School uniform policy

[Snart]

Aibu to think it’s ridiculous that my daughters school is insisting that they wear opaque tights in this heat?

I understand I have signed a home/school agreement, but when she started last September I presumed she could wear ankle socks in the summer.

This is not an academy, it’s the local mixed sex comprehensive school. No air conditioning. No explanations other than it’s the uniform.

I’m worried about thrush plus it’s very uncomfortable for her.

Completely ridiculous, why on earth do teachers or pupils need to look smart in a heatwave in a classroom? Far more important to be comfortable. School can give knee length skirt or shorts as an option to avoid unwanted sights. If they can't enforce skirt length why can they enforce opaque tights?

Our secondary school is allowing pe shorts, trainers and usual uniform polo shirt in this weather

So many thin walled, heavily glazed, poorly ventilated classrooms turn into malodourous saunas if the external temperatures get above 24oCs. (They are inevitably the same rooms that are utterly frgid all winter, but it's simply too awkward to re-room at short notice because you're under the legal minimum.)

Schools that choose to uphold their "high standards" to the detriment of practical comfort inevitably just look petty and undermine goodwill towards maintaining their standards the rest of the time.

The schools I've worked in that did relax uniform rules, usually involving blazers/ ties/ jumpers inevitably were nicer places to work in with a more grounded, supportive SMT than those who chose to battle on regardless.

(Heatwave in the non-uniform school was best... just as well when the windows were fixed to a maximum movement of two inches!)

DD school requires opaque tights, along with tie/jumper/blazer. The head and teachers decide when the students can remove their blazers and jumpers. I am okay with this. Yes, she does get hot. But it teaches respect and discipline.

MaisyPops If they didn't have uniforms they wouldn't have all those problems you mention about short skirts, low slung trousers. ALL the non uniform schools my dds have been to had no issues with inappropriate clothing. Only the ones with uniform have these problems.

And insisting girls wear tights in this weather which could lead to all sorts of issues for them just because 'its the rule' is just pathetic.

Ha. Not my experience at all.

I wore tights everyday in school and have had to for work at times. Yes, it can get uncomfortable in hot weather but I have never found that it leads to “all sorts of issues.”

Presumably she could wear trousers like the boys have to?

DD school does not allow trousers for the girls, although I don’t know she would choose to even if allowed.

Some of the classrooms in my school are like ovens, it's foul. I don't see the benefit in forcing students to wear tights, as such, BUT if students are flouting the rules about skirt length then it does make it easier for staff to manage things.

Personally I would say no tights is fine, but the final judgement about skirt length rests with staff and a skirt will be provided if the skirt worn is deemed to be inappropriate.

My school head used to announce 'official summertime' each year, like she was the Queen, but it meant after that we didn't have to wear blazers to school and we could opt for school summer shirts which were embroidered with the school logo and were open neck, for male and female, or you could wear a normal shirt and tie. Before that you had to wear your blazer and ask for permission to take it off in class, not that a teacher ever said no. Skirts had to be to the knee, meaning if you knelt on the floor (knelt but top half upright) the skirt had to be touching the floor, 'uniform check' could be requested by staff at any time and the punishment was a morning run, coming in 45 minutes before school to run circuits of the school perimeter whilst being supervised. This was mid nineties to early 2000s and a state comp. If a school enforces its uniform there's no need for it to be impractical.

Neither staff nor students are going to die because it's a bit warm
No they won't die, but if the only criteria for school or parenting decisions is whether children will die or not, it's setting the bar quite low. I'm glad dd's school are sensible about it and allow socks and blazers off in hot weather.

She can just wear trousers then, its her choice to wear tights.

I assume you read the school uniform policy rather than just presuming what it was?

I used to be very pro school uniform. I still do like to see it but it is these sorts of utterly ridiculous and petty rules that have really caused me to reconsider my opinion.

I am virtually against it now.

I don’t find it ridiculous and petty to require everyone to follow the rules that have been previously agreed to. Part of the idea of a uniform is that the students don’t decide on a daily basis what they want to wear based on their personal preference, the weather, etc. They wear the uniform, and it teaches them that sometimes they have to do what they are told whether they like it or not. In extreme situations, the school can relax the rules and allow the students to remove their blazers and jumpers. But that should be at the schools’ discretion, not the student’s.

Could she wear stockings?

Obviously I don’t mean the Ann Summers type, but the practical style hold ups you can get? No one need know they weren’t tights..

What kind of trousers could she wear? I was with you until you stuff that there was an alternative that she was choosing not to wear, although if they are those awful polyester trousers that are like wrapping your legs in cling film then it's not much of a choice really.

My daughters can wear socks - they chose to wear tights.

The school does have a min skirt length - this seems to go over the heads of uniform suppliers who lose 5 inches ......

I'd like to put the head teacher in charge of 1) sourcing the correct uniform in all manner of sizes to see how bloody difficult it is
2) make them iron the bloody cotton shirts they insist on.

@Trish10000t

Is your DD allowed to ask permission to remove her blazer and jumper in class or do they have to wait till it's given?

Are they only given permission in very warm weather or can they ask at any time?

Well I don’t think blind allegiance to rules whatever the circumstance is a good thing to teach really. Things should be questioned in an appropriate way. I work in a corporate environment and even they have specified no tights required in this weather and anyone who chooses to can wear tailored shorts. The thought is that no one can be especially productive when all they can concentrate on is being too hot.

We have had a few people fainting recently at work, which may have prompted the change in dress policy.

A school local to us has confirmed they will only allow girls to wear ankle/trainer socks if their skirts are actually at knee length otherwise opaque tights are compulsory. Given that most of the girls continue to wear skirts that defy reasonable explanation as practical wear for school they are mostly still in tights. I have seen a few in socks and longer skirts though.

Some schools are allowing PE / sports kit at the moment. Presumably it's not indecent in lessons, PE or otherwise.

Or are schools just hung up on appearance over comfort?

@SunShades

Generally they are required to wear both. If the head decides to implement the hot weather policy the teachers will announce at the beginning of the lesson that they may remove blazers, or both blazers and jumpers, at the individual teachers discretion. They are also allowed to remove both during lunch (without permission, but only when the hot weather policy is in effect). Otherwise, they are not supposed to ask permission, absent an emergency, as the teachers find it disruptive.

If the head decides to implement the hot weather policy the teachers will announce at the beginning of the lesson that they may remove blazers, or both blazers and jumpers, at the individual teachers discretion

Well I've implemented my own hot weather policy, my son hasn't taken his school jumper to school for weeks (they don't wear blazers). How outrageous of me, to allow my 15 year old to make his own mind up about whether he gets too hot or not! Fortunately, although his school hasn't relaxed the rule on ties (which only the boys have to wear), they don't make a silly fuss about jumpers.

As for the knickers showing under skirts, wearing a longer skirt and/or trousers and/or wearing shorts would seem better options than requiring tights.