to wonder if school uniform should be worn

[manicinsomniac]

I know all the arguments about school identity and poorer/less fashion conscious children not being teased. And I've always agreed with them. Plus I just like uniforms.

But I've been helping with a charity over the summer (a clothing bank) because it does big school uniform events where people can come and get their uniforms for free. It was a really hot day when we did the first one and, due to a combination of the number of people who turned up and Covid rules meaning only 5 could come in at once, many of them queued for 2 hours!! It actually really upset me that so many people are in a situation where it is preferable to queue for that long to avoid spending maybe £20 (don't actually know?) in the supermarket.

All the children who came in had clothes. The only reason they needed the uniforms was because the schools say so.

AIBU to think that really, when families are struggling this much, uniform just isn't that important?
YABU - uniform is important
YANBU - I agree with you, it shouldn't be needed

@NotABridezillaToBe

I can understand the argument in relation to some of the ridiculous secondary uniforms, but for the basic primary uniform I am not sure it saves much money to wear your own clothes.

I live in a county that doesn’t have school uniform so it just means we need loads more of ‘every day’ that if they were wearing uniform Monday- Friday. You then have the added drama of deciding what to wear and what they like one day they refuse to wear the next. Not to mention the fact that none of the children wear the same 5 things to school every week in rotation, it’s far more noticeable when you wear ‘normal’ clothes so you actually need more.

I would much prefer to buy the list posted by a pp above and be done with it!

If you've ever been proper poor I assure you it is easier to get good secondhand general.clothing than uniform.

Car boot sales or hand-me-downs can be super super cheap.

Stop comparing new with new. This is about used general clothing and uniform.

In Germany. No uniform. No arguments, ds1 (13) just puts on his regular clothes every morning - usually jeans (or shorts if it’s hot) and T-shirt. Some kids wear more expensive stuff but most don’t. Literally nobody cares.

On a personal level, I'd prefer not to have it.
If I had bought my Dc's secondary uniform all brand new, the bits I bought would have cost me about £140 for the PE kit, and about £260 for the main uniform (including shoes).
I managed to get a fair amount second hand, which saved me at least £100.

I would personally prefer school logo hoody/jumper and everything else own clothes.

School just has a dress code in the 6th form at least.

In the long run, primary uniform is a cheap way of dressing kids in my experience. Obviously my dc had other clothes, but they would have needed more of them if I was going to wash them at the same rate as I did when they were wearing uniforms five days out of seven.

Their other clothes were similarly priced or more expensive than uniform, so if anything, the fact that uniform is so convenient to hand down, donate or pick up second hand it’s more economic to have it.

I like uniforms for the reason you stated OP. However there is no reason for them to be so expensive. They should ditch the logos (or have them as iron-on badges).

@CountFosco

I never wore a uniform at school. There is a lot of nonsense spouted about the so called 'benefits' of uniform mainly invented in the marketing dept of Trutex, none of them have any basis in fact. To force people to buy extra clothes for their children when many people have lost their jobs and we don't know how long the schools will be open is ridiculous. Far better to allow children to continue to wear their own clothes rather than expect parents to buy clothes that might not be used.

The trouble is, a significant number of parents will use a non-uniform policy to show off their wealth. I’ll never forget being told by a parent , on non uniform day, that their precious child was wearing Ugg boots ( Year 1!) and that her child wasn’t to be allowed out to play in case they got ruined!!!

A decent school shouldn’t be asking for an expensive uniform. having said that, the 2 high performing catholic primary schools (state) in our town use the uniform to filter out poor families (£80 blazers, £65 summer dresses, and so on). that is a disgrace.
Regular school uniform (i.e. supermarket) is a lot cheaper than normal clothes though!

In general I am against school uniform, but I think it's good for really poor children, because it makes sure that they attend school wearing something decent and not just ill fitting rags. This mainly applies in developing countries where the uniforms are very cheap - parents would generally buy the cloth and make it themselves or get it made cheaply. The rest of the time children are often literally wearing rags and have bare feet.
We've come to a sorry state in this country if we need uniforms to ensure children are decently dressed in school. Children who get free school meals should get a free uniform and for everyone else it should be price capped at supermarket type prices.

I went to school in a non uniform country, and my parents couldn’t afford €100 jeans, €150 trainers etc. it was absolute misery . i take sensible uniform every day (and judging from what I hear from my teacher relatives in my home country, things haven’t changed since)

Thanks for replying op. I havent been keeping up with news... i agree uniforms shouldnt be important now.

I’m a uniform lover, but I think it should be adapted to something easier to wash. My daughter has a kilt style skirt, shirt, tie and blazer which are all really expensive so we have a limited supply of each. It would be better to have a cheaper option so we could have more of it, or to have easier to launder clothing.

If you've ever been proper poor I assure you it is easier to get good secondhand general.clothing than uniform.

