To hope schools scrap uniforms

[greengoldfish]

It can’t surely be possible to wash blazers and heavy kilt like skirts on a daily basis.

AIBU to hope this means an end to uniform, or if not, a return to some comfy jogging bottoms, polo shirts and cardis/jumpers?

myself where was this, and do you have any evidence that it was like that everywhere in your country and in other countries where there is no uniform? Because in my school and in my equally anecdotal experience, bullying was come down on hard with detentions and working all the way up to permanent exclusion. Some people wore expensive designer gear, some were quirky/punk/vintage - people formed their tribes as teenagers do. Endemic serious bullying? Really not. Your experience reflects a badly managed school, that's all.

My mother taught in several large secondaries in our area and he experiences were very much the same.

And just to add - both my DDs were bullied in their UK school, uniform and all. Once it was reported, it was dealt with very well, but it happened. Uniform is not a panacea - the only thing that works is good school leadership, and that is not dependent on uniform.

My kids have always complied fully with uniform rules, but all of us are delighted that they no longer have to wear it.

. What for so that parents can show off their designer kids. It just become s too much of a competition.. I do agree that uniforms should be cheaper and shops should not be exploiting people by charge extortionate prices knowing full well that you have to have at least 2 of everything. No scratch that I think the government should pay. They're the ones who want kids in school. Why should parents be out of pocket.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis

I really think they should simplify uniform - ditch anything that can't be bought ubiquitously at supermarket prices. But for many reasons I don't think they should do away for uniform entirely.

Yep I agree with this.

@pointythings of course it was (or rather, were, I know of many) badly managed schools. It can be managed. But a sensible (!!!) uniform addresses the problem a lot easier.
I have friends and family who are teachers in my home country- it still
is a massive problem in inner city schools (less in the countryside apparently).
I often hear the call for a sensible (!!) school uniform (unbranded trainers, jeans and t-shirt/jumper) from
them

Our school blazers are dry clean only not sure how I'd facilitate that. They usually get sponged down every week then dry cleaned every half term.

If schools want kids in items with logos they should just sell badges that can be sewn on. Requiring parents to buy expensive personalised uniform is just a way of attempting to exclude poor families.

I've thought for years that secondary schools need to adopt the same approach as primary schools.

Specify the colour scheme and basic rules e.g. skirts to at least the knee, sensible shoes, decide whether shirts or polo Tshirts etc which would level the playing field for so many families.

DD1 has to have the school logo on almost everything (jumper, polo Tshirt, uniform shorts, PE top, PE skirt/shorts, PE socks) so buying just two of each everyday item sets you back over £50, plus the PE kit on top for another £50 which inevitably gets lost stolen. That's before you buy the basic trousers/shoes/coats and necessary school supplies. It's impossible to kit her out for less than £200 after a growth spurt and that's with wear one/wash one.

DD2 in primary by comparison wears exactly the same colours but I can get hers from Asda/Tesco wherever they have items in my price range. We get her one logo polo shirt and jumper for school trips/photos, the rest is generic. I can kit out DD2 for less than £100 including coat/shoes.

There's zero justification to insist on branded items for school uniform beyond ego of the people running the school. There are massive reasons to make it a standard attainable to most families instead of a select few with the rest having to source 2nd hand where possible (not that second hand is a bad thing, but to noticeably be the child always in faded uniform isn't a pleasant experience).

I think the new measures for going back to school should insist on this to make the lives of several thousand people with lost jobs/lower income because of lockdown/the virus a bit easier in terms of making the little money they have stretch.

I have an autistic 12 year old who hates her clothes being washed. Clean every day would be completely impossible!

I went to a non uniform school abroad and a uniformed school here in the UK, there was bullying at both but at the uniformed school, it was never about your uniform. We had thick kilts and we just didn't wash them or the jumpers every day, changed polo shirts daily though. I didn't know people washed their uniform daily!

I was a fat kid bullied horrendously and would have been so no matter what I was wearing, designer gear, normal clothes or uniform.

Added to which I went to a very naice school whilst living in (horror of horrors) a council house, so that was an added incentive to the gits.

I had the last laugh though, I met my old nemesis a few years back working behind the counter of my Dr's and she was at least 5 stone heavier than me and her face when she saw the completely different, slim and successful me was a memory that I will treasure to my dying breath!

My point being that bullies will always find something, if it's not uniform

Also grew up in a non-uniformed country. At my school, it wasn't exactly about bullying, but far more subtle than that. But absolutely children noticed exactly who wore what, and there was huge social pressure, but in a hidden way that meant you couldn't complain about it or anything. What you wore was totally used as a social tool though, and had far more significance than the adults probably realised. I expect they'd have said that there was no bullying, non uniform was great, what you wore didn't matter. But they would have been very wrong.

