To think we shouldn’t be expected to buy uniform for the next school year

[worldsworststepfordwife]

It’s a ridiculous expense at the best of times but it may barely get worn

They’ll most likely be back by September but you probably won’t have to buy completely new uniform unless they’ve outgrown it all.

We have discussed this in our school and said that relaxing the uniform rules will be needed because ppl won't be able to get the uniform or afford it possibly if they have lost work. We are looking at setting up a way to share uniform that the children have outgrown with others or just wear 'uniform colours' - so long as it fits in kind of with the uniform - blue jumper, blue joggers that kind of thing.

It’s a ridiculous expense at the best of times but it may barely get worn

You don't think they'll be going back by September?
Even if they don't (they will) you will need uniform for when they do. Keep the receipt and swop for a bigger size if you're worried they have a gargantuan growth spurt in the next few months...

It's definitely possible they won't go back sept.

I'm taking a wait and see approach.

If you buy now and keep receipts that's past the usual exchange time surely.

Anyway I'm not buying anything until it is firmer. It's a lot of money for a child moving into secondary. And if it's late notice they will have to give notice.

Lol at idea of telling my younger DD to wear a pinafore, buttoned shirt, tie to get the wear out of them. For those short on cash wait and see is better than buy it and wear it as home day clothes! Depends what the uniform is like I suppose.

There's some dissonance here between the standard MN child who grows 'like a weed' and buying uniform five and a half months in advance.... I'd imagine lots of schools will do nearly new sales (preferably online, FB etc) , so you can get rid of the things that were barely worn this spring and buy the things the year above barely wore, or is that too logical?

It’s not complusary in state schools anyway

My DS is yr 7 and he has really grown since September, I’m pretty sure none of his trousers will be long enough soon.

DSs school have logos on the trousers/skirts blazers and are only available from a couple of shops. I hope they relax the rules and allow parents to buy plain uniform in the correct colours. We may also need to wash uniform everyday for infection control so makes sense to keep it as cheap as possible.

I will buy new when schools back because dd 12 blazer was already starting too look small and I was going to buy a new one in the Easter holidays but put it on hold now until I know when school will be going back. when school broke up dd was a ladies size 12 now she needs a 14.

I bought new school uniform for 3 DC in march as due to start a new school 1 week later. Worn once then lock down. No way will it fit in September. Frustrating but in the grand scheme of things it's just what happened.

I had a e-mail from dd's school today. She is due to start primary in August.
Telling about what uniform she needs.
Think I will wait and see what happens before I buy anything.
I was looking forward to buying all her stuff for school.

Nobody knows what will happen in a weeks time never mind four months!

Just forget about uniform for a few months and save yourself the drama . If in august schools are planned to go back, buy it then. If not, don’t.

Obviously if people are genuinely struggling with the cost due to lost income then they should speak to the school. But if you’re just objecting on principle then YABU.

And as the message now is that school doesn't matter I think I'll be taking a liberal line on uniform too.

I don't need to worry for the first time this year, ds has finished Y11 & sixth form don't wear uniform, will just have to buy black Jean's & T shirts instead & no struggling to get school shoes to fit his size 11.5 HH fitting feet, he will be happy to wear trainers.

'And as the message now is that school doesn't matter I think I'll be taking a liberal line on uniform too.'

Where is this message from?

I have some sympathy. DS started yr 7 in September, full new uniform. In January he moved to our waiting list school so had to buy another full new uniform including PE, only items the same were white shirts. So both sets of uniform will only have been worn for a term. By September he'll have grown so much nothing from January will fit. Also had to buy new school shoes in March that are barely worn. All seems like such a waste. Trying not to think about autumn term and the possibility of another set of uniform ending up largely unworn if we have a second lockdown

You chose for him to move schools and need a new uniform presumably?

As for the rest, it’s been a few weeks so far. There’s a strong possibility they’ll be back in their uniforms in another few weeks. Why all the angst? Just something else to have a moan about? People need to get a grip of the whinging. It’s contagious.

If you have barely worn uniform, I can't imagine you'll find any difficulty in selling it off to another child. So really seems like a non-issue.

Perhaps you could spend your energies in setting up a school uniform exchange locally?

And as the message now is that school doesn't matter I think I'll be taking a liberal line on uniform too.

Where have you got this message from?

I think that school uniform should be done away with altogether. Now would be a good opportunity to do that.

It wastes teachers' time to police and causes so much unnecessary conflict and expense. Most countries do perfectly well without it.

From the fact that they can simply be closed and remain closed for months and months. Despite little evidence that they spread the virus and have remained open elsewhere. With lots of posters calling for closures until there's a vaccine. It's one of the many do called cardinal principles which have been summarily swept aside as only the virus matters. I've had no sleep and am pissed if with all this.

More twattery

I can never understand why people say that uniform is a ridiculous expense. DCs need to wear clothes to school - what would they wear if it wasn't uniform? My experience is that actually they wouldn't wear the same items everyday, they would want different items - especially as they get older. Most basic uniform is ridiculously cheap, I do agree that fancy jumpers with badges and blazers , which are often poor quality and only available from certain suppliers, are not really needed. It's a shame that if a school wants a blazer, the DC can not just have any blazer with a badge stitched on. Although I don't see the need for blazers.

Uniform is great leveller, pupils look smart and it's been shown to increase pride and standards in schools.

Why not? If schools are physically open they need to be wearing a uniform. If your school has a summer uniform and they only go back for half a term and you haven't bought one, then maybe the head will allow your child to be in winter uniform.
Our school currently has full day online learning. Children have been told they must wear appropriate clothes as if it were mufti day (so no offensive slogan t shirts or big jewelry or crop tops etc). My daughter is taking advantage and only dressing from the waist up!

There was a bill due to go through the house of commons calling for schools to not be allowed to source there uniform from only one supply. The government has been recomending this for years, but has finally got fedup of schools not paying attention and was going to pass it into law. Guessing that got put on hold, was waiting to buy DD any more school uniform for next year as was hoping that would have gone through, the school uniform is expensive but falls appart. Would prefer to be able to buy it else where.

I always buy latter in the summer anyway, you often get lots in the sales and shops don't really tend to run out of stock. Most now seem to stock uniform all year round espicaly primary age so never have a problem getting anything for DS.

I disagee about pride, levelling and standards sewingsinger. Uniform is a British oddity and schools elsewhere do very well without it!

I agree about the expensive blazers and fancy poor quality jumpers. They are exactly what people mean when they talk about affordability. Also you don't get to choose when to buy them. If my kid outgrows a jumper and I'm short on cash we can buy a cheap one to replace it. If they outgrow their school jumper I have to buy an expensive replacement right then.

But my main objection is that it unnecessarily wastes so much time and effort to manage and police. Teachers have enough to do.