To be struggling with school uniform costs

[pizzatuesdays]

DD managed to get mud all over her blazer and skirt.

I just can't afford to get them cleaned. So i sent her in without the blazer and a note. She has been put in isolation tomorrow.

I am really sick of it. AIBU?

that's really harsh on your poor daughter pizza
I'd be upset too
you'd have thought the school would have at least one spare from lost property that she could have borrowed

YANBU I hate dry clean only school uniform. DD's blazer is wool and no you most definitely can't just put it in the machine on delicate or hand wash it, frankly heavy rain can be a bit dodgy as it takes days to dry, smells funnny and can't be tumble dried or even put on the heater. Who the fuck thought that was a good idea? 'ooh I know lets put primary school kids in uniforms you can't wash, that'll be fun'

Ive tried. But there is no way she can wear it to school. Cleaning it will have to wait until thursday

What happened when you tried? What did you do?

Why will it have to wait til thursday? It happened yesterday? It’s going to stink by Thursday.

. "Just hand wash it and hang it over a radiator"

Interesting. Especially as tenants are forever being told not to do this.

Well you be astounded then chicken.

Yes so understanding isolating my daughter. Really sympathetic of them.

Thank you for replies.

Donny seriously give it a rest. I will get paid thursday.

Especially as tenants are forever being told not to do this.

I’m a tenant and have never been told this. I do it without any issues. One blazer will not cause any issues.

Is there a spare one in lost property she could "borrow"?

pizzatuesdays

You'll probably get more from the thread if you're a little less antagonistic.

You have a shower hose. You can hose it with that.

That is very harsh of the school. To punish a child when she has had an accident.

Are you sure she gave them the note? If so I'd ring asking why they are punishing her. The blazers cost a fortune so many children only have one.

I get your frustration with the school costs, it feels like every week they want money for this, that and the other.
Can you speak to the school? They may have some blazers they can give you until the end of the term.

Sending you a hug x

Personally, a one off and it'l be fixed by the weekend is totally ok with my school. Beyond that though we would expect something to be sorted out otherwise you get the students witu the 'broken school shoes' in trainers for weeks.

It depends on the note (I'm only drawing on my experiences here).

A note saying 'my child's blazer is covered in mud so they won't be wearing it' is different to 'my child slipped and has covered their blazer in mud. I understand the uniform policy but we don't have spares. Does school have a spare one we could borrow until it's resolved?'

The first is very much 'this has happened so this is what is happening' and the second is more 'this has happened and can we find a solution'.

If the school is known for being tough on uniform then personally I would have taken the 2nd approach because it's then on them to help you out, you've shown willing and it allows for a resolution.

For heavens sake op. Yanbu!
I find it hard to accept that if a parent has sent in a note, the school do not have a few spare blazers they can hand out. At dds school they did have a policy of internal exclusion for uniform but if parent sent in a note they were loaned the missing kit enabling them to go to lessons. It was from unclaimed lost property and donated outgrown kit.
I would be very cross indeed op

No wonder the school feel confident in being so petty and narrow minded, op- look at the snide bollocks on this post!

In your shoes I would contact the school and say that I was extremely disappointed that they were choosing to punish dd for matters out of her control, explain the exact situation and ask them to loan her a spare. If they say they don't have spares, I'd express my surprise and ask them what specific measures they have in place to mitigate the disadvantage to low income families caused by their insistence on costly dry clean only uniform items.

They may well respond with the sort of sneering disdain that's been all over this thread but you never know, they may be normal, non cuntish people.

Thank you. I have tried.

Would it be possible please to accept the blazer cannot be cleaned and dried by hand and move on.

Maisy I explained exactly what happened, apologised and said she would return in correct uniform after half term.

Thank you for kinder responses.

What did the school say when you called them? I assume you explained she fell into a pond and that you cannot afford to have the jacket cleaned. I cannot beleive any reasonable person would punish a child for this.

Oh fgs some people are being seriously obtuse.

Blazer is too minging to handwash according to op and even if handwash in the bath/shower was possible, several people have informed op how to handwash.

Ops washing machine is broken, she is using laundrette in the meantime but can't afford another laundry run until she's paid Thursday.

Op has informed school of this and their response was to put her dd in isolation.

Op, I would send them an email with a picture of said blazer and facts as outlined above and ask them if they are seriously proposing to punish your daughter due to you having financial struggles which must be difficult enough already and if so, I would ask for a meeting to explain why they think that's appropriate.

In fairness your thread title focused on the uniform issue not whether the impact on your dd was harsh.

That is what the note said.

Even if OP could afford to dry clean the blazer, it still would not have been available for the next school day. They tend to take a couple of days. Hence dd would still have got a punishment.

Id call the school, that is so unfair.

She'll survive a brief punishment. Might be worth having a backup uniform for the times when it needs washed. But seriously, you're making a mountain out of a mole hill. Dry clean or no dry clean, it would have survived one hand wash and it would have stood a decent chance of drying overnight. First world problems.

In which case I think they have been out of order.
Personally, I'm all for enforcing uniform if a school chooses ti have a uniform (and find the eeh but my lad wants to wear black trainers arguments so tiresome and they are the reason some schools get ridiculously prescriptive) but part of a school having a strict line on uniform should be that they have some spares for mitigating circumstances. That way where it's an accident a well behaved student could take the spare and the matter os resolved.
A child who was being a PITA thinking rules don't apply to them would refuse the spare and could rightly be sanctioned.

I'd question the school's policy for dealing with uniform in this situation.

I wear under wired bras and i have to hand wash them. The guy who plumbed our washing machine in said on no account put underwired bras in there.

Another reason i wouldnt do it is my bras are £30 a time.

So i have to handwash them and in winter they take 3 days to dry.

wrenika it is not ok to punish someone for being poor.