To find it outrageous that school inspects the DC's trousers

[BlackTrousersAreBlackTrousers]

And makes them change immediately into school regulation trousers if they are not the right 'cut'.

Black trousers are black trousers surely. DS wanted the 'skinny' type which are not actually skinny but less flappable than the standard fit. All the rage, plenty of DC wearing them. Store sells them as school trousers. They are school trousers.

School decides they are 'jeans'.

AIBU to think they should take their head out if their arse and concentrate on educating the DC rather than making them line up for 'inspection', as if they are army recruits?

Lower school HAS to wear trousers only sold by school uniform shop. They even put a colourful line down the side, like they are an army brass band, so they cannot sneak on reasonably priced trousers - £18 as opposed to £6 supermarket ones.

It is obscene. Why are they allowed to get away with it?

Before some idiot pipes up that I should disrupt DS's education by moving him if I don't like 'dem rulz', schools are a public SERVICE not a vehicle for boosting the ego of some limp dicked, power crazed twat .

Just deciding not to support the school policy and buying the DC the wrong uniform is not a constructive way to voice an objection to school uniform.

I'm not sure 'constructive' is what the OP is going for:

boosting the ego of some limp dicked, power crazed twat
Before some idiot pipes up
they should take their head out if their arse
All these regulations are bollocks
mostly looking like homeless people or grimey rappers

I think she follows the Jeremy Kyle approach to resolving disagreements.

Someone is trying to get in the Daily Mail

Yeah, that might explain it.

You choose the school. it has a uniform, end of.

choosing? CHOOSING?
since when? not much choice where I am. you get allocated a school, that's it. unless you have 20k a year to spare for a private school...

Most jobs that require a uniform are low-paid and low-status. Most school uniforms (of the one-shop-only type, especially) are overpriced, badly made, impractical and uncomfortable. They are often too hot in summer and not warm enough in winter, but the most tiresome schools get ridiculously pissy about children wanting to remove their nasty nylon blazers in sweltering classrooms, or wearing boots even just to travel to and from school when it's pissing down or snowing.

People who live in countries where schools are non-uniform are perfectly capable of wearing uniforms for work as required. It's not so difficult that you need 13 years of practice :-D

I remember a national news story last year about parents being told to come and pick up their kids from school as the (new?) Head had a massive clampdown on uniform.

Lots of parents up in arms. One especially made it to camera to complain about the ridiculous uniform policy(in her opinion - get your kids the right uniform in the first place, much cheaper than buying all the branded stuff over and over again as it goes missing/gets nicked/is outgrown).

Mum was wearing a full Tesco uniform... see how long not wearing your full outfit to work lasts!

I'm dreading this. DD wants to wear plain school trousers instead of the hideous checked regulation school skirt that they've introduced at the secondary she's going to. Most girls do seem to wear hideous skirt, but she is technically allowed to wear trousers and adamant about it. A combination of her mother's genes and rugby players thighs will ensure that ANY pair of school trousers will look 'skinny' on her. Think I'll be having to take a week off work to trail round the shops with her.

if you select a school with a particular policy then you stick to it

I'm in favour of school uniform, and stick to it, but this above makes it sound like there's a wide range of schools, with a wide range of school uniform policies, to choose from. There was one local secondary school that DS was able to get into (all the rest were faith, and he wouldn't have had a sniff at them), so no "selection" at all.

And people would be less likely to sneak non-reg uniform in if the reg uniform wasn't so bloody expensive. (I've never tried, but I know people who have, as there's no secondhand uniform market for this school, and the prices are ruinous.)

