Just read the bloody uniform policy!!!

[flingoringo]

I've just read an article about a school in Gateshead where lots of kids were sent home or out in isolation on day one of term because they were wearing the wrong shoes. The offending shoes seem to be mainly a Vivienne Westwood ballet flat (with a big silver VW emblem on the front) and a Nike walking boots. Lots of kids wearing the same, from yr7 to yr11.
Parents are up in arms, obviously. One mentions the CoL crisis so the need to scrimp and save to spend A HUNDRED QUID on the Nike shoes. One mum said her yr7 daughter won't be going back she's finding her a new school.

The school (taken over by an academy in 2019) says the policy is clear, plain black shoes with no logos. That they have done their best to help yr6 parents understand what was to be expected once on yr7.

Now I don't necessarily agree with schools being overly strict with uniform policy. But I do accept that I have to agree to follow the rules at the schools that I chose to send my kids to and if we chose not to then of course they'll be consequences.

AIBU to think it's it's completely ridiculous that this happens every bloody year?!

I just can't get past the "cost of living" vs 100 pound nike or vivienne westwood shoes. Crazy. Amazon have plenty of school shoes under 20 quid, some under 10 quid. What is the matter with people?

My kids are going back in last term's shoes!

I’ve been in a wheelchair most of my life so believe me I live the life too. You can’t expect everything in life to be designed with disability in mind. It’s only 60 years since we were all expected to be institutionalised, and if not, sit quietly in the corner and accept what you were given.

I’m a child of the 60’s and my parents had to fight for me to be accepted in mainstream school. Despite an above average intelligence the LA wanted me to go to a special school where I would have had no formal education - essentially I would have been schooled along with other physically and mentally disabled children and mostly played with toys all day. Thankfully they won the fight and I didn’t look back. In employment I faced discrimination every day. One look at the chair and the disability and I didn’t get the job - the excuse was always the same, that I wouldn’t ‘cope’. Until one enlightened employer gave me a chance, and again, I never looked back.

I’ve also worked in the benefits system and volunteered as a benefits adviser with disability charities. You only have to look at the contempt in society (encouraged by government) for recipients of disability benefits and the general apathy towards the hardships caused by recent welfare reforms to know that UK society doesn’t design anything with disability in the forefront of their minds. The Equality Act was supposed to guarantee access to public buildings for wheelchair users. It doesn’t, and because people don’t advocate for their rights, nothing is done. I’ve been refused entry into various public buildings because the chair is a ‘fire hazard’. The EA makes this illegal but it still happens.

Thankfully we’re a lot further forward now in a lot of respects, but there’s a long way to go and ‘pick your battles’ comes to mind. The Equality Act has enshrined disability rights in law and to my mind reasonable adjustment is a good tool for ensuring that someone’s disability doesn’t leave them at a disadvantage. But for it to be effective, it has to be adhered to, and from what people are posting here, schools are making it difficult for parents to access their legal rights, and that needs to be addressed.

Tbf I don't see many high school kids running around playing tig. Lots wear ballet flats although I agree they aren't the best but it's not as bad as for primary.

Do you feel the same about ear piercings? If not, why not? Because that would be what I call "having double standards".

I'd probably rip it out of them myself.

So consensual nose piercings bad, assault and ABH on a child good? OK...

The parents should have read the uniform policy carefully and bought the correct items. If they didn't like the uniform policy they didn't have to send their kids there.

Piercings go in ears (with the exception of some religions/cultures), not noses or tongues.

A puncture wound is a puncture wound, wherever on the body it is. As I said, double standards, and willing to use violent injuring force on a child to impose said double standards.

In the work place we have to follow rules, parents can’t look after precious little Jayden when he’s out in work and wants a wage.

School is the place to learn you need to wear what you’re told. It helps make everyone equal, and is a good foundation for broader discipline. I for one am glad of uniform and feel sorry for teachers having to deal with parents who are sometimes worse than the kids.

My DD has autism and sensory issues and it can be a challenge finding uniform but I do not let her go to school in trainers or shoes with logos on, as that is deliberately breaking the rules.

What I find funny though and it used to happen regularly as a tutor, is that these parents say they can’t afford new shoes and have a go at you for it yet the shoes their kid is wearing are really expensive and I couldn’t afford to buy them.

Uniform is there for a reason.
I do think it should be flexible but only to a certain point.
If it’s no trainers then don’t wear trainers, if it’s no logos then don’t wear logos etc.

It’s very obvious why there are so many teens that are entitled and don’t follow the rules and it’s because of their parents who somehow think the rules don’t apply to them and their kid.

YANBU

No it is not a double standard at all because piercings are for ears (barring religious/cultural reasons). That's it. Period. End of story.

Agreed. There are some really rough and trashy parents who don't bring their children up properly. The parents have no standards and the children never had a chance.

It's not that hard to follow the rules they are going to school not a cat walk.

I wear orthotics, as do many many people. I have absolutely no problem getting a wide variety of shoes for all occasions that fit my insoles.

If ever I need PR, I'm going to find the people who put this out. It's such bollocks and doesn't go towards protecting kids from being singled out in any way at all.

THIS! The number of schools that insist on wanky ludicrously expensive uniform with hideous logos on is ridiculous, and they're virtually all academies who find it easier to enforce rigid uniform rules than to put in place effective teaching and learning.

They always bang on about the importance of children learning to keep to the rules, yet never seem to work out that ignoring the DfE guidance themselves isn't exactly setting the best example.

LOL at people pontificating about how brogues encourage children to be active.

Do you all go jogging in brogues?

That’s another thing. When they’re walking miles to school they need trainers

Children need to know that there are rules to follow if life. You can't just turn up to work and do as you please - you get fired.

And this. I work for local government and can wear pretty much anything.

Why are you talking to me like i’m making stuff up? The consultant literally told me i would need to take the existing insole out, and i’ve tried. I cannot get my son’s feet into shoes with both insoles in. His insoles are a good 1.5cm thick.

You only think that piercings are only for ears because that's what you've been culturally conditioned to believe. You even acknowledge that other cultures disagree with you! Within the UK, people also disagree with you, why is this hard to comprehend?

Unlike gravitational attraction and the speed of light, appropriate piercing locations aren't one of the immutable laws of the universe. They are a matter of culturally-influenced opinion.

YANBU for having an opinion about where you are happy to pierce your body. YABU for wanting to impose that opinion on others and YABVVU in threatening your children with abusive criminal violence for wanting to pierce their bodies as they like.

You’ll probably find the Nike shoes will last far longer than a cheap £10-20 supermarket shoe. And can be worn out of school as well.

If a school can only teach about sticking to the rules by making a fuss about shoes, it is seriously failing as a school. The simple answer is not to have uniform rules beyond a requirement that children don't take the piss.

Agreed. I don’t agree with the principle of ‘learning and sticking to rules’ if the rules themselves are stupid.