School should have optional school coat, fleeces and more

[Schooldinners1]

We are moving this summer to a new area so new schools.

Our current school has opinions of school branded cardigan, jumpers, fleeces, a school coat, backpack and other bits.

You can wear your own coat though that's fine.

The new school doesn't have all these options to make it “accessible for all” and you can also wear supermarket options.

Is it only me who finds it really smart to have all the matching options, I love my kids in them currently. I don't know why they can't just start making them for those of us happy to purchase these.

I saw they currently have the fleeces for teachers and their staff. Surely they can make miniature versions for the kids.

They're not compulsory to buy but parents can if they want. Those who don't want to/struggle to afford aren't required.

If it’s that important to you, go private 🤷🏻‍♀️
It’s not going to be your kid in the only jumper without a logo that isn’t quite right, is it?

Absolute waste of money and 95% of parents wouldn't pay for any of it. So it's not viable.

YABU. Can’t stand the ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude. Lovely for you that you can afford it but could you have a bit of team work and compassion for the parents who can’t afford it? Could you think about what a level playing field would look like rather than just what suits you?

Also haven’t the rules changed this year so that schools are only meant to have one or two branded items?

Send your dc to private school if you want that.

Have you thought of asking the uniform shop? They may be happy to embroider a fleece in the right colour for you if you want one.

Why would everyone want to dress the same? DT’s school was non uniform - so much better. More practical, no time wasted in policing antiquated school uniform policies and cheaper as they wore the clothes they already had.

Thank you for your positive response. Is that the online one? The current school is on uniformfactoryshop.co.uk maybe I can ask for supplier details?

Not every parent has a school branded coat and fleeces, I just think the fleeces look nice and add extra warmth if the kids want it. The items aren't expensive, just an extra £1 in comparison to a school cardigan, the coat is £25 more or less.

These items aren't enforced. Just on sale for those who want them. Lots of kids have much more expensive items. I feel the school branded stuff is more the affordable option when it comes to bags and coats.

Our school made a decision to keep branded stuff to an absolute minimum (and they are fairly lax about uniform requirements) because it is a pointless waste of money that has zero impact on the children’s education. They have a school logo on a jumper/cardigan but equally happy to accept a supermarket one the right colour. If the school don’t insist then the uniform company will not supply a range of garments because if they won’t sell many it’s not worth their while. You can always get the logo embroidered onto anything you like if you want a ‘school fleece’ but YABU to expect school to supply it when they’ve been explicitly told to reduce requirements for branded uniform.
Much less happy with our secondary who require loads of branded sports kit and have just pointlessly changed the tie to a year group one so 1200 pupils have to replace their perfectly serviceable school tie!

Its because then the poor children will stand out in their supermarket bought clothes compared to the kids with the full school kit.

School bags dictated to by some schools are often poor quality and expensive. Also easy to misplace if everyone has the same. Much cheaper, higher quality versions are available from sports shops.

It is to prevent a situation where some children are bought the visibly expensive uniform and some aren't.

It doesn't look any smarter to have all logoed stuff.

You also then can’t use the fleece in the holidays. I’d rather buy a good quality one that the DC can use all year round.

If everyone's coat and bag is the same then everyone is going to end up with the wrong bag!

Weve just had notification that my DDs secondary school is removing several logoed/patterned items from the list next year.

I reckon the checked skirt will be the next item to go- its the most expensive item on the list, althoughthe girls can wear grey trousers instead. They are doing it to make the uniform more affordable.

(The Primary school has fleeces on the list but no one buys them! None of the girls seem to have logo cardigans either, but boys have the jumpers.)

@Schooldinners1 we have always had a local uniform shop that you physically go to. In both primary schools DD went to, there was no fleece on the uniform list, but on the first school I saw a teacher wearing one so I asked at the uniform shop and they made one for DD. When we moved, uniform colour was not an easily findable colour to buy a non-branded one, so again I asked the uniform shop and they made her one. Different suppliers in different ends of the country.
I still don’t think it should be on the official uniform list though.

They're not compulsory to buy but parents can if they want. Those who don't want to/struggle to afford aren't required.

Can you honestly not see why it isn't very inclusive to have all the children matching except the ones whose parents can't afford it?

How do I get hold of the logo pattern do I just show them a photo?

Tbh it's the fleeces I really like and my daughter prefers them. Really good for days in spring/autumn when she doesn't need a full on coat yet.

Please do not make your child wear a fleece that you have had branded with the school logo.

It's like OP wants the poorer kids to stand out!

You can buy fleeces from Next, M&S, sports shops etc - why one with the school logo that probably won’t be wore out of school - sounds a waste of money?

Yeah really inclusive to have all the wealthy kids in the branded stuff and all the poorer kids in Asda multipacks 👍

I don't think it's mostly about price it's just some like wearing their other coats and that's totally fine. Less than 20% have a school branded coat but it looks cute and smart.

There isn't a culture of it being a thing where others are left out. It's just a choice for parents who like it and want to save the kids jackets and coats for outside of school 😕

It's just a choice for parents who like it and want to save the kids jackets and coats for outside of school 😕 AKA the more wealthy parents who can afford to buy an additional item of clothing for no good reason

I think it looks really nice how it matches the cardigan.

Or even worse, kids whose families can only afford one jumper having to wear their school logoed jumper in the summer holidays/ half terms (yes that is definitely a thing, saw it very regularly in my old naice area of London).