To refuse to rebuy five years of primary school uniform

[Schooluniform2018]

Our small primary school has always had a uniform. I have had one child pass through the school into high school and therefore have enough shirts, pinafores and logo cardigans to pass down to my youngest two. Currently in years 1 and 3.

Deputy head was recently promoted to head and promised 6 months ago that the uniform was staying the same with a logo change in the cardigans.

Today they have decided that the colour of the uniform has to change. (Not sure if pinafore/trouser colour is changing yet)

So could we buy new pe kits, jumpers/cardigans and maybe pinafores/trousers !

So I have five years of uniform...enough for my youngest two to wear all their school life, in good condition and they want me to spend a lot of money which I simply do not have to replace the uniform.

Oh and they didn't bother to ask parents opinion, just presented it as a done deal.

AIBU to tell the school that my kids will be still wearing their old uniform colours until they graduate to high school in five years time, as I don't have the money to rebuy new stuff :(

I heard that uniform is optional at primary school, so hoping that will work in my favour.

I am so upset. It is a good school with no reason to change the existing nice uniform, the new one is made by the same uniform shop in the same materials just different colour and logo.

My DCs preschool clothes have lasted two previous DCs that we got hand me downs from (most of the clothes came from one friend via another friend) and through one of my DCs so far - though some items TBF are going at the knees, especially the 100% cotton ones.

School uniform trousers are very hard wearing, there's absolutely no reason why they shouldn't last 2 years each for 3 DDs. As younger children grow faster (but fall over more) they probably only have to last 1 year each for 3 DDs in R/Y1.

Honestly because there wasn't much in the two village schools at the time. They were both 'good' ofsted wise.They both had similar supermarket uniforms and optional logo jumpers. They both seemed friendly.

The school I choose was closer to walk to and seemed less pushy academically, than the other school. I believe children learn best when they are comfortable and have time to play alongside work.

Wish I had chosen the other one now. They have no plans to alter their uniform.

Bumble - why can't you accept that if the OP says she can't work any more that she knows her own circumstances better than you do ?

Did you have a thread back at the start of the school year about your older girls blazer and a muddy puddle?

No that wasn't me. No muddy puddles stories here. :)

I think the OP is getting much too hard a time here. Changing uniform does very little for educational attainment, particularly at primary level. If it coincides with a change of leadership then it’s likely to be motivated by the vanity of the new head as much as anything else. Picking special uniform which has to be obtained from specialist suppliers is downright inconsiderate for a state school, and again: vain.

Most people use hand-me-downs, and the snobbery against it is rather odd, because at the top-end private schools, the second-hand shops thrive, so it has little to do with parental incomes.

Compulsory uniform changes are also wasteful, as many families pass down uniform until it wears out. We have several items that are in child number three and our age 7-8 trutex polo shirts are on their 6th year of wear, and still look fine (and much softer than the newer ones)

That's completely unreasonable to expect such a change! I would be expecting the school to faze it in slowly as it is incredibly costly!
When my son started his state school in year 7, it cost us around £500.00 to kit him out with equipment, footwear and clothing! I would not be wanting to spend out money I didn't have to!

The primary my kids went to had a change of uniform when my youngest was going into year 5. They changed the PE kit and polo shirt logo and introduced logo-ed jumpers and school bags. My son didn't want a school bag and as we had plenty of the logo-ed polo shirts and PE tops and a track suit of the old design, he wore the old uniform until he left. There were no problems with this as he wasn't the only younger sibling and there were no colour changes in the uniform, just logos. If the school kept to the same colour uniform then it would be fine for your children and the other younger siblings as logos alone wouldn't stand out.

You can get a uniform grant if that helps but I don't really think you can do much else :(

I'd probably buy the new jumper/cardigan and not bother with the rest of the stuff. Unless uniform goes from Brown to blue, then you'll be fine with the old colours. Don't bother with PE kit, no one will care.

Sorry but I think you are being unreasonable. I’ve always bought my kids new uniform every year, from when they were 3 (they’re 15 & 16 now). Couldn’t imagine sending them in hand me downs, especially your 3rd one, poor kid. Sorry but I think sending them in a different uniform is appalling

Why do you have 5 years worth of uniforms???

Its not like its that expensive. Lets not be a Scroodge. Lets buy a child lovely shiny new uniform! Poor kid!

YANBU I'd be the same tbh and yes they can be passed down and last years, they are only worn at school, most the time sat down at a desk. Then end up in charity shops. It's an expense that alot of people struggle to afford as it is.

Also it's an awful waste of clothing which lets face if it has logos it has no more use except for as a school uniform. So they'd expect it to go to landfill?
That's a good example to set considering they are supposed to be promoting less waste, recycling ect. Or is that just my area promoting that?

