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'm not sure how this is a response to the comment? My point was that the rules shouldn't exist at all, nothing to do with challenging them if they do exist.

In most areas there isn't an available choice of schools without uniforms. It's not realistic to tell people they must home school if the reality is that that could leave them homeless because they can't pay rent or a mortgage.

We really need to get in line with the rest of the world and abolish uniforms throughout.

My children never had a locker they carried their stuff from classroom to classroom.

An MP has been given 34 million to revamp her office and that could have been used on schools. If you're not happy do something about it let your government know how you feel. They're getting away with it and noone is saying a word to them or do something to make them hear. Tax payers money is spent on the royal family it could be given to schools and the healthcare system. The education system is poor and every year is the same complaints over shoes or hair what more can I say.

Only bad Heads of bad schools obsess about logos on shoes.

We went to the open evening of this particular school and the head sat on his phone while the head of the whole academy org was talking.

So yep. Not very good.

As a teacher my absolute worst days were non uniform days because it causes so much anxiety for so many students and the bullies have a field day saying nasty things and making them feel insecure.

So why on earth have non uniform days in a uniform school? Why give the bullies a field day if that is what happens?

Children not dying seems to be setting the bar remarkably low. Why is wearing a blazer within the school building expected? Whose benefit is it for? Why can’t a pupil decide for themself that they are uncomfortably warm and take their blazer off?

@flingoringo
you would be completely understanding of a school sending children home in supermarket bottoms that were not school branded?

have I missed the unfunny joke?

We had a reminder about a week before school that girls are not allowed to wear skirts that are 5cms above their knee, with a link to skirts that fit the criteria, which were £20. So a couple of them, £40, which isn't cheap!!

Also, my DD is 5ft 8 with very long legs! I don't believe this rule allows for this kind of stuff.

Lu kily I found one in M&S, which may be 6cms above the knee, but we're £14, so still nearly £30, along with the blazer and new shirts and the requisite pair of shoes (which as a size 8, are looking for something sturdy that fits the policy is not cheap), along with the school policy pe kit, we've spent nearly £200, so I can easily forgive parents who cut corners here and there.

Maybe some people's school shoes, are their outside of school shoes too.

My ds can wear either a plain white polo from asda at £3 each, or an identical one bit with a logo on for £10 each.
Seems bonkers.

And as to the whole concept of needing all children to wear uniform so they look identical to prevent bullying? What?

Surely schools and parents teach not to bully anyway?

Children need to learn that not everyone is identical.

Once they leave school they meet people who don't all wear the same clothes or have the same amount of money, and they don't immediately start bullying them.

We should be celebrating our differences, including clothes choices, not thinking that children can't cope with seeing people from different income brackets or who chose different clothes without a full scale war breaking out!
Teach children tolerance and give them some credit for being able.to think for themselves.

I saw this too and thought it was utterly insane

ballet flats are an poor choice for school as they will have disintegrated by Christmas - they aren’t built for constant wear

a vast majority of schools don’t allow “fashion logos” - ours pretty much let it slide if it’s not obvious (eg. If the logo is very small or is the same colour so isn’t glaringly obvious) - those Vivienne Westwood ones have a massive great thing on the front and couldn’t be more obvious. I don’t see how anyone would think that was appropriate for school?

it gets very boring hearing the people who every year who complain about the rules when it’s really not that difficult to just read them

The hair tye thing is stupid, I agree.

But the teacher outside in the hat presumably was stood out there all morning as pupils arrived. The pupils will be in the warm very soon if they're pretty much at school.

I've also never known a school that doesn't allow blazers to be removed when it's too hot.

We should be celebrating our differences, including clothes choices, not thinking that children can't cope with seeing people from different income brackets or who chose different clothes without a full scale war breaking out!
Teach children tolerance and give them some credit for beingable.tothink for themselves.

@Stopthatknocking That's a lovely ideal. But meanwhile in the real world, a lot of secondary schools are hellish enough without giving kids another reason to pick on each other.

Ain’t British culture great. The same angst every year to stop the same micro managing control issues every year. The continent, at least northern countries, has neither the same issues with micro-controlled uniforms - primaries don’t have uniform at all - nor the same angst over clothing full stop. Somehow they have lower aggression overall, greater intelligence, and better education. Consumerism in this little America-wannabe is pathetic.

