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?!

Personally I think it sets a bad example if you force your children to follow rules 'just because'. Bad rules ought to be challenged

I wouldn't bother to do that search again for your DD. Just point out to the school their duty to make reasonable adjustments. I doubt very much they'll risk a disability discrimination claim in circumstances like this, the optics would be terrible and Ofsted would definitely not be impressed.

So what do you do if every other school in the area has similar policies?

There are lots - just where you live there aren't any perhaps.

We'll have to differ in opinion.

No it doesn't get very expensive and competitive. What happens when there are no uniforms is that kids stop paying attention to clothes. They get up in the morning, shower, and pull on whatever comes to hand.

All uniforms teach is that non conformists should be shamed and excluded and that clothes are extremely important as markers of desirable qualities.

Silly rules that are arbitrarily set by new administrations riding in like the Seventh Cavalry eager to make their mark create an unnecessarily adversarial culture and teach absolutely nothing about empowerment or respectful collaboration in a working environment.

You’re not getting it. So the mummy’s little process is strutting around in her Westwoods whilst the child next to her hardly has enough to eat let alone a fancy pair of shoes. Uniforms were introduced so no child could pick on another child for their clothes.

The uniforms are there to stop kids looking chavvy you mean

It’s over 100 miles from where I live to the nearest non uniform secondary school

I can't believe some of the comments here. School uniform saves time money and stress. Maybe schools should get even stricter and tell the pathetic parents who don't seem to be able to control their children what shoes and school bags the children should have. No one seems to have any sense. At school we had to get permission to remove our blazers in class we would still be wearing shirts and ties done up to the neck,no one fainted or passed out. Our shoes were the ugliest brouges ever we wore them, they measured our skirt length the width of our trousers legs we survived we wore stupid berets and school navy knickers for PE. Because that was the uniform policy and the rules.ps people had much less money and fewer choices. My mother saved up for my uniform.

Measuring skirt lengths is not what professional educators should be doing with their time.

Think about the reasoning behind that one - it's to make girls the gatekeepers of male behaviour. The idea being that girls who are wearing short skirts are distracting boys.

Which is so unfair on the boys who want to be distracted.

I doubt she's strutting

No need to call posters thick but I agree with the rest of your post.

I am not anti-uniform, I am anti uniforms that are expensive, unnecessary and take teachers' time away from teaching and other more useful activities.

It's enough to say a uniform is eg black trousers/skirt, white shirt/blouse and a navy jumper which could have the logo on, but I'd have a requirement that the school allows plain jumpers too. At my son's primary the polo shirts had the logo on but it was also acceptable to wear plain white ones. There's really no need for a uniform beyond this, other than sensible shoes and a PE uniform (which should be generic to the school, not house or team, so can be passed down/passed onto second hand market if still in good nick). Such a uniform would also be gender neutral.

No ties, no blazers, no expensive compulsory extras.

I really can't see any justification for anything fussier, other than to make it so expensive that it selects by stealth. Which isn't a justification. And making them wear full uniform in hot weather is control for control's sake. There is zero justification for that, either.

I’m not sure that ‘school uniform saves time, money and stress’ tbh.

There is plenty in the news about parents struggling with the cost of uniform. This also includes girls who wear tights, which get laddered easily and need to be replaced throughout the year.

I also personally found during my own school days that having to faff with ensuring specific clothes were washed and ironed was a lot more effort than just being able to wear my own clothes, especially as a lot of parents will only buy a few of each item.

@enchantedsquirrelwood I stand by the thick comment purely because they've been told repeatedly on this thread that many parents have very limited options and yet they still persist in saying stupid shit like 'you signed up to the rules' or 'send them somewhere else if you don't like it'.

What you wear on your foot has an impact on your safety. No one should be doing chemistry or tech subjects that require tool use in an open top shoe. Nor should girls safety or ability to participate in the curriculum be compromised because "fashion ".

Wearing your skirt as short as some girls like to wear them is "distracting" to anybody. We do not live in a society where you get to display your crotch or your arse to people and expect them not to notice. I imagine if a boy showed that much of himself it would be (rightly) be described indecent exposure , not distraction.

The badge is there so if the misbehave outside of school you know where the came from.

School uniform is just a way of controlling our children….do as I say or else!
As for ‘unsuitable’ hair styles….what the feck is that about?
once left school many will enter careers where their hair, clothes, make up is controlled…for gods sake let the kids have a few years of free rein in their bloody haircut.
Schools are closing due to inadequate funding, over worked teachers are leaving in their drives- and people are losing their rag over a hairstyle!
Let them learn in a happy environment….and don’t get me started on tat bloody woman who put the school meal kids in isolation for being behind with paying!

I don't understand why the government can't fund an online shop that sells basic, practical, well designed uniform to meet most needs (eg, black shoes that are safe but comfortable and not hideous to look at, clothes without itchy seams and printed labels so children with additional needs can wear them etc), sell it at cost to parents and give it free to those that would be entitled to school uniform grant and be done with it!

They could sell a minimal range of colour options and tell all schools they can only dictate a school uniform code from the government school uniform selection. So much simpler all round.

My son has to wear horrible formal school shoes I would much rather he wear a pair of comfortable black trainers. I have purchased him the softest nicest leather shoes I could find but still, I find it petty that teenage boys can’t wear black trainers for school. This subject really seems to get the rule followers in that place they love the most, the high horse. Where logic and reality and actual brains don’t exist.

@DisquietintheRanks I think a school can reasonably say no mini skirts, but actually measuring skirt length is humiliating and oppressive. If I was teaching, I'd refuse to have anything to do with that.

I assume the OP was referring to this case? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12491353/Pupil-15-left-blisters-told-wear-school-shoes-small-black-ballet-style-footwear-deemed-unsuitable.html

The school policy clearly states no ballet type shoes, no logos. https://www.gracecollege.org.uk/student-and-parent-hub/academy-uniform/year-7-11-day-wear-uniform/

This rule was clear and easy to follow.

HOWEVER what I object to is how the rule was enforced. If the story is to be believed (and tabloids aren't often reliable, to put it mildly), one kid was given the choice of wearing smaller shoes, which then gave her blisters, and another kid was kept the whole day in isolation.

Yes, yes, respecting rules is important, but the punishment must also be proportionate. Send the kid home. Give them a 30-minute detention. But blisters and a whole day of detention? That's like giving 20 years in prison to someone who speeds at 24mph in a 20mph zone.

Let's also remember that the Sutton trust has long held that No robust evidence that introducing a school uniform will improve academic performance
https://www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion/all-news-opinion/smaller-classes-uniforms-primary-homework-among-least-effective-ways-boosting-school-performance/

I am strongly in favour of reasonable dress codes; e.g. black or gray trousers or skirts, white shirts, etc. I object to rules forcing parents to buy clothes with logos from a specific supplier (many schools don't allow patches with the school logo) and I sure as hell object to those schools which dedicate so much time to inspecting the right shade of grey or the right number of mm in a skirt or heel.

And I certainly object to inappropriate clothes when it's hot; if a job forced you to come to the office wearing a tie with 30C, and to only take it off when the Supreme Boss, from his infinite wisdom, tells you are allowed to do so, how would you react?

Rules are important but it's also important to guard against the risk of mentally unstable and repressed teachers and headteachers getting off exercising their authority by inspecting the right shade of grey

PS This is also the school that doesn't allow dental retainers, not even clean ones. It's on their policy I had linked above

So any misbehaving child with any sense takes the relevant piece of clothing off.