To think this school uniform rule is silly

[cakeandcrumble]

My Ds is 21 and the secondary school he went to was a strict school with strict uniform standards which I agreed with, however there was one rule which looking back I think is a bit silly. That is all pupils could only wear navy blue coats, if you came in to school wearing a black coat you were told you could not come in to school with the black coat the following day and it had to be navy blue. The reason of the insistence of the navy blue coat was that it would match the colour of the uniform which was navy blue.

AIBU to think this was silly?

There are no colour rules for coats at my sons school, but they strongly stress the importance of winter coats either having adequate reflective patches or putting then in a hi-viz vest in winter.

About three years ago a boy in year 6 in a black coat and black over trousers (the kind you wear in rain) was killed crossing the road as he wasn’t seen in time due to it being dark.

At our local secondary they have to wear black socks and get a bollocking if they wear any other colour. Seems complete madness to me, how does sock colour affect education?

Decent coats are expensive so it’s a PITA if you can’t use it for non school times too.

Sometimes schools lose awareness of the cost to families.

I support Uniform but excessive price/ unnecessary waste needs to be considered.

Yes, truly pathetic that schools dictate coats the children can wear.

At my secondary school, aeons ago now, not only did the coat have to be a certain colour, but a certain style too. The approved version was only sold by one store, obviously the most expensive store in town! Another store sold a coat identical in colour and style. However it had a different colour LINING. We had coat checks at school where we had to open our coats and show staff the lining colour, anyone with the wrong colour was told that the coat needed changing!

My school uniform coat was a cape - it was freezing in winter. I'd have been grateful to have been allowed to wear a proper coat!

We had to wear horrible extortionate wool blazers. No coats allowed

@SeasonFinale

We had to have navy coats.

To be fair you know the rules so make sure you buy navy and not black. It is no more silly than having a specific colour trousers, jumper, shirt, tie or blazer

It’s a bit different as coats tend to be worn outside of school.

Silly rule but very common.

When I was at secondary school we had to have bottle green coats, it was a horrible colour.

My sons school state plain black coats.

My DD is at nursery but it’s on the same site as a secondary school. The secondary school seems to have a no hats rule, even outside. Maybe that’s generally fine, you don’t often need a hat and they often aren’t smart. But I remember when it was very cold last winter, they had a teacher standing at the gate telling kids who were wrapped up in scarf, gloves, thick coat, and a warm hat, to remove it as soon as they were on school grounds, even though still outside. I think this is ridiculous anyway, but what made it worse was the teacher was wearing a bloody bobble hat. Presumably because it was so fucking cold.
That’s the stupidest uniform rule I’ve come across, the school I went to was fairly reasonable and obviously DD is too young.

Meh. In my primary school it was navy blue macs or air force blue duffle coats.

@bobsholi

At our local secondary they have to wear black socks and get a bollocking if they wear any other colour. Seems complete madness to me, how does sock colour affect education?

At DS 14's school they have to wear ridiculously expensive PE socks £8 for the smallest size, then a pound more for each subsequent size, so you could pay £10 for socks that get worn for 2 periods once a week.

My school had an official coat , which could only be purchased from the official uniform supplier. A red gabardine coat which was OK for dashing between school buildings but totally insufficient for standing at a bus stop on winter mornings. They later bought in a red duffle coat. Boarders wore a red cape.

My DSs school have a regulation school coat as part of the uniform. DS has had 2 and despite being labelled both have been lost at school (DS is 5). He no longer has a regulation coat, his coat is blue (school one is green) but it's not been lost yet!

We had to have grey, in an era when grey was a very unfashionable colour and grey coats were practically impossible to find.

I agree it's stupid but then I am not a big fan of school uniform at all. Dark coats are particularly daft because of the safety aspect.

My son's primary school have a dark coat rule. I find this such a stupid rule that I've ignored it from day 1! He's currently wearing a bright yellow puffer! So far the school haven't said anything. Kids have their whole adult lives to wear navy/grey/black coats - and also it's much safer for little kids to be in brightly coloured coats.

I agree, it's a silly rule. Both from a cost perspective (what if you have a perfectly good green coat from a cousin or sibling?) and from a safety perspective. I drive home through a badly lit village and it can be a bit scary when the clocks first go back. Thankfully parents are pretty good at making sure their teenagers have reflective patches on bags/coats for winter and most have torches. The first few weeks can be hit and miss while they get used to remembering them.

We had to wear navy or black wool coats. Private girls' school. A rule like that wouldn't bother me as long as there was a choice in how much you paid for it.

@Simonjt

There are no colour rules for coats at my sons school, but they strongly stress the importance of winter coats either having adequate reflective patches or putting then in a hi-viz vest in winter.

About three years ago a boy in year 6 in a black coat and black over trousers (the kind you wear in rain) was killed crossing the road as he wasn’t seen in time due to it being dark.

This. I actually think this should be law.

@SingingSands

I have put up with many silly school rules over the years. I think the worst was the new primary headteacher sending a letter home on a Friday telling parents that girls were no longer allowed to wear "winter boots" to school from the following Monday - this was in November, when we'd just reached the really awful wet weather stage and most parents had invested in sensible winter boots because girls school shoes are notoriously rubbish at accommodating anything other than a light drizzle.

Needless to say, there was uproar and the rule was revoked the following week. It was also pointed out to the new head that she was wearing winter boots herself!

We had the exact same scenario but our new head refused to revoke it! So kids were changing out of boots in the rain outside the entrance to school. Daft.

It's directly against all the wear brights, green cross code stuff taught in pshe.

So it is very, very silly.
I'd be sending mine in with a reflective band in rebellion.

@LetHimHaveIt

'If you came in to school wearing a black coat you were told you could not come in to school with the black coat the following day and it had to be navy blue.'

Really odd way of saying the rule was 'navy blue coats only'.

Rules of this sort don't really bother me; that's what meant by 'uniform', after all. People who think they're 'silly' usually don't think other rules should apply to them or their children, either.

Utter bollocks.

I would prefer white or bright colour as easier to see in dark so much safer. In primary my kids had clothes with in the glow in the dark stripes which was good from road safety point of view.

I agree the stupid by the way.

I think I'm a lone voice here. I normally am quite irritated by what I see as pointless school uniform rules, but not this one.

It's precisely because you wear the coat out & about I think it's reasonable to specify the colour, as it is a way of indicating where the student is from and a certain standard / style of apparel while in uniform.

I do think the coat colour should be a manageable one ie black / navy rather than something it's hard to find.

In DD's school there is a school jacket (black) that they are expected to purchase & I agree with that.