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 thought the point of a school uniform was to reduce the risk of an individual standing out from their peers. Particularly when they come from a poorer background.

Nothing to do with enhancing learning or fitting into work in later life.

I mean it could also be a general lack of respect for schools on the whole, because of other issues faced. When I was at school, I adhered to the uniform rules (though quite often the shoes would damage my feet). However, the schools failed to deal with me being physically bullied, held me back on my reading skills until my parents complained, failed to stop boys deliberately exposing themselves to me in the toilets, and forced to me participate in assembly prayer when i’m an atheist. So some may understandably take the attitude that the school can shove ridiculous uniform policies up its arse

There are much more important issues these schools should be dealing with than whether a shoe has a tick on it.

I think ballet flats are a bad choice, especially ridiculously expensive ones! Ballet flats just don't last long so spending more than £20 on a pair is silly in my opinion.
We've sent DD to primary school in ankle boots as physio advised to get shoes with ankle support. It's against the uniform policy but luckily school said it was ok

I think parents feel it's right to ignore some school uniform rules because often there's no legitimate justification for the specific rule and it actually infringes upon the parents' right to make certain decisions regarding their own child.
Anything that is required for safety is a rule parents should adhere to - anything that's about controlling appearance but doesn't improve educational outcomes, is pointless and doesn't deserve respect.

In short, schools need sensible and fewer rules regarding appearance, if they want parental support.

My sons school that has a uniform, but not particularly silly rules, does insist that skirts are bought from one stockist so they’re a set length. Doesn’t stop them being rolled up though. I saw two girls walking to school yesterday, you could actually see the bottom of their arse cheeks 🙈

I don’t know if they’d have walked round school like that admittedly

Skirt length rules are that unreasonable IMO. I’d soon get some words of advice if I went to work in a skirt that short

Absolutely this!

Yep. I'd also add that the behaviour of some schools regarding uniforms is potentially detrimental to safety in itself. Like the example of the year 7 kids being expected to swelter in their blazers.

I also don’t think uniforms do prevent rivalry between the "haves and the have nots". The catchment area of my school (Scotland so all the children in the catchment attend the same school) included one of the poorest parts of town as well as the richest part where people live in mansions. And wearing a uniform didn’t stop us knowing who lived in the council flats and who lived in the million pound houses.

Absolutely! I grew up in a posh part of west London with very obvious pockets of poverty. Kids growing up in mansions and bedsits . Visiting other kids houses I saw both opulence and squalor. I went to a non uniform primary and it really wouldn’t have been possible to tell who was well off and who wasn’t from what kids were wearing. The only exception was probably the very poorest kids with their hokey vests and jumpers with threads pulled. But that would be the same with uniforms.

Not sure about safety but certainly discomfort and a distraction to concentration on school work. However I have seen school prospectuses with kids wearing blazers in labs where the cuffs are precariously close to Bunsen burners!

Where did I say that I don't agree with people voting for (or against, for that matter) this petition? People can vote however they like. I said I was baffled at the amount of people who were going to sign this, and clearly explained why I am so surprised.

This school's policy on nose or any other facial jewellery is apparently for health and safety reasons, not because they don't want to see it. Although I concur that a small nose stud is probably no more a safety risk than a pair of earrings.

If you send your child to a school, there's a reasonable expectation that you have read and accepted the school's policies for the duration that your child is there. To deliberately contravene a required conduct (and the parent here has admitted the timing of the piercing was purposely made to cause an issue), then that's just ridiculous. Not to mention bloody unfair on the child who has now been pulled out of school by her parent as a protest, and will likely stick out like a sore thumb at an age where 'fitting in' is a big deal for a teenager.

Yes it is true that school rules are a good lesson in dealing with petty officialdom (not driving on the left or the other rules you mention which aren't petty) but eg being fined for overstaying in a car park by a few minutes.

But uniform rules impose a disproportionate burden on low income families, and are also take up too much teacher time that could be used more wisely, or just give teachers more time to themselves!

I don't disagree with simple uniforms, I do agree with expensive uniforms with petty rules like having to wear a blazer in 30 degree temperatures (and get rid of ties, nobody wears them in offices anymore - not even in law firms!)

Yes agree with both of you here.

There are health risks to overheating, so there's a potential safety issue there.

LadyBird1973
The problem is that many schools have ended up being ridiculously prescriptive precisely because they had issues with parents not using common sense.

Of the schools I've worked in, the ones who went tight and single supplier were the ones with parents and students who apparently find it impossible to understand that "plain black school trousers, not jeans or leggings" means buy a pair of school trousers.

It's a uniform so I'm under no illusion that this will get a load of 'but does it matter if they wear leggings or jeans'.

Meanwhile the school that has parents with an ounce of common sense has students wearing black school trousers in a cut that fits and suits them. This school hasn't needed to get picky because the parents aren't idiots.

Unfortunately because some parents are oddly obsessed with doing the opposite of very simple rules, schools are forced into spelling it out (and even then some parents are either especially ineffective or have so many school hang ups that they still think buying a pair of Vivienne Westwood shoes with a huge logo is their priority over getting their child a pair of school shoes).

Totally agree - they should be able to take them off in lessons if they are too hot. We've had kids actually faint with heat.

You can follow the rules without being pedantic to the point that kids are overheating like this.

There are guidelines on safe temperatures for classrooms - iirc 28 degrees is considered unacceptable .. I think that's the WHO who set that guideline. We've had a couple of 30 degree days this year. There are thermometers in the classes.

So what was the point of a uniform if they were wearing a smock over it?

Blazers are a ridiculous idea anyway. Uncomfortable, expensive, anachronistic.

It is pretty stupid that they've become more common during a period when working wear has become less fusty and pointless.

Blazers are a ridiculous idea anyway.Uncomfortable, expensive, anachronistic.
I agree.
When I've worked in schools with blazers I've always said in the first lesson that in my classroom students can take them on and off as required and to consider that any permission that's required for the whole year.

Obviously, you can say what you want! I was just pointing out that you were wrong. Not every office is like your office.

During an assembly (always this time of year) being asked to wear them and stand with arms crossed.

Maybe it'll help them decide to have careers you don't have to have fussy clothes for!

Yeah, people are certainly allowed to claim that office workers per se can't wear flip flops. But it'll be bollocks.

I don't see the relevance of what is worn in court/an office/ anyway.

Kids have their lifetimes to have to dress up if they have to, I really don't see the necessity to spend their school careers dressed like it. Give them something cool and comfortable like polos.

They don't need to wear a blazer for 6 years to "get used to it" bonkers/

I’ve just had a look at the link and it says no pumps while the illustration of an acceptable girls shoe looks remarkably like a pump a (albeit with a thick sole).