Simple uniform would be good. Doesn't stop bullying, of course not, but some aspects of it are lessened. I always wished we had one.

You wash your blazers every day! When I went to school it was an independent school on a bursary. I got one blazer every 2 years and it was bought so I would grow into it. It was dry cleaned at the holidays.

I do remember it used to stink when it got wet and the whole classroom smelt like wet dog. In Scotland rained more than not.

IME, bullies will find something to bully someone for non-school uniform opens up an entire realm of additional bullying material in England. Perhaps there are some enlightened countries and cultures where it doesn't. Or perhaps the PPs' circumstances mean they didn't experience bullying and didn't see it.

Regarding the OP, our secondary are still full-on for new uniform and don't seem to have considered any effects from daily washing to prevent COVID.

Let's hope the magical effect of the word 'bubble', even when applied to a secondary year-group of 250 will make transmission of COVID impossible.

In our school uniform has really helped. The wealth divide here is huge and uniform levels it. We don’t even do non-uniform days any more as we noticed attendance dropped a lot on those days through anxious kids worrying they don’t have the latest trends.

So I’m voting YABU because washing uniform is no issue compared to the issue some of the kids in our school face that uniform makes easier for them.

Plus my own DD prefers uniform too. Says it’s less stressful than planning an outfit every day.

Why on earth would you wash blazers or skirts every day!!!

Blazers dry cleaned once or twice a year, skirts washed once a week.

I completely support uniform. The hassle of choosing what to wear every day must be a nightmare for non-uniform schools, it's bad enough in sixth form.

Anyone who wears suits, or their DH does, do you wash those every day??

So let me get this straight: when I go to work I'm advised to wash my clothes as soon as I come in even though we're all socially distancing, disinfecting high traffic areas every hour and not using the staff kitchen. Likewise I'm advised to wash my kids' clothes when they get back from school even though there's only ten in a classroom, only one set of loos open and again all high traffic areas are disinfected regularly.

But when they go back in September and school is full, everybody's travelled there on crowded buses, we're about to hit winter... I no longer need to wash their clothes every day? That's right is it?

Or are they just saying that to avoid the uniform issue? Because if we should be washing clothes as soon as we come in, every day, that's not going to happen with blazers, ties and all the rest of it. But we could do it if they let them wear joggers and a trackie top.

I used to be fairly pro school uniform, but there has been plenty about the system which has irritated me as my DDs have gone through school.

For example, enforced wearing of blazers in very hot weather. Why? Why is permission needed to remove the blazer if the weather is especially hot? One of my DDs went to a school where they were supposed to wait for permission to remove their blazers, but the other two went to one with a little more flexibility and common sense on that particular score (other issues though).

Why must everything be logoed? It often means that you can only buy from particular suppliers, and that is expensive because they can (and do) name their price.

Enforced wearing of ties for girls. Why? I've never seen women wearing ties in the workplace. Men, yes, but not women. I am aware that that may sound a bit sexist. It isn't meant to. It is just meant to be stating a fact as I see it.

Schools claim that this is all to prepare children for the future workplace, but in my experience it is out of touch with that by quite a few decades years.

It has been in danger of turning me against school uniform, which I view as an antiquated system.

You don't want to wish for no uniform. Dd didn't wear one at her high school, fashion parade, inappropriate clothing, teased for "wrong" labels. Her private sixth form uniform saved me money despite costing £200

Yeah I've never seen anyone wear a blazer to work in my puff.

My DD is in a secondary with no uniform. They’re all pretty much kitted our in Primark!

Kitted out!

Oh, and I never washed blazers daily. Blouses were done almost daily, and skirts and other blouses were done during the weekend laundry.

Blazers were washed every half term holiday and again at the end of term, with the odd ad hoc wash in the meantime if needed.

I am rather glad that I no longer have school age children. My youngest DD has just left school and is waiting to start uni in October. I won't miss all of this bollocks. Not at all.

For those with experience of schools without uniform, how is it policed?

My son is only in primary, yet on non-uniform day in February there were still children head to toe in very expensive clothing.

How practical is it to police slogans on tops etc, crop tops (outside of PE), or do they tend to have a dress code e.g black trousers and white top?

Kids school have gone to PE kit until the end of term. Request to wash daily and people welcome to send them into school in clothing similar to games kit in colour rather than buy a bunch of extra formal uniform stuff. Couple of white polo shirts and shorts and it's been sorted though there has been the odd late night stand over the washing machine episode.

Generally I have found during lockdown that I spent an inordinate amount of time repairing normal clothes. So I'll be perfectly happy to see them back in uniform in the Autumn.