To say DS won't comply with school uniform?

[LegoVsFoot]

For context, school has been terrible about communication so far - not responding to any emails, cancelling a registration day only an hour in advance, etc.

I checked the uniform policy - nothing on website. On the uniform retailer page, there were guidelines, but nothing about boys' trousers and nothing for sale, so I figured there were no restrictions. I bought DS some plain trousers over the summer.

It's now about a week before school starts and a school Whatsapp has been set up. I asked about the uniform just to make sure and a parent with a child already enrolled has replied saying they're only allowed to wear grey uniform trousers from Next or M&S.

It’s too late to return what I bought and I don’t have the funds to buy all new clothes simply because school didn’t bother to tell parents the uniform.

AIBU to send him in in what I bought because there is no information stating differently?

Blue trousers, never seen those!

I don't understand why OP hasn't explained why she can't exchange them for grey.

She says in the very first post that it's too late to change them. I did question this because if it's too late it must mean she bought them over 4 weeks ago, which was pretty early on in the school holidays.

If I didn't know what I was meant to be buying I would certainly try and do a bit more research before buying any old trousers and hoping for the best. But then the OP doesn't seem to mind her DS wearing the wrong colour.

Ours is the same! Even for basic stuff like homework/PE kit days.

”Oh we thought everybody knew PE is on a Thursday and the children have to come in wearing their kit already”.

“Oh we thought everyone knew there is a Google classroom account, and you each need to contact the office for your child’s log in, no of course we don’t just send the log ins out automatically to everyone at the start of the year”.

“Oh we thought everyone knew that “SEN Picnic” on the calendar meant all parents, whether their children have SEN or not, are meant to bring food in for an afterschool picnic in the local park that day, what else could “SEN picnic” possibly mean?”

And no it isn’t just me, the WhatsApp group is full of “wtf does this cryptic thing on the calendar mean” from the other parents.

You realise navy is blue, right?
A quick look at any online store that sells uniform has navy.
I'd say grey was the most common, but navy is not at all unusual.

Blue school trousers that should say and by getting to different colours, at least one was going to be wrong.

TBH honest the lack of contact, policy information, ability to access anything is more of an issue, I would reconsider sending my child here!

I don't understand why OP hasn't explained why she can't exchange them for grey.

What’s not to understand? Most shops only have a limited window in which you can exchange things. It might be worth asking anyway. Or perhaps OP has lost her receipt.

If the school is so rubbish at communication, they’ll have to accept that your DC. will be wearing blue or black trousers for the first few weeks.

Where I live our primary school has navy blue trousers and the other nearby school has black trousers. I don’t know any local schools with grey trousers for Primary so I can appreciate why the OP chose blue and black trousers.

We moved in the summer before DS started Primary school so didn’t receive much in the way of information including not realising that the youngest class finished at 12pm on the first day and 2pm the rest of the week. The teacher ended up ringing me about 12.20 to find out where I was. Luckily I was only about 20 mins away.

Sometimes you have to be very firm with school staff when they’re clearly being unreasonable.

You do realise that I have had children and they have had uniform and I know all my colours and whilst I don't browse online stores, I have never seen blue trousers?

My DS school the girls had blue skirts, summer dresses and the boy's blue shirts and jumpers, but I have never seen blue trousers.

I'd say grey is most common, shame the OP decided to buy two different colours and neither are suitable.....

my Experience is that even when schools do provide information, they are woefully imprecise. There will be instructions for things like bringing a pencil box that just assume you magically know the size the teacher means and is necessary because otherwise it won’t fit in the planned spot. There will be notices that announce things with abbreviations they just assume you know. Just recently, our school announced that there was a maintenance issue on the kitchen and they would be serving a box lunch to everyone instead of the normal hot lunch choices. My husband and I actually wondered what that actually included and if it would be an issue for kids with allergies. They must have actually gotten some pushback on that one because just before school started they clarified that we were all supposed to know that the standard box lunch was a peanut butter sandwich and assorted sides.

unless your child has incredible confidence, this is not where you should pick a battle. He is the one who will have to go to school every day looking different. I really would do everything you can to get him the appropriate clothing.

