To think school uniform has had its day

[Grumpybutfunny]

Okay I'm northern like this poor kid, tho not that close to the Scottish border. Is it unreasonable to say, when schools start saying kids should wear an inappropriate coats, just because it is school uniform that its time for parents to fight back.

I've left for work at 7:30 and it has been minus 2-3 all week. When I'm scraping ice off the car, a kid shouldn't be walking to school in a summer fleece with a rain jacket over the top. I've been freezing in my duvet coat.

Uniforms were a great leveller, but in the age of social media they still see what kids are wearing outside of school or what car the parent does the school run in. Surely what's more important is that they are comfortable and warm.

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/jesmond-park-academys-uniform-policy-26016890

Because it was a special event. I grew up in a non-uniform country (and it still is) and just threw on whatever felt right on the day. Bullying was tackled hard in our school, no uniform required, just enforcement of good behaviour.

My DDs went to a fully non-uniform 6th form and the range of what people wore was huge - there was very little conformity or demand for 'designer gear' - mostly people wore jeans, t-shirts or hoodies and trainers.

Totally agree. My DD has a uniform but even then there's a fuss over her hair every day! Wavy or straight? up or down? Hairband or not? 😂

It doesn’t work like that when it’s always non uniform. DT’s just wore jeans and a hoodie - no one was interested in what you were wearing. Many countries don’t have school uniforms and manage fine. In the uk the school uniform policing wastes so much time.

Non uniform doesn’t cost more as they just wear the same clothes as they would do after school, weekends and holidays.

Exactly. There's nothing stopping anyone from wearing a capsule wardrobe to school.
I did. I only had about three outfits so wore those on rotation. Would still have preferred a uniform that everyone was in. And I would be quite happy with an office uniform too.

You've not met my daughter!

So is she stuck in the house all day every day during the school holidays?

Strict school uniform came back into the spotlight several years ago when one or two HTs turned around failing schools which were ridden with gang violence.

These HTs made many changes to the way their schools were run. Only one of these changes was school uniform. This was in response to specific local circumstances.

Unfortunately the uniform was the visible change and was what got picked up on in the press.

Now every new HT in a failing school sees enforcing a strict uniform as somehow getting control, stamping his/her mark.

I'm against school uniform as I think it creates just more rules to enforced, wasting staff time and creating bad feeling.

But what I think is more of an issue is that in most secondary schools pupils have nowhere to put their coats, which is why most of them won't wear one.

How does what clothes you wear really show the difference between those who have wealth or not?

Come to my school (large secondary comp) on a non-uniform day and you'll see how obvious it is.

School uniform should be affordable, practical and appropriate for the weather. Parents who genuinely cannot afford it should be helped by the school. Many schools manage to achieve this. But I don't agree with doing away with uniform all together. Every non uniform day we have kids who don't come in because they're worried others will take the piss, kids shivering in clothes that are completely inappropriate for the weather and some who look like they're going out clubbing.

On a school residential last year the staff had to do a whip-round and take a kid to Primark to buy them clothes and a pair of trainers. On a 5 day trip they had only packed enough clothing to last them 2 days max, they didn't have anything remotely appropriate for the weather or activities, their trainers were too small and literally falling apart. Turns out what they had packed was everything they owned. This child's uniform (which the school pays for) will undoubtedly be the warmest and most practical clothing they own and I doubt they'd welcome having to come in wearing their own clothes every day.

I wonder why so many schools seem to insist on black coats? In areas where pupils may have to walk along and cross badly lit roads, surely light colours would make much more sense?

I agree.
Shirts & ties are outdated. Even in offices etc the dress code tends to be more relaxed these days.

I doubt your daughter is representative of the entire teenage population. My two never had a problem. The argument of 'but they won't know what to wear' is possibly the most pathetic one in favour of school uniform - are we in the UK really raising such namby-pamby indecisive kids, whilst much of the world can manage it so much better?

During covid ours came in wearing PE kits and I remember thinking they all looked really smart but comfortable.

If you mean the child is on Pupil Premium or similar, then if that money had been used for practical everyday clothing, the child would be a lot less embarrassed on residentials, non uniform days, school trips etc. He/she can't wear uniform on any of those occasions, but decent clothing like jeans, hoodies and trainers could be worn anywhere if there was no uniform in schools. So, I actually think this example is a good argument for doing away with uniform. If there wasn't uniform, this incident would probably not have happened as the child would have had a good supply of normal clothes, paid for by the school

I agree with basic school uniforms, but not the ridiculously strict ones some schools have these days!

Thankfully our local high school is what I'd call reasonable. Logo jumpers and pe top but that's all you have to have. No school blazers or school coats, just a common sense approach to it. At the primary they don't even insist on logo jumpers and polo shirts, just the correct colour. So it's simple and cheap to just order from Asda george or wherever.

We use PP money for things like counselling, breakfast clubs, activities, resources and equipment for PP students. We can't use it to buy "a good supply of everyday clothes" and shoes for every kid that needs them!

I think she's pretty typical to be honest. School uniform is a leveller, it takes away any doubt, it's just easier all round. Who cares what other countries do, why on these threads do we always look at other countries? I do think uniform should be more practical though, blazers and ties are outdated.

On school holidays she's not with1000 other kids, potentially being judged so no 🙄

I guess their argument is uniform is being paid for whether by school or parents. If this money, from whatever source, was used to pay for more generic useful everyday clothes it would be better spent.

I'd have more sympathy for that father in the article if the coat in question hadn't been electric blue, a opposed to the regulation black. And although I read it a few days ago, I seem to recall him talking about expense. Yet he'd bought his son a North Face jacket? They don't come cheap.
Loved the "sad face" picture!
Also, all the people beating their chests about poor freezing kids - we have to literally force ours to put on coats for break times and even then they take them off the minute they get out of our sight. Lots choose to wear shorts even in snow.
This has little to do with kids feeling the cold and more another way to have a go at schools - as evidenced by that ill-informed poster banging on about fines and strikes.

What happens in other countries is entirely relevant to this topic. People always put forward arguments like this which demonstrably don't work when you look at countries with little or no school uniform where the children function perfectly well despite having to decide what to wear every day. If your argument doesn't stand up against that sort of comparison, it's time to acknowledge that it's a weak argument, not to moan about the comparison.

With no uniform, the kids don't judge each other, because the novelty factor isn't there. As people have said, they usually just settle into wearing whatever is comfortable, frequently just a mixture of jeans and sweatshirts.

I don’t think it’s uniforms as such, it’s what they are.

Why primary children can’t all be in tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt type jumper is beyond me

The point is, though, that the kid would presumably need a home coat anyway as the school coat is so useless and anyway, no kid would wear a school uniform coat when they don't have to.

As commented upthread, for safety reasons it makes much more sense for children to have light or brightly-coloured coats anyway.

School uniform is great. Mine wear mostly supermarket stuff apart from logo jumpers/ cardigans.
my 9 year old will only wear Nike at the weekends. Wouldn’t want to have to kit him out 7 days a week in it.

But do agree about the coat. Most schools don’t count the coat in their uniform policy. Sounds like a particularly wanky school.