The consensus on here seems to be that parents not forcing ‘regulation’ uniform are encouraging their child to disprect rules and thus setting them up for future disregard for rules and boundaries and that those parents also have a certain level of disrespect for the School. Its quite offensive in the lack of any conclusive evidence to support schools with such ridiculous examples as the OP gave and as one other poster said it’s not about raising a generation of children who cannot follow rules but about raising a child that can make objective choices and accept the consequences of his/her choices. I guess many of you on here are not actually the parents of strong willed teenagers who actually have a personality and mind of their own which we actively encourage within our household.
Eg- wearing a blazer if they choose not to- I provide a blazer but in winter he walks 1.5 miles and if he wants to have that discussion about it being neither waterproof or warm and therefore not wearing it then he has my support.
I think that many on here support ‘uniform’ but not to the prescribed degree that many schools implement, I have friends that went to very strict private education schools and friends that went to the one my son now goes to where uniform was shirt/tie/trousers/skirt and blazer and many varied the uniform with skirt lengths/nicer shirts but guess what academically and as well balanced adults I would say we are all much the same.

Our school changes its mind from year to year. I bought ds2 a particular type of school trouser in year 7 as it had been acceptable for his older brother when he was at that school. Mid way through year 8 (ie 1 1/2 years later) head of year said it was too skinny. I had to run to supermarket that night to get a different style. This style was acceptable for a year until ds's tutor announced it looked too much like jeans. .
Just to add, my secondary school was amongst the highest achieving state schools at the time and the teachers didn't give a fuck where we got our skirts or trousers from.

people would be less likely to sneak non-reg uniform in if the reg uniform wasn't so bloody expensive

Not so sure that is the case, always seems like those breaking the rules are doing so with clothes/trainers that are more expensive than the uniform.

And I bet the op hasn't approached the school and asked for financial assistance or second hand uniforms which a lot of schools will help with.

I guess many of you on here are not actually the parents of strong willed teenagers who actually have a personality and mind of their own which we actively encourage within our household.

I read this to DS, who laughed, and said he had more important things to be strong-willed and have a personality mind of his own about than clothes.....

DS - and tbh I - can't see any sensible connection between 'wearing school uniform' and 'not having a personaility or mind of our own'. It's clothes, not viewpoints on the future of mankind, or even future of the country post Brexit.

If your way of showing your personality is by rebelling about school uniform, it does seem rather...petty? Especially as rebellion over school uniform is normally 'to fit in with the cool crowd / brand tribe' rather than genuinely 'to be different'.

asda last year sold 3 types of school trousers, all labelled 'school trousers'

2 of them were school trousers, the third were skinny black jeans.

Anyone within 20 feet could see they were black jeans. Just because the supermarket sticks them in the school section doesn't stop them being skinny jeans

SignoraStronza
I wouldn't worry about it. We have quite a bit sporty section of our cohort and it's not an issue.
We have a simple uniform and insist on it being followed (but do have alterations for religious dress, feet issues, disability abd SEND needs such as sensory issues as part of reasonable adjustments).

Our sporty and athletic girls are rarely pulled up for uniform unless it's an obvious problem. It's quite obvious to tell the difference between a child who has trousers a little snug in places (either because of growing or build) but they are otherwise reasonable trousers and a child who comes in wearing skinny fashion trousers which show the outline of their bum cheeks.
Usually super skinny trouser wearers will have parents at home defending wearing non uniform by first claiming they aren't skinny, then that everyone wears them, then that they were wearing them last term and then it's 'but I'm not replacing them when i've just spent £30'.

If you ever have to speak to supportive parents to say 'heads up thry're starting to look almost like skinny fit' then they tend to say 'not a problem. We'll start having a hunt. You know how it is finding clothes for sporty kids. We'll try and get something but it might be a few weeks'.

And I bet the op hasn't approached the school and asked for financial assistance or second hand uniforms which a lot of schools will help with.

My DS's school, a state academy, has neither financial assistance nor secondhand uniform available.

(As I said earlier, I do stick to the proper uniform, but I've known others who haven't. In once case a mum I knew bought non-reg grey trousers for her son from a supermarket because he was a hefty lad and the reg trousers from the school supplier just would not fit him without looking utterly ridiculous. She'd had to buy them too, as part of a uniform package, so ended up paying twice.)

The cardigans for my year 2 daughter are £17.75 each which is ridiculous

That's less than the price of a takeaway or a decent bottle of wine. It's hardly bank-breaking, is it?

