. If rules are reasonable most parents have no problem following them.

I don't have an iPhone 7. I have a 4 that was my dad's and he upgraded.

I have a tattoo but I've had it since before DD was born

My budget is tight. I get tax credits but they're down now there's only DD at school and my child benefit will be down as well. I earn £1000 a month. I get some housing benefit but that is cut too because DD is no longer at school.

Where the hell am I expected to magic up this money from? I run a car to get to work because there isn't a bus or train I can get.

There's loads of help I'm not eligible for because I'm working. (Not a complaint just how it is).

What am I supposed to do.. I can't work evenings as I've no knee to keep DD and I can't do weekends because I work hard all week with a 50 mile commute that takes 90 mins each way and I've housework to do and I'm bloody knacnered.

No but she could take her iphone7 back and use the money to pay for the uniform she obviously cannot afford

Could she really? There was information about whether it was on contract then, or a gift, or second hand? And if you accept the tattoo wasn't relevant to her current financial position, why did you mention it in the first place?

Although, even if you're as rich as turkey gravy, that doesn't make it ok to force you into purchasing from overpriced cartels.

I dint have a choice if school. This is the school we are in catchment for and the only other school we aren't eligible for (it's a faith school)

Some of the school uniform skirts are ridiculously short. My dd likes certain pleated skirts from George. She is 9 and is taller than average at about 145cm with very long legs in relation to her body. I have had to buy her age 13-14 skirts an cinch the waist in. These skirts are well above the knee. I bought the age 11-12 a couple of years ago and got rid of it in the spring because it was a bloody fanny pelmet!

I'm not surprised the schools are upset with the clothes some of the children wear. On an average 14 yo the skirts dd is wearing would be obscene. Otoh schools are being ridiculous with draconian rules in some cases.

Yy miaow

I feel the same. It's all rearranging deckchairs on sinking ships.

As I've said before

When bullying bad behaviour and poor teaching has been dealt with, knock yourselves out.til then stop trying to make parents think you are tackling stuff by changing the uniform.

And for the love of god will parents stop being so stupid as to not see you are merely participants in a fuck off giant game of chicken

MiaowTheCat
I wouldn't go as far as you but near me the uniform trends are:

Simple uniform with odd bits of school specific stuff (standard sort if thing from when i was a student): mixture of top schools and middling schools.

Single supplier for lots of stuff eg skirt, trousers, blazers and oddly picky about tiny details: recently taken over by a chain in the last few years so have to follow their picky requirements

Almost entirely single supplier: good school, loads of issues with uniform. New uniform has clearly been designed to minick a number of local independent schools. Seems a little wanky.

£16 for a pair of school trouser just so they can be a specific pair of grey is just pathetic!

I think this post is concerning Houghton Keiper School in the North East, I personally think it's disgraceful to charge £16 for a pair of school trousers, even more so when pratents couldn't buy the trousers from Total Sports, as they were out of stock and as they were struggling to get them, some children who couldn't get them for sent home through no fault of there own or put in isolation!

Parents also complaining were either damaged or poor quality!

Irregardless if parents have technology costing hundreds, uniform is supposed to be affordable, not cost parents an arm and a leg!

I love school uniforms, however I think parents should be able to choose if they can afford £16 or £5, as log as they are grey then it bloody well shouldn't matters

I'm glad we choose ds school based on there policy of common sense, he has to wear black trousers, they couldn't give two hoots what shade of black they are.

I get my eyebrows waxed at £4 a time. Do you think that's ok? Or should I stop that once a month treat ?

The op has gone anyway.

The thing is giles, following rules matters for creating a whole school culture.

The school I used to work at that had shocking behaviour also had shocking uniform (e.g. leggings and shorter fitted shirts were a trend).
Making sure uniform is followed is part amd parcel of making sure other school rules are followed. Now, whether that means single supplier is the way forward is another debate, but it does annoy me seeing/hearing 'don't enforce uniform rulea when behaviour is rubbish'

If DD is put into isolation this week for not having the correct joggers, it's not her fault. I cannot afford to buy the regulation joggers.

Why should she be punished for being poor? The school get pupil premium or whatever it's called for her

Having just picked up 2 school jumpers for £11 each I find out today their first day back that they are changing the uniform after Xmas And the old school jumpers wouldn't be allowed! I'm bewildered how they can get away with that??
I would of made his jumper from last year last.

MaisyPops The problem is, why go out of your way to make a uniform as difficult to comply with and obtain as possible? Why disappear up their own backsides with uniform compliance minutia, yet do NOTHING to address larger concerns such as behaviour?

inews.co.uk/essentials/news/education/school-lined-children-rain-check-supermarket-uniform/

This isnt normal human behaviour.

Bit its polyester. It's not magic. Bad behaviour is bad behaviour whatever a person is wearing. This heavy reliance on clothing is ridiculous.

Make rules actually important..kindness , good behaviour, being on time, etc

You won't make some asbo kid who doesn't give a crap change by making him.wear a blazer any nore than I could perform .surgery by wearing a set of scrubs.

Surely as a teacher if you turned around a class with a shit load of hard work and going the extra mile for your kids you'd be pissed off if someone cane along as attributed the change to a uniform?

So let me see if I can understand some people's logic on this forum. One benefit of uniform is everyone looks the same, no-one can laud over anyone over-priced items. Yes?

In the next breath, for cash-strapped parents, a second hand uniform shop is or should be made available?

Because kids won't laud that over each other will they?

No second hand uniform shop at DD school. Local uniform exchange run by a charity but only available to those who are not in work. I have donated and never been able to receive

Kids will laud over each other the fact that one gets the number 8 bus whilst another gets the number 11. That should not be a concern at all. What should is practicality. Burnt umber number 34409684847 pants, (which can only be washed 4 times on delicate before the stitching falls apart) from Joe Bloggs suppliers in the middle of nowhere, who has suddenly decided the school has 980 pupils instead of 1383, is not practical.

This irritates me every bloody year! I can't imagine any school suddenly change their uniform policy halfway through the holiday so parents should know what their precious offspring are expected to wear well in advance. They then decide to flout these rules and run to the papers when snowflake is put in detention. If they don't like the rules/policies of their child's school, don't send them there! It's simple really.
It's just blatant disregard for rules and all it does is show their kids they don't have to follow the rules either.