School bans pencil cases - AIBU to think this is a superficial measure?

[ScreamingValenta]

I was fascinated to read this BBC article today:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-44075878

A school has banned pencil cases (and other branded items) to avoid the stigma poorer pupils may suffer because they don't have 'designer' school kit.

This has made me feel very old - in my schooldays in the 1980s, everyone got their pencil cases from WHSmith or Woolworths, and it was fashionable to have an ancient, scribbled-on, falling-apart pencil case with the name of your favourite band tippexed onto it - new, expensive pencil cases were for geeks only.

Are designer pencil cases really a thing now? Does banning branded things in schools really help with bullying or is it a superficial tick-box exercise? Should schools not be addressing the underlying issues which create a culture of stigmatising poorer pupils - banning designer items in school won't stop pupils being seen out of school or on social media wearing unbranded clothes?

I know nothing about what goes on in schools nowadays, other than what I read on Mumsnet, so I'm not really qualified to answer my own questions - I'd be interested to hear any up-to-date perspectives from parents or teachers.

I agree with the ban tbh. Teachers have better things to do with their time than look for lost £15 quid pencil cases and those pop out ones are a pita with kids popping the buttons open and causing a distraction.

@HelenaDove www.smiggle.co.uk/shop/en/smiggleuk/bags-accessories/bags/backpacks?#facet:&orderBy:&facetName:&minPrice:&maxPrice:&pageSize:&clearAll:&lowAmt:&highAmt:&

Quite cute school supplies

£15 quid pencil cases I know there's been inflation in the last 30 years, but £15 for a pencil case is astounding!

Hell on Earth @Helena

It's stationery, name means a smile and a giggle or something like that. Usually is scented, comes in odd shapes (icecream cone water bottles etc), glittered etc. Kids go mad for it. You can see it online.

I had a Melody Maker pencil tin in the 90s which I covered in stickers.

I do like a nice pencil case now as an adult but DS has never been bothered and would be happy with an unbranded one. It's not a thing at his school, they focus more on the school bag.

Ta Raven i had no idea there was such a thing as designer pencil cases until today The mind boggles.

Just looking at the Smiggle link @Raven88 provided. Very pink and glittery - and expensive!

@AndNoneForGretchenWieners I salute your ultra cool pencil tin .

I agree @BossWitch that older children know the difference between 'cheap' and 'expensive' but perhaps we should be teaching them not to care and that just because something came from Smiggle instead of Wilkos it doesn't mean it's better or worse. Or that sometimes more expensive can mean better quality - sometimes not etc. Perhaps Year 7 (the first year most children are more independent about school and life matters) would be a good time to start teaching economics.

That was to Raven88 btw but thankyou to RavenWings too

bookmum my hairdresser paid £58 for a Ted Baker purse. Within a fortnight the zip was broken.

@HelenaDove Not great. I hope she got a replacement or a repair from them!

I teach teens.

I would bloody love them to bring a pencil case full of stationery....alas, at least 5 in each class won't even have a pen.

I think pencil cases are a good thing, and I'd love full ones to be popular again. But designer? Nah. Just bring some pens and a pencil and ruler....please?!

Think it is a good idea.
My mother dressed me until I was 15, was only allowed a choice out of what she had already picked from pencil cases to my bedroom (think sex pistols poster neaty deposited in the bin.) to my clothes to my pencil case.
She dressed me rediculously young. So, non uniform was excruciating with long socks and a naice skirt. As was PE judt plimsoles from startrite. School shoes ditto. She sent me with a brown leather pencil case in year 9. This was 1998 ffs.

She had the money to buy branded, to her it was her money and as I was a child I had zero to exceptionally limited choice.

Mumsnet, I was bullied mercilessly for 7 years. I'd have preferred to have had a clear pencil case written in the rules. Can't go wrong with that.

@BossWitch - yes you are completely right. What I was trying to say was that the designer stuff shouldn't have status attached to it. But I'm not naive enough to think it doesn't. And yes, the relentlessness of never having the right gear, enough stuff etc is very demoralising - I grew up with that. You think you deserve less, that you're unworthy, less loved or noticed or cared for by the world at large.

I am surprised that I agree with the ban but this is mostly due to the thinking behind it.

It might not be direct bullying about pencil cases but definitely the child who doesn’t have the smiggle case will know they don’t have it.