I'm a big fan of uniform because I grew up poor in an affluent area, you can wash a school uniform every night and no one will know you wear the same clothes every day but I was teased for always wearing the same outfit to parties, own clothes day etc. However some schools have got ridiculous with it, DD is only allowed certain coloured hair accessories and the trust I work for want me to check children wearing trousers are wearing black or grey socks. I mean who the fuck cares?

Chocolate, you have a very peculiar idea of what will and will not break the bank. Just because you have £17.75 to spend on a bottle of wine, don't assume that everyone does.

I imagine that when devising a school uniform, the considerations are the same for most governing bodies:
- What will minimise bullying?
- What is reasonably affordable?
- What makes our students distinctive, so issues outside school can be clearly traced back and students can be safer?
- What looks smart?
- What is simple, so anyone can understand the requirements?

I think much of that is optimistic. I would be happy to subscribe to the idea of uniforms to stop bullying if schools went for a plain, cheap option. As it is, all too many of them - particularly academies - insist on expensive blazers, expensive shirts with logos on, and various other unnecessary extra bits and pieces, and also tend to change their uniforms far too often without phasing it in to allow pupils to wear out or grow out of their old uniform before they have to replace it.

It follows therefore that they clearly don't go for what is reasonably affordable. They could easily choose something reasonably distinctive whilst keeping costs within sensible boundaries - it needs little more than a different-coloured sweatshirt, after all - but they don't. They equally clearly don't go for simple uniform, given all the problems around silly things like tiny amounts of ornamentation on shoes. Uniform that is worn every day rarely looks smart, no matter how expensive it was to start with.

The reality is that most schools seem to opt for strict uniform rules because they believe that it plays well with some parents, and gives the illusion that they are doing something effective about discipline and standards. But, make no mistake, time after time it is shown to be nothing more than an illusion - because it takes much more real effort to raise standards. Hence the frighteningly large numbers of academies and free schools that are failing: they concentrate on the superficial whilst ignoring fundamentals.

Applause for Gnother!

I do wonder at all of these social ills that wearing an overpriced polyester blazer that is neither waterproof nor practical are supposed to be cured by. It's magical thinking in the extreme: okay so social mobility is in terminal decline, the very fabric of our schools are being not sold but given away to a bunch of spivs who are accountable to no one while the govt launches one woeful education 'initiative' after another, but hey, we dress our kids in strange get ups that the rest of the world laughs at so that proves we have standards.

But why can't i doodle in my book. It's not affecting my brain.
Can't resist this one Maisy. Did you know doodling has been shown to aid concentration? So yes I suppose it does affect their brain. I remember my teachers rather liking my mathematical doodles :)

The head teacher at my DDs secondary school is leaving ,he changed the uniform when he arrived.We are wondering what the next head will do to make their mark.

Most uniform is available from regular shops OP. You don't agree with the rule about skinny legs on trousers. That's a totally diffetent argument. I find your use of language in the OP abusive and can well imagine you enjoy a good old ding dong with people in authority.

If you have such strong views on what children should wear to school perhaps you should have become a teacher or a governor. I am fed up of teachers having to waste their time talking to the few kids whose parents can't be bothered sending them to school in the correct uniform. Just imagine how great schools would be if parents like you thought about the bigger picture rather than wasting your energy and our kids' teachers' time on this nonsense!

"This parent could have written to the school objecting to trousers lower down the school from one supplier. She could have explained the expense issue and requested that they reconsider. She could have asked her child to do the same. That is a constructive approach"

So it would be ok for a poorer parent not to shell out the £300 she hasnt got as long as she has followed this protocol first.

Or is it (as i suspect) something that takes months and doesnt really have an end date or achieve anything (a bit like when tenants have to complain to the Housing Ombudsman) and then the parent still has to shell out what she hasnt got.

And Miss Elizas post proves that some do get off on the power. Having to rush to a supermarket that night because of someone elses sudden whim mind change.