I don’t think that’s necessarily an argument against uniforms per se but an argument to have very generic and cheap uniforms. If the uniform is white polo shit and grey skirt then it would be easy to pick them up.

I totally agree all these special uniforms with school badges are insane. My secondary school even had a special pe kit and bag that cost a couple of hundred alone.

Uniform can be a great leveler but the standard should be cheap and generic.

Friend on the pta was selling uniform in our area. She found that most of those that are struggling all refuse to buy or even visit the second hand store. It’s everyone else that uses the store. It’s very strange.

Our schools given parents the option of not having to wear uniform until after October half term, due to cost etc think it’s a good idea

I went to school in a non uniform country, and my parents couldn’t afford €100 jeans, €150 trainers etc. it was absolute misery .

I totally agree with this. One of the advantages of my ridiculously strict secondary school was that you were forbidden to have branded coats, shoes and bags. It probably offset the cost of the expensive uniform for the ‘average’ income families that otherwise would have felt the pressure.

I'm a bit baffled as I found school uniform cheaper than a lot of non-uniform, and children have to wear clothes. But I think it all depends on the actual school uniform policy. For primary, you didn't have to have a logo'd polo shirt, so I just bought enormous jumpers and made them last by turning up the sleeves the first year or two.

For secondary again it was only the jumpers with logos, and we got 2 in year 7 and 2 in year 4, trousers and white shirts (boy or girl). I found supermarket/chain store school trousers as cheap as normal trousers, and often shirts cheaper . I did only buy in the June sales.
And masses is available secondhand.

I think they should have uniform but generic, no badges no specific "you can only have x shirt from y shop" rubbish.

Generic supermarket white / blue / red / grey / black would be totally fine.

Echo, I think items with logos should be optional across the board (they are compulsory at DD’s primary school). That way, parents have the option of say Lidl or Asda, alongside uniform banks if they’re struggling
We have a school PE top, which is compulsory from reception. The reception (in fact KS1) kids never leave the school to do sports stuff, so what’s wrong with a basic, cheap as chips polo shirt?

but she is in Scotland where it seems they don’t wear the ridiculous logo’s cardigans, even at primary.

Every Primary school in our LA area has a logo’d polo shirt and cardigan/jumper as uniform.

I just find the uniform cuts out the arguing every morning with a 5 yr old about what to wear. I also find I'm buying less clothes in general a couple of leggings and tops for after school and a couple of outfits for the weekend . I spent 40 on 2 pinafores, 2 cardigans and shirts. Shoes were 50euro.

Is the clothing bank supplying only families in need (by some definition), or is the uniform event for all-comers?

If the latter, I wonder whether there is a lack of a decent secondhand mechanism locally, and so everyone who isn't fussed about buying new is jumping on the bandwagon. Maybe it would be better to have a nominal charge per item, and issue families known to be in need with a voucher entitling them to so many free items.

Our local primary takes donations of outgrown uniform and sells on for 50p an item, but I'm quite sure they also kit some families out for free.

My biggest bugbear is branded PE kit. Just allow generic kit and have some school bibs for matches. The PE kit costs more than the uniform, and is normally only worn 2 hours a week.

I helped out at a uniform bank recently too. Parents can spend £100 - £300 buying brand new uniform for their kids and tonnes of it go into landfill each year. I'm fully on board with school uniforms but they need to be made cheaper. One school near me insists on emblazoned jumpers and emblazoned polo shirts which cost a fortune instead of letting parents get a multi pack from a nearby supermarket. And kids lose stuff constantly.

I found primary uniform to be very cheap. However I’ve just spent £200 kitting out DD for secondary school. Most of it I don’t mind, but I think blazers are ridiculous.
In DHs school only the top 2 years wore them, giving the advantage that most of them had stopped growing by then.

I also worked for a trust where even the socks needed to be branded. Which was ridiculous.

I’m in an area with quite a few non uniform schools, both primary & secondary. My children go to uniformed schools & I’m jealous of all of their friends at the non uniform schools. My friends spend considerably less than I do on clothes & shoes & their children generally don’t care what they wear to school, the contrast in my children’s schools on non uniform day is huge. It’s a total fashion show. My friends DC wear leggings, jeans, dungarees, T-shirt’s, hoodies, trainers & most of their clothes are from Primark, Sports Direct & H&M. I find the secondary school uniform rules ridiculous. Specific shops to buy uniform from, a particular colour coat & bonkers shoe rules. No bag rules at my DDs school though & the favoured bag atm is a large Michael Kors tote! I’d love to be able to only need to buy a pair of trainers & a pair of winter boots/summer sandals instead of school shoes & school trainers added into my very small budget.
I don’t know anyone who complains about their children’s non uniform, but pretty much every parent in my children’s schools complain about the cost & rules.