Also sick of hearing that it apparently doesn’t prepare you for the “real world”- most work places don’t have a uniform

well actually can think of loads that either have a uniform or restrictions on what you need to wear:

Nurse
Doctor - restriction on what they can wear (bare below elbow, “smart” dress etc… sometimes scrubs)
Firefighter
Paramedic
Police officer
Military
Scientist - restrictions (no open toe footwear, protective clothing etc)
Bus Driver
Bin man
Builder - restrictions (boots, not certain things for safety, things worn a certain way for safety etc)
Receptionist - uniform/ restrictions depending on where you work
Barrister - restrictions/required to wear certain things
Vet
Pilot
Air Steward
Chef
Security Guard

this was just off the top of my head, I could go on.

Uniform is there for a number of reasons - safety, hygiene, identifying people as part of the organisation, tradition…

I’m sure it’s lovely having a job where you can rock up to the office in flip flops but I would argue that the people claiming most jobs let you wear just whatever you like are the ones that don’t live in the real world.

Hmm

My year 12 went in yesterday, smart casual... came home to tell me he has to have 'proper shoes'

Nearly all of them in smart trainers. I've seen men in suits and trainers so why they aren't acceptable I don't understand

Interestingly, my school experience was the opposite.

Our school uniform was bottle green with some red on it, and going out in public before/after school was actually where the name calling started eg such ‘hey look it’s the christmas trees’

We also had a stupid rule where we were allowed a black bloat in winter, but it had to be worn over our blazers, hence, most of them didn’t fit. It’s rules like this that were completely stupid and 19 years after leaving school, I still think they were stupid.

RAAC, kids missing school, food poverty, poor hygiene and schools are policing flipping shoes?! Are they black shoes? Yes? Come in and learn. Teachers or rather the SMT should give themselves a break from uniform nonsense. There are bigger issues you're dealing with.

I read threads like these and I'm so glad that me and my children went to schools with no uniform policy.

We just wore normal clothes. And you know what? People managed to learn and pass exams even though they didn't all wear the same thing.

And yes, I'm aware it should be 'my children and I' but I went to school before them😆😆

No one who has an office job is allowed flip flops. Safety rules still exist. But we are allowed to wear comfortable shoes.

I don’t think silly school uniform rules about no shoes with logos can be compares to jobs that require safety gear.

Does anyone here give a shit what shoes the nurses are wearing when they are getting treatment after an operation in hospital?

I think the point is things change and things are progressing. Comfort should come first.

But the teacher outside in the hat presumably was stood out there all morning as pupils arrived. The pupils will be in the warm very soon if they're pretty much at school.

@hylian yes but what's the point? What's the benefit in them taking their hat off? This teacher didn't normally stand there, I don't know whether something else prompted it that day or whether it was just that children were wearing hats. But what difference does it make to anything if they wear the hat? They still have a coat on, so once they're inside will have to remove outer layers, why is a coat fine but a hat not. There's no logic.

I've also never known a school that doesn't allow blazers to be removed when it's too hot.

The school my mum teaches at doesn't allow blazers to be removed unless the teacher in the classroom says it's ok (and I've seen it commented on on here so I don't think her school is unique). It's really weird to not allow teenagers to decide when they're too hot for their jacket.

To be fair to the school in Gateshead, the article was doing the rounds on social media and in the comments people had shown that the school had published what's acceptable, told parents, and put photos on their website with local stockists at a range of price points.

Every year I find myself amazed by the parents spending £100s on obviously non-uniform items and then claiming cost of living/can't buy another pair. They could have bought two pairs of proper school shoes for the price of their heavily branded, obviously non-uniform ones.

I was literally reading a thing recently where someone was saying “I wear board showers and flip flops to the office” albeit they now work in California I think. So I just plucked it from that

also, Figurative language to convey effect

To be honest you either trust the school/ teachers to make good decisions or you don't. There could well be reasons why teachers have these rules (e.g. maybe everyone is losing their hats in school, maybe they're all keeping their hats on in lessons and throwing them round the classroom, etc. Who knows? - you're not in the classroom.) A lot of teaching is crowd control and there are sometimes factors at play that parents don't think of.

At the end of the day if you don't like the school rules then pull your kid out and send them to a different one.

Parents should, on the whole, respect the school rules and leave them to it. It's a very confusing message for kids if parents are on a different page to their school.