School uniform logic

[familycourtq]

Why is a (school) logo required on a PE polo shirt? Also why are boys not permitted to roll up their shirt sleeves but are permitted to wear short sleeve shirts? The rest of the uniform seems reasonable but I can’t get the logic of these. Btw I am not going to be having a go at school or embarrassing my child - prepared to accept there are reasons, just haven’t figured out what they are.

It's all just control. Why put kids in grey?

Yep one school does it and they all follow

Grey is quite an unusual colour for a school uniform where I live. They're all sorts of colours like green, burgundy, purple, blue, navy, turquoise, but rarely grey. Although when I was growing up I'm sure most primary schools wore grey...

Why be is an industry that is child centred, but them make them wear ugly clothes?

Why can't they wear shorts at most secondary schools in the summer? It just doesn't make reasonable sense!!!

The PE polo shirts at my daughter’s senior school were the team shirts for the various sports teams too. So no separate uniform needed for the various league matches and events if you were unfortunate enough to have a sporty child. They were about £7 and black which washed and wore quite well.

No formal shirts there either, the whole school wore short sleeved white polo shirts. Again, about £7 with the logo. Sweaters were about £11.

Basic uniform, vastly outperformed the more formally uniformed schools.

(Not saying it was a perfect school, I’m very glad to not have a child there any more. Their uniform tactics were pretty much decent though.)

Rolled up sleeves look far less formal (and more scruffy imo) than short sleeved shirts. Logos on polo shirts is daft though.

I can understand it at secondary with logo T-shirt’s for PE with competitive sports. But my DC have to have logo polo shirt and logo jumper for PE at primary. School provide kit for playing against other schools so it’s really unnecessary. I have however passed the same PE kit down from DS to DD1 and now to DD2 so getting my money’s worth

Why design a uniform to be so uncomfortable especially in primary school? What's wrong with polo tops and joggers? Cheap, comfortable and practical instead of making tiny little children wear shirts, ties and ridiculously expensive jumpers.

Why is it so impractical. Ugly trousers with stupid fastenings, those horrific gingham dresses, too many layers. It's just so poorly thought out.

It's all bullshit.

I don't really understand making girls wear ties at all. They're not exactly standard 'smart' clothing for women.

It’s horrible uncomfortable. If it was up to me it would be brightly coloured leggings, contrasting soft T-shirt and jumper. Much more appropriate for a four year old. Mine can barely move in their stupid uniform.

Our catholic primary school 3-11 are very strict on uniform. Blue shirt with tie and trousers with a v neck jumper grey socks and black traditional style shoes in winter for boys. With girls having to wear the same but a skirt or pinnafore with long socks or grey tights with black shoes. In summer it's a summer dress or grey shorts. Pe is a logo tshirt/shorts/jumper. Even down to a logo swimming cap and bottle. They have to learn to do their own tie in school by age 4.

The best primary school uniform I've seen, was a school in Islington that had maybe six different coloured sweatshirts and polo shirts, really vibrant colours like turquoise and yellow. The kids could wear whatever combination of polo and sweatshirt they wanted and own clothes like jeans, trackies, shorts etc. It just looked so comfy, practical and child appropriate.
When I've been in Australia and seen primary school children, they all seem to wear sports clothes as uniform which looks a practical solution.

My DC’s school wears grey.

Anyway, beside the point. Logo PE shirts are ridiculous as are logo polo shirts which my DC’s school wants them to wear but I refuse. Why? Well because one logo polo shirt is £5.50. They need three for the week so that’s £16.50 per child just for three polo shirts. I can get a pack of three plain ones for £5 from Sainsbury’s. They already have the logo jumpers/cardigans which sets me back £60. The girls polo shirts are under pinafore dresses anyway so why even bother!

Primary schools shouldn’t be allowed to enforce logos imo, it’s too expensive.

When I was at school I thought I could learn better if we had navy blue joggers, polo shirt and a jumper and plain black trainers. I found it difficult to concentrate with a tight skirt, tight shirts, ties and hard uncomfortable shoes. Uniform is so restrictive. The only thing practical I see with my children’s uniform is that blazers have lots of pockets for gadgets, pens etc. I’ve had to go to the men’s section of marks and Spencer’s to get my boys trousers, just to get something comfortable and non itchy.

I like uniform... But I think it should be as basic S possible and able to buy at a variety of places. So generic poloshirts, jumpers, skirts and trousers for primary, maybe even joggers for Infants. Shirts in secondary, ties only for boys. If insisting on blazers black with an option of a sew on/iron patch. No blazers in summer.

My daughter's primary has PE t-shirts with the logo on. We just had sports day. The little ones tshirts generally looked smart but the big kids (especially the Year 6s) looked like Victorian urchins with faded, shabby, shrunk into odd shapes, too small tshirts!
It's not that the parents don't care it just that these tshirts worn for a couple of hours a week are stupid price for not especially great quality. The older children who weren't in the official tshirts looked fine and could still take part. You don't need a specific tshirt to throw a beanbag into a hula hoop really do you?

I'm so glad my kids schools' (primary and secondary) don't have uniforms! hated mine at school.
Interestingly the kids love wearing their sports uniforms when they play and will often wear the hoodies to school every day.

The PE kits helps at primary when going to area events (which is often year groups not just 'the best'. Our kids always looked (and felt) very much the 'poor relation' in a variety of mismatched shirts until the HT brought in a good quality sports kit. Now they look smart and are good representatives of the school.

My main grip with our secondary PE shirt is, as well as the school logo, it says 'PE department' on it rather than 'School name'. The PE shirt hardly belongs to Science or History!

ties only for boys

Why?

our pe shirts have logos because all kids go quite frequently to (fun) sports events with other schools. easier to tell kids apart if they wear logoed shirts

Rolled up sleeves look far less formal (and more scruffy imo) than short sleeved shirts. Logos on polo shirts is daft though.

I’m not really sure why the lack of formality matters.

Apart from anything, once there’s some toothpaste from the morning, ketchup from lunch and grass stains from playtime, there's absolutely no point in worrying about how smart or not it looks when your 6 year old rolls his sleeves up.

DS’s school have the ridiculous rule that they can wear polo shirts (with logo) in the summer term, but must wear a shirt and (clip on 🙄) tie the rest of the year. What is the point? Other than costing parents extra, I mean.

Ask the school, why don't you, OP?

Hang on...this is so close to the end of the academic year why has it taken until now for the penny to drop?

YABU.

Chinese kids tend to wear tracksuits as their uniforms. Makes much more sense!