@Rosehugger shhh don't say that! Everyone knows that polyester uniform has magical properties which improve academic performance, hide social inequality and make it easier to get children into school.

Back in the real world when we were in a non-uniform system I used to jolly DS along by telling him that if he went into school he could wear his favourite dinosaur t-shirt. Little did he realise that he had many dinosaur t-shirts which he loved equally.

Regardless of why/how you didn’t know, you know now so have time to rectify it. It will be easy to take them back and swap them for grey school trousers right? You can get them in all the big supermarkets.

Even the government website states schools have to publish their uniforms on the school website and should be clear and easy to understand. If they have mentioned trousers without noting colour, then this isn't easy to understand, are you sure it's an outstanding school? They clearly need reporting to OFSTED!

Also the government website mentions that schools should take steps to adhere to guidance before parents buy uniform for September 2022. I assume this means making sure uniform is more affordable so I would not imagine public schools are allowed to dictate where non branded uniform such as trousers are bought from.

Again, check to see if they have a twitter account, majority of schools do, you will be able to see the colours the kids are wearing!

The lack of contact wouldn’t bother me particularly if the rest is fine - ours is absolutely terrible at communicating (see my post above) but seems to be great at teaching (DS clearly making good progress).

If I didn't know what I was meant to be buying I would certainly try and do a bit more research before buying any old trousers and hoping for the best. But then the OP doesn't seem to mind her DS wearing the wrong colour.

OP probably bought something called ‘school trousers’, her research has yielded no further information and it is only the WhatsApp parent who has made her doubt herself.

You obviously suffered at school and I’m sorry about that.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s the same for everyone. I relished being seen as different and actively did my own thing all the way through school and it appears that my DC are cut the same way too. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Grey trousers are only a few pounds. Suck it up for goodness sake and just buy them.

As a teacher, it's cringe when parents just try to 'make a point' about the uniform. You've chosen to send your child to that school. If you don't like the uniform then send them somewhere else.

@Bubblyinblanch

I didnt get a choice. And I'd imagine most schools have fairly similar uniform policies

I dont force dc to wear a tie. I'm not going to move schools just for that.

@LegoVsFoot what's the colour of the jumper out of interest?

The shop they’re from won’t matter.
British schools are obsessive about uniform. Must look identical!!
As long as the colour is ok that’s fine, don’t have to be new, second hand is fine too. Shop you bought from should exchange if the labels are still attached and you can show a receipt ( paper or on your phone)

OP only ‘knows’ that part of the uniform from a random parent on WhatsApp. That parent may not be telling the truth. Even PPs who think OP should just buy cheap grey Asda trousers aren’t believing WhatsApp mum when she specified M&S and Next trousers.

Yes, and they won't comply because the school didn't tell them in time - and in fact still hasn't, with 4 days left before term starts. If it had, then OP would have bought the correct trousers in the first place and there wouldn't be a problem. It's not like the OP just read the uniform policy last June and said, "I see they need grey trousers, but I'm going to get black instead for no reason in particular... AIBU lol?" The school's behaviour is absolutely key to whether or not the OP is BU. In fact, she still doesn't actually know the rule is grey trousers because she's only heard that second hand on the grape vine.

The school would be completely unreasonable if next Monday it started quibbling over a trouser colour that they never informed anyone about!!!

YYY @Brefugee

With bells on.

Dd is at the local academy just going into yr 11. We are told to use the uniform shop. Yes, labels have been checked in previous years.
Dd is 6ft tall. Most trousers don't fit. She knows she could be sent to unit for trousers that are too short.
Ridiculous

OFSTED reports have the school phone numbers on them. Sometimes staff will answer the phone during the holidays, if there is anyone there. Often, especially small schools don’t have staff to answer phones.