Being expected to wear blazers today

[AskMeMore]

DDs school have said they still have to wear blazers to school today. It is very hot here. I have just told her to take it off if she wants to. No way am I indulging the school in this level of ridiculousness.

It's a hill I'm willing to die on.

Told both my kids they do not have to wear it if
it becomes too hot or uncomfortable, and school can phone me if they have a problem with it.

I'm supportive of school, and my kids are always smart and in full uniform, but this is another level of ridiculous.

Personally I agree with schools that the default position should be “blazers on at all times” and then if a particular classroom is exceptionally warm, the individual class teacher can give temporary permission for removal.

The DC’s school set a temperature threshold at which teachers can allow removal in classrooms, which js a fair approach.

Many schools see a big decline in behaviour and work standards when relaxation is allowed so I can see why they take a strict approach. There also has to be an element of consistency so the uniform retains its uniformity.

@SummerDuck
Many schools see a big decline in behaviour and work standards when relaxation is allowed

I’m pretty sure schools see a decline in behaviour and work standards when everyone is too hot to concentrate. If the school was air conned to the max then fine but surely students need to be comfortable not a hot sweaty mess.

Exactly.

i also don’t think it’s wrong for schools to acknowledge that the heat makes things harder for children in school and to show them they are listening and making adjustments.

ds school has full school PE kit or full school uniform as options at the moment. Because the school have listened to the children they all seem to be following the new expectations and getting on with things.

meanwhile a neighbouring school are insisting on full uniform for all and it’s causing aggro on all fronts and from what I saw this morning children going in in all sorts of variation of the uniform. I know a friends child was put in internal exclusion the other day because they didn’t have their tie on!

i know which approach I prefer

My DD was put in isolation last summer for this. It was 42 degrees and I'd told her not to take her blazer in.

So the kids in isolation were put in the IT rooms, the only ones with AC, and the AC was put on maximum (confirmed by the learning mentor).

DH went ballistic. He'd just spent 2 days amending H&S policies on his sites because of the weather. He went down to the school (for another reason, but ended up in a meeting with one of the principles) and went through each and every h&s clause going.

The response? We are an education provider, not an employer. We are setting the children up to do well in future employment.

But that night got a text saying all children could wear PE kit.

It even made the local news (the schools positions).

This year, far more sensible. No blazers to be worn, but must be in bags. which is still stupid but ok.

@SummerDuck

Many schools see a big decline in behaviour and work standards when relaxation is allowed so I can see why they take a strict approach. There also has to be an element of consistency so the uniform retains its uniformity.

I'd be interested to see your evidence that failing to make children wear blazers and ties in sweltering classrooms leads to a "big decline in behaviour".

Even if true (and I don't believe it is for a moment as overheating children for the sake of petty compliance of a rule is never going to generate respect and will encourage otherwise compliant children to rebel), I could equally say that removing frequent and harsh beatings with a cane for minor misdemeanours would likely lead to a fall in discipline standards - it doesn't make it right!

DS came home with all the symptoms of heat exhaustion and some of the symptoms of heat stroke yesterday - vomiting, dehydration, exhaustion, raging headache. Part of that is on him - he didn’t take a hat. But I feel most of it is on the school - nowhere shady to go at lunchtime, very little time to fill their water bottles between classes and a zero tolerance approach which means kids like DS are worried about putting a foot wrong, won’t fill their bottle if they might be late for class, won’t tell the teacher if they are I’ll due to their ridiculous absence policy etc.

Such nonsense. I grew up with a friend who was certain she couldn't handle hot weather. Hated it, couldn't cope, etc. Never wanted to go on holiday unless a winter type, hiking in the snow kind of holiday. Performance really faltered at school and she was likely to start being 'mouthy' at teachers and other adults when she normally didn't get into trouble. She went to a private school whereas I was at a comprehensive.

It turns out, when we became adults and she finally had autonomy over whether to wear a tie, a thick blazer, tights and closed-toe shoes or whether to dress appropriately in light fabrics and sandals, she was able to enjoy summer weather and act appropriately at work because she wasn't using up all her energy coping with the stupid unsuitable clothing.

