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?!

Entitled parents raising entitled kids.

School management pathetic power complex. Poor teachers usually caught in the middle having to enforce pointless petty rules about logos that matter nowhere else aside from inside schools. Wearing expensive blazers over jumpers in 30 degrees just because its uniform policy wouldn’t happen in any modern workplace. The amount of time spent on this nonsense is horrific.

I think uniform in general is fine it’s the nitpicking and extreme overreaction to minor infractions over logos or now short ties are etc. The argument that is levels all kids is nonsense, teenagers know who is trendy/well off regardless. Kids with sensory issues or challenging body shapes or parents needing to use hand me downs or only buy one pair of shoes suffer this pointless nonsense.

I think you have to look at the parents who buy the unsuitable shoes.
I put three girls through school and the uniform policy on shoes was very clear. My girls wore sensible shoes throughout their 5 years at community college/academy/grammar school. It's not difficult. You go to a good shoe shop. Have the child's feet measured then give them the choice of the sensible school shoes on offer. They will cost a little more than the ballet pumps that last 5 minutes but will last much longer, therefore being more cost effective as well as better for the child's feet.

Different subject related to the same subject… it’s 2023 why are girls still made to wear ties to school? I understand looking ‘professional’ to get you ready for the big wide world but I’ve not once wore a tie since leaving school 🤣

Uniforms are a waste of money and should be made obsolete ! They serve to institutionalise children and teens and make them comply . They have nil impact on bullying . Most countries around the world have far less bullying than the U.K. and have no uniforms .

I work surrounded by solicitors , apart from court days nobody uses a blazer , nobody needs to keep their hair a certain length or even hide tattoos or remove earrings anymore .
The whole uniform thing is just retrograde.

I work near this school. They have worked their arses off to pull it out of the toilet. It was a hole. The rules are clear. This story is a joke. Also pretty sure they are fake viv’s she has on 😂. Change the record.

Anyone who says uniform is a waste of time- as a secondary teacher kids (girls) would either dress as hookers or demand a new outfit each day. A uniform addressed this.

Not true - DT’s were at a non uniform school from ages 4-18. Their clothes were a non issue. Jeans, trainers and a hoodie in the cooler weather and shorts and T-shirts in the summer. Mostly non branded items.

No time wasted on policing uniform and no bullying. No one cared what anyone was wearing. Also much cheaper as they wore the same clothes as they would after school, weekends and holidays.

There's one near my house. A couple of others let the 5th and 6 form students wear their own clothes. Most international schools here allow kids to wear their own clothes and some private schools which aren't international. I can think of at least 5 schools near me.

Wide experience of non-uniform schools demonstrates that this just doesn't happen. In practice most children end up wearing jeans and sweatshirts or T shirts.

On the other hand, stop outside any secondary school with a uniform at going home time, and you'll see the vast majority of the girls with their skirts rolled right up via the waistbands so they barely cover their pants. Clearly uniforms are if anything an incentive to dress "as hookers".

It’s all utterly ridiculous. Can we extend the ‘fed is best’ argument to ‘dressed is best’? Let’s stop wasting learning time and just crack on.

Obviously every school has other rules. Things like turning up on time, behaving, working, being polite. Children learn much more by complying with those rules, because there is a point to them. They don't learn by being forced to comply with arbitrary pointless rules, particularly when they become as stupid as making them wear blazers in hot weather.

There are unfortunately not "lots" of schools with a no uniform policy. Where I live, for instance, with ten academy secondary schools in the area, there is no school my child could attend that does not have a uniform.

You might well see a solicitor turn up to court in trainers, actually. They're much more practical to travel in, especially given how far-flung some courts are. They may well also wear them in court, given that the judge can't see their shoes.

Even if they do dress up for court, they emphatically don't dress like that all day every day. No solicitor judges another solicitor for dressing sensibly.

Yet, again many other countries’ children and teens manage just fine or do you think the British ones can’t do the same and your thoughts on what teen girls would wear if given the choice of not uniforms is absurd and disgusting.

I'm sure that 99% of teachers would be glad to 'just teach' without all thw extraneous nonsense they have to get dragged into, rows outside school, name calling on social media the parents let them use, policing the selfish parkers round the school, the list is almost endless of the non-teaching rubbish they have to waste time on! If teachers just taught without wasting time, without parents constantly wanting to complain, standards would rise astronomically.

As a parent with two teen girls in a non-uniform school I can confidently tell you this is not the case. Mine wear jeans/leggings and t-shirts/hoodies like 90%+ of their peers. There has been absolutely no drama over what they wear nor any unreasonable demands for new clothes. And I haven't seen a single kid in their school wear anything remotely "hooker"-ish.

Are teachers pushing to end the policing of uniforms then? It's the headmasters and such that insist on uniforms isn't it?
If teachers at schools pushed for no uniforms it'd help their workloads surely?

Is there a pic of said child looking forlorn? Every f**king year. And the tramline hairstyle. If you don’t like the schools policy, don’t apply for that school! It’s not difficult. YANBU

Omfg. How many times do people have to be told that often there's very little choice about what school your child ends up in?

I do not understand the complaints of buying £100 shoes instead of ones that meet the guidelines.
Yes there's a COL crisis so I can't imagine spending that much on shoes that will be wreaked in a week

But there does need to be a little wiggle room and thought given.
My daughter's school had insisted everyone had to wear lace up brogues...... but my daughter has cerebral palsy, wore massive splints and simply couldn't wear them or indeed lace up shoes by herself. I ended up searching everywhere to find buckle up brogue style shoes 2 sizes bigger just to get the damn splints in.

My son wears black trainers, whatever cheap pair fit his feet...... because he's likely to take them off on transport or in his SEN unit so not a mission I'm buying pricey shoes that might be thrown out a window

I agree about adapting rules in very hot weather . But my parents were on very low incomes and we had to buy every bit of the uniform in one special shop . Even down to hockey socks . And our skirts were measured ( state comprehensive) thank goodness that does not apply now .

Reading some of the posts I realise just how lucky we was. My son had to wear insoles and his secondary school allowed him to wear walking boots or kickers boots
I was advised not to buy clarks shoes for him.

I agree actually, or at least relax policies. But that won't happen from a few people saying ignore the rules or running to the Daily Mail.

I don't think the parents find it hard to follow uniform policies as others have suggested, I think they just resent the schools have any authority over their children, so choose not to follow the rules as a little protest. Bad example to be setting your children and it leads to bad behaviour in the classroom and poor attainment for said children.

When my son was in secondary school every parent was given a list of the uniform and the uniform policy. It said black shoes no trainers. I ran around for some decent black shoes which he actually liked. Two weeks into the term he wouldn't wear them as all his mates were wearing black trainers!! .I.was livid Basically schools should have a policy and stick to it .There will probably be kids at that girls school who's parents have scrimped to buy the basics sending a spoilt kid on designer shoes is a joke.