I went into smiggle once and ds chose a dog pencil case. Neither he nor I had been to smiggle before or knew about it - just strolled in to get him excited about school, get some pencils etc. I nearly fainted when at the till I was charged £50!!! £20 of that on a pencil case!!! What the actual fuck! And he doesn’t use it!

So yes stupid £20 cases most def be banned and if that means banning them all then so be it. Crazy.

Maybe what I am getting at is that even in 'affluent' areas where it is less of a cheap/expensive, pencil cases and accessories cause bullying given how much importance society places on the 'right things'. Wish people wouldn't.

Have given up with pencil cases with ds1 now 16. All wrecked. He just carries stuff in bag now. I was gobsmacked that in high achool writing in pencil is ok! But he does have pens which he uses.
Ds2 is better at looking after stuff and has pencil case but not a name brand.
Neither have ever had 'branded' stuff and couldn't care less and neither do thier mates.
Same with clothes apart from cheap sports stuff in outlets. Never spent £££ on branded trainers either.

Maybe teaching kids that this sort of thing doesn't matter, in schools (in social education class) and at home could stop the madness? £15 for a pencil case😲
Maybe its time parents said no more often?

Maybe teaching kids that this sort of thing doesn't matter, in schools (in social education class) and at home could stop the madness? £15 for a pencil case

The question is, how do you teach something like that? I wouldn't know where to start - I'm not a teacher, of course, but I can't imagine there's a straightforward way of doing this. It's more about instilling an attitude than teaching something that can be learned.

I'm a bit uncomfortable with this. It feels like we're telling kids its shameful to be poor and it should be hidden.

I know kids are mean, but there must be someway of approaching the problem so that children understand much better that family finances are very different and this concept should be accepted.

I'm all for it. I also like be ban on the 'what we did at the weekend' stuff.

DS was always doing class activities on what they did at the weekend in reception. I thought it must be really shit listening to everyone's Legoland/flip out/trips away if you have a totally different existence and really illustrated this is how the divide begins. What with all the homework, mufti days, dress up days, food bank day etc - if you don't have money or parents that can contribute, your behind before you've even started.

I think schools should do much more to reduce it in all honesty if you want to address inequality.

Mufti days, world book days, dress up for x,y and z.

Screaming
Exactly.
Our kids have social ed classes where everything under the sun is discussed. Moral and ethical issues re people, animals and the planet. It could easily be discussed here and kids asked why they through something twice as expensive as another thing that does exactly the same purpose is better? Why someone who cant afford x or doesnt care about x should be ridiculed. Arent they all individuals do they want to be all the same little sheep? Where is thier individuality? How does someone having something different to them possibly affect them to the extent they have to ridicule someone in order to feel superior etc.

Basic economics of managing thier pocket money/wages and comparing wages in society. Spelling out that some people through circumstances cant waste or dont want to waste money on stuff just because its the fashion and find its out of fashion next month! There are plenty ways to go about it. I discuss stuff with my kids like this a lot.

Discussing with parents too would help either at parents meetings or newsletters etc. I know some parents and kids are blinded by 'brands' and will not change but many would be happy to discuss ways to stop bullying and having to find money to keep up with each stupid trend. If the majority vetoed designer crap it would be a start. You never know till you try. Our school has good support from parents and as far as i know this isnt a major concern but it would be something to consider. Certainly my kids have not come across it so far.

Parents and pupils and school working together would be a great achievement in my book. Jmho

Whoever said that the behaviour surrounding this needs addressing is spot on. If there is nothing, they will find something.

In my DS’s school, it’s intellectual bullying. Whoever can’t do the publicly marked tests will be taunted all week.

They should ban the pencil cases and as someone else said teach them about how this naff stuff is not important.

Also maybe educate them in money and how that £20 could be better spent!!! Tie it into the environment - plastic tat etc.

I had a lovely material carebear pencil case i adored. Found it again when I was at uni and used it

I think it is great that the school is being responsive to bullying as long as they are using it as a teaching moment and talking to the kids about the reason for the ban. For our school it is comparing sports equipment and how much it costs. They are allowed to bring equipment from home and I think a ban on that would be fab. It is very ugly when kids are proud of having the best of everything and laugh at people who don’t have the same.