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 find the ban ridiculous! It's just hiding the issue! Address what is causing the bullying, otherwise it'll just move to something else. Tbh I quite like the smiggle stuff, may get one for me :) yes it's possible that money could be better spent elsewhere but then again we all make choices everyday about how we spend money and most of those choices are controversial. I want to be allowed to buy and use a smiggle case just like others are allowed to waste their money on other things I find ridiculous. And by the same token I want to be allowed to buy 1 for my daughter if I choose to do so. I've actually only learned of the whole smiggle stuff last week and DD1 asked for a pencil case which we bought. Yes not cheap but it's quite nice I think. She rarely asks for stuff. She certainly doesn't care about the shoes or clothes she wears and has a very practical school bag. So why not.

I’ve just bought my girls stationary stuff for September (yes I’m early). And a work diary for myself and a notebook.

All from the works. Pencil cases, pencils everything. Grand total with post £20.

This is all funky rainbow or fluffy stuff. They don’t care it’s not designer.

I’m on the fence with this. I can see the schools point

GD's naice state primary banned smiggle pencil cases because they're so big that when every child on a table had one there was no room for anything else, such as paper or books, on the table!

Also in primary they don’t actually need stationary. They have pencils, rulers, erasers and coloured pens/crayons for them all to use. Huge pencil cases on the table with the accompanying toys, scented shite, pens with torches on regardless is just a massive distraction staff can do without tbh. If people must buy the overpriced tat they should save it for at home.

All this is long behind me but I have been asked by rellies' children for Smuggle tat products as birthday presents; dear lord, what overpriced rubbish. But thence as adults all buy something which somebody somewhere thinks is wasteful, so why should children be different?

That children will boast about exciting and expensive weekend and holiday activities and others will feel left out is just part of life, isn't it?

*Smiggle

Auto-correct I hate you

Not sure whether the ban is correct, but Smiggle etc. do cause some problems in class.

There is the pressure to spend £15 on a pencil case to fit in. Then some of them have sequins on which can be turned one of two ways to show different colours. The kids just fiddle incessantly instead of listening. Sometimes the light catches the sequins and makes patterns on the ceiling, which also distracts them.

Gets right on my nerves! But if I were a little girl, I'd want one too...!

I can absolutely see the attraction in Smiggle pencil cases but as a teacher I can't bear them and insist they stay in school bags 'to use for homework'. They are far too distracting to sit on desks, with all those little fascinating fiddly bits. You might as well allow them to pop a favourite toy on their desk and then expect them to ignore it.

The kids just fiddle incessantly instead of listening.

I can imagine that must be incredibly irritating.

Have any of you actually read the story that was linked to?

After working with charity Children North East, the school has begun providing stationery and has cut down on the number of dress-up and fundraising days

^"There was a culture within the school, within pupils, that noticed those children who were never in on PE days for example," Ms Johnstone said.
"Part of our uniform policy is a standard backpack so we don't have any designer goods."^

This is all about measure to ensure that children from poor and deprived homes don't feel exposed or singled out. Surely that's a good thing?

No one cared about pencil cases when i was at school it was all about the gel pens! And the smelly ones and the collectable rubbers

I really don't like the idea that just because one person can't have something, then no-one else can have it either.

No, me neither - it smacks of "don't dare to aspire to have nice things/do better for yourself". Which I think is the wrong message.

Is there no resentment towards the "less well off" kids by the ones that can't have nice things then?? They'll all know whose "fault" it is....

How terrible for all those well-off children to be deprived of their designer things, just because those unimaginative, lacking-in-aspiration poor children might suffer.

Engage your brains. Try some empathy.

Don't aspire to do better for yourself? The kid with the flashy pencil case has done no better for themselves than the kid with a plain one from Tesco! There's nothing aspirational about being materialistic

@BIWI

My concern is that it seems like a cosmetic way of addressing a deep-rooted problem. That is, someone will say 'we've tackled this problem by banning branded items' and think that ticks the box, but, as several pps have commented, it probably just means the bullies will find other ways of singling people out.

In addition, the wealthier pupils might not be able to use their branded items in school, but they'll still be all over social media with them if they're so-minded and their parents aren't concerned. I feel we need to address attitudes, rather than their manifestation in the form of designer backpacks and pencil cases. We need to reach (or return to) a place where no one cares what brand someone's pencil case is.

What was proposed the children carry their pencils in, or does the school provide everything?

Anyway the ban on conversations about what we did on the weekend would, I imagine have to be the teacher not starting them.

I was at primary school in the 60s, and remember how mortifying it was to write the first essay of every term..what we did on on our holidays. We were poor and never went on holiday, ever. Now that I'm a teacher I can also see what utterly lazy teaching it was.

I don't understand the refering to Smiggle as 'designer' products. I think the products are expensive - but I also think that of Paperchase stationery and Whsmith too. They aren't 'designer'.
Smiggle is expensive yes but it is just another shop in the mall - everyday boring old regular shopping malls. Are children thinking of Smiggle products as 'designer'. Maybe that could be another interesting discussion in schools - What makes a product 'designer' because everything has to be designed by someone - products don't appear out of thin air. That would get kids thinking??

indyandlara

It’s easy to say it’s ridiculous when it’s not your child facing being the odd one out.
Look for and read what Chris Kilkenny says about his experience of growing up facing dire poverty. Read some of the stories in the documents released by the EIS about poverty proofing schools. www.eis.org.uk/Child-Poverty/PovertyPack

As a teacher I support anything that takes away the stigma of child poverty. Almost 1 in 4 children in Scotland are recognised as living in poverty. 1 in 4! We should congratulate, not condemn, any school trying to tackle this issue.

I used to have this one. It was a hand me down from a cousin.
Still makes my mouth water ...

@bookmum08

What makes an item 'designer' would be a brilliant idea for a debate/discussion. I think the term has acquired a mystique out of all proportion to any superiority of design or materials over 'non-designer'items. That's the sort of thing that might start to tackle the mindset that leads to this problem. Yes, your pencil case might be Brand X but it's still only a piece of plastic with the same function as Brand Y - so what makes you pay 5x the price for Brand X?

Our school has School logo pencil cases iirc they’re about USD5. We don’t have uniform, the kids are dressed clean and tidy.

I don’t agree with trying to make it that all kids are the same and banning such things. Better to find a way to educate students that financial wealth does not equal worth as a person

It’s a fantastic step in the right direction. I read the same article and it made my day.

@Nakedavenger74 I'd have loved that when I was a girl.

Luckily they'll be able to use their nice pencil cases again when they're in the Grammar Schools.

While the comps will be full of kids with inky pockets....

At my dd’s school they are super aware of things like this. They aren’t allowed pencil cases and there is never anything that has to be paid for. Nativity play, World book day etc. They have an absolutely HUGE school fair in the summer term and everything costs about 10p. The school makes no profit at all for it.

Before my dd started there in year four my dc had been living in and going to school in Australia where you pay for everything. If you don’t have a pencil,from home there are no pencils provided through school, or books! If you don’t pay for school swimming then you stay at school. If your child needs speech therapy or glasses then you pay for those too.