I meant to say, she also got a lot of headaches. She assumed they were caused by the hot weather per se, but no, it turns out, just caused by being stupidly, artificially extra warm in hot weather instead of taking sensible precautions to cool down.

Local school has just added shorts to the uniform. For boys and girls. First year that has happened. They have to be school uniform type eg from MandS, Next, school uniform, and black. £12 for 2 in M and S

It's a bizarre concept. Dts school announced on Monday no blazers all week and they will update next Monday.

I wouldn't wear a bloody nylon blazer today.

If a school is relying on kids wearing uniform to maintain standards then something has gone very, very wrong.

Of course children should have the autonomy to take off clothing if they are too warm because, if nothing else, the point at which people feel too hot/too cold is not the same for everyone. To suggest otherwise is just fucking batshit. When I was at school we weren't even allowed a bottle of water at our desks, I remember getting into trouble for daring to have a sip of water during a class when I had a sore thoat and was barely able to speak. Fuck that shit.

Pisses me right off that my dc have to wear blazer and tie to school to be told to take it off when they get there. Which means it has spent the majority of the week screwed up in the bottom of their bags also possibility to lose it.
Why they can't just wear their pe kit from when they come back after May half term until they break up in July I'll never know.

I agree with PE kit from May half-term. If you are hot and sweaty after sports then have another set of shirt and shorts to change into.

The only thing in a blazer's favour is that it has copious pockets so that the student has their valuables on them at all times.

"the expense of your health" bit extreme

what you really mean is "a little bit too warm"

It’s ridiculous. My kids’ school has said blazers off - good. But, they still have to bring them - no lockers. That seems stupid but OK at a push maybe they’re just reinforcing the message of all uniform in school. But they’ve also said they have to be carried visibly! So if you’ve got a sensible backpack you have to carry it my hand, and if you’ve got the open tote style bag beloved of teen girls, it keeps slipping off.

My DDs school are usually too picky over uniform, and they have even told the children not to wear jumpers or blazers this week.

It's silly to make children wear them, and the teachers wouldn't themselves.

If school had not changed the rules for this week I would also be telling her to take it off if needed.

@hotdiggetydog

"the expense of your health" bit extreme what you really mean is "a little bit too warm"

Being forced to wear a polyester blazer and tie in a stuffy 30c classroom goes beyond being "a little bit too warm". Pupils faint, get headaches, and even get heatstroke - none of which is conducive to learning.

No. Heatstroke is serious and shouldn't be minimised.

I agree OP. I've told DC to ignore the blazer requirement on such very hot days. Its safeguarding essentially and I'm fully prepared to die on that hill.

Same here. They are strict w uniform most of the year but when it gets to summer it's "blazers need not be worn til the end of term"

It's not extreme in the slightest.

Would you happily sit in a hot, stuffy classroom in 30 degree heat wearing a polyester blazer?

With respect, whether I'm happy or not isn't the question.

I'd be warm, yes... but not unhealthily so.

Got a feeling that this scenario you depict is a false hypothetical here..unless the teaching takes place in the members enclosure at Lord's, I've every confidence most pupils would be allowed to remove their blazer during the actual lessons.

Fewer and fewer require a jacket and tie, particularly when you're sitting at your desk.

And the most stuffy corporate environments will mostly have air con.

I do wonder if most of the 'they need to get ready for the workplace' folk have been inside many workplaces recently.

Shorts and flip flops wouldn't be the go in my place, but yesterday I wore a short sleeved dress and smart trainers.

Definitely didn't wear a jacket.

Definitely less people wearing formal business wear.
Sales people and receptionist are generally the most smartly dressed people.

I've drawn a parallel between ties and bowler hats.
What order of people dropped the bowler hats first, because they wouldn't have disappeared over night.

My son starts Y7 in September and I've been dreading this nonsense. But his school seems to have clocked that it gets hot in summer and that what you wear in January might not be right in July. So they have a summer uniform option of a white polo top, either worn with the usual trousers/skirt or with long shorts.

Will admit I've never seen kids wearing the shorts but the polo top is widely worn and it seems a much more sensible approach - have a uniform policy that adapts to the weather, so you can then enforce it effectively, rather than one that isn't appropriate in warm weather that you then have to either adapt or enforce in a way that isn't conducive to learning.