Our primary school has recently had a uniform change but they have said all existing pupils may where uniform they already have any new starter from September 2017 had to have new uniform and would not be allowed to wear hand me downs from older siblings so that with each new year a whole years worth will be in new uniform until the whole school was. I feel this was a sensible approach.

Haven't rtft. I think there should be transitional arrangements and allowances for siblings. I think there have been when that's happened at other schools I'm aware of.

Well if they keep the old colour uniform can you just buy the logo alone and iron or saw on top of the old ones?

Or if they change the colour just buy same style jumper/ jacket from cheaper place and saw/ iron the logo.

This assuming they sell the logo alone.

I agree It’s not fair what they did and the school should take into consideration parents position. And YANBU

I think you should suggest to the Principal that if she wants to make her mark, a tangible improvement to the school
& its facilities for the benefit of students would be far more useful than this cosmetic change.

The total spend by parents on new uniforms will be very high presumably. Total waste of money. Surely that money could be better spent on some new facility for the school.

We cant let supermarkets dictate what school uniform is. The only alternative is a one stop uniform shop.

A change in a schools uniform might financially affect a few families with large stock piles of hand me downs but this change doenst seem overly expensive so I cant see how it will deter any new families going to the school in the future.

Uniform would be very depressing if every school wore the same homogeneous navy and grey poor quality mass produced using child slavery clothes.

Bit late to the party sorry, but I've never heard of Primary School uniform being optional, nursery definitely, but never Primary school. I also think that while an all out change in the uniform is rather annoying, especially if there's no consultation, period to save or voucher/exchange offering, you can't really expect to send your child to school in the old uniform or own clothes. Mostly the uniform is used to promote a sense of unity between pupils and also make them easily identifiable during class trips. If it comes to it, but plain jumpers or shirts in the school colours and find a sewing shop that will embroider the school logo - I had to do this and it was perfectly acceptable and encouraged by my son's primary school.

my older 2 have brand new uniform every september and my youngest has just started nursery at the same school. i have only brought him 2 pairs of trousers a school logo shirt as the colour is out of stock everywhere in the plain ones and a jumper with the logo on it and that is it. we also have a new head teacher. the head retired the deputy is now the head. we have had LOTS of letters and rule changes since monday when she took over as head but nothing about uniform changes just yet. i do keep some jumpers and cardigans back for spares but they always have new every september. i do only buy the logo jumpers as a rule i dont buy logo shirts but needed to for the youngest. and the rest is supermarket brought uniform so not expensive. my youngests small set of uniform will have to last until september now tho and then he will have a complete new set for the year. if the colour was to change i wouldnt send them in the wrong colour. i dont actually think its realistic to expect it to last 3 children tbh. maybe second child but not a third surely??

We are mid uniform change at my DC secondary . We had 12 months notice that it was going to change, plus we have a further two years to wear out the old one. You can’t mix and match old and new uniform so I reckon there will be a lot of passing around of stuff to make up a “set”. This also happened when I was at secondary school but there was no end date for wearing the old stuff - result was that an old style blazer was desirable and so mine ( courtesy of older Sister) was literally threadbare by the time I left!
I’m a governor at my DD primary . I cannot see a decision being made to change the uniform unless there was a very compelling reason ( eg supplier gone bust or there was a problem with design or there is a real need to rebrand the School) for exactly the reason that OP is illustrating . We constantly worry about putting too much of a burden on our parents and as a result we probably have one of the shortest uniform lists in the area . OP our school does however have a small fund ( courtesy of a local charity grant) which buys uniform items etc for those who cannot afford it; we also keep a small stock and allow people to pay in staged payments). So might be worth asking head/ school finance manager if they have Such a scheme ( although school budgets are really tight - we are lucky we get a local grant ). Yes uniforms do change from time to time ( for good reason at both the secondaries referred to) but I don’t agree with unnecessary changes especially if the change means significant extra costs for parents.

If it is a state primary, the only major change will be the colour of the jumper and PE T shirt. Most primary schools adopt a very general black/grey option for trousers, skirts, shorts and pinafores. It may well be that existing pupils will be able to continue wearing the old colours and new pupils wear the new colour.

user1484040234 Thu 19-Apr-18 17:33:45

The primary my kids went to had a change of uniform when my youngest was going into year 5. They changed the PE kit and polo shirt logo and introduced logo-ed jumpers and school bags. My son didn't want a school bag and as we had plenty of the logo-ed polo shirts and PE tops and a track suit of the old design, he wore the old uniform until he left. There were no problems with this as he wasn't the only younger sibling and there were no colour changes in the uniform, just logos.

Our primary changed the logo but not the colour a couple of years before DC1 started there, and I think I saw the last of the old logos on a year 5 or 6 child possibly when he was in year 4, so they stuck around for a while. :)