Do you agree with school or the parents?

[Watermelon44]

Our high school has made the news because of a uniform dispute between (some) parents and the head who is recently in post.

The gist of it is that the school brought in a new rule in April that they were no longer allowing black leather trainers (eg superstars or nike air force) and instead the kids should be in smart plain black leather office shoes.

This appears to have caused ww3 with some parents, who despite having many months notice, still sent their kids in the banned trainers (100+ children apparently). The school has stuck to its guns and has isolated and then suspended those in the wrong shoes if they refused to comply.

The school has also banned girls from wearing socks, and have enforced a thick tights ruling, although socks are allowed in the summer term and if allowed by the head in any warm spells (eg the past 3 days).

Personally I think the tights ruling is worse and I have mixed views on the trainers rule.

I am interested in the real reasons behind these strict uniform rules as I feel if the real reasons were shared with parents they may be more on board with them, rather than the usual rubbish about dressing professionally eg like in an office, when my dp works in a head office in London and goes in jeans and trainers!

As this seems to have whipped up a storm locally, I am interested in other people’s views on this topic as some of the parents round here seem to have gone totally bats*it over it!!

In principle I agree with uniform as it saves a lot of hassle for parents getting DCs ready for school in the morning.

However, I hate the ridiculous rigid rules and generally feel that a lot of schools don’t help themselves.

Plain black footwear - yes - including unbranded trainers.

Make the uniform all trousers and short sleeved polo shirts with a plain v neck jumper for colder days. No flippin ties - hardly even worn at work these days. Same uniform for girls and boys = less opportunity for these power plays at the start of term between school, parents and kids. Also would help mixed sex families.

The tights rule is terrible. Gender specific uniform eg no shorts on boys are annoying.
Why do some schools sweat the small stuff so much?

Yes often trainers are more supportive on feet and can be adjusted

Those ballet pumps are hopeless and often not leather

I work in the London office of one of the largest law firms in the world. You can't get more "office" than that and the majority of women are not wearing tights in this heat!

The girls at my daughters secondary school literally walk around with their bum cheeks on display. There have been so many letters home about the length of skirts and banning girls from rolling them up, but still it persists. I can actually see the point in that rule.

The shoes, I really can't see why they can't wear black trainers, they are comfy and they are kids.

Sympathy with the tights which are unreasonable.

Not the shoes. If that's the school rule, take yourself to a shoe shop or supermarket and buy the right shoes. I have little sympathy with parents who choose not to buy the specified shoes and moan about it. It also detracts from teachers actually teaching your kids.

We've never fallen foul of uniform rules. You read them, comply and there's no issue.

I also don't understand how the correct brand if shoe in any way affects pupils' learning. Schools that enforce uniform tules religiously usually don't apply the same effort to teaching (or enforcing the school's anti-bullying policy).

@Anonymouseposter "What I really disagreed with was a year 7 pupil being kept in a room on her own on her first day at secondary school for wearing ballet flats."

Sorry but they should have known that those shoes were unacceptable. Did you see the photo? There should have been a welcome to our school evening where the school lays out the rules, the correct uniform and when mine started a teacher with a number 2 hair cut complete with the clipper comb that means they can check the length of the child's hair.

Our school has a colour photo guide for parents of what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable. There are always parents who decide their little darlings are exempt. Rules are rules.

The tights rule is appalling though, the shoes thing has been going on forever.

I think most uk school uniform rules are so outdated and just ridiculous to be honest. There is little justification and some of it is just looking to cause problems

@SuperiorM I remember lower school girls weren't allowed tights. And upper school they had to be grey. There was a huge campaign for black tights to be allowed (as they were trendier), tights to be allowed for all years and trousers to be an option for girls. Never happened in my time there but DS now goes and all 3 things have happened, in fact now if tights are worn they must be black as the skirt/trousers colour was changed from grey a few years ago. Technically they no longer have boys/girls items - socks or tights can be worn with skirts or trousers by any pupil. In practice everyone looks quite traditional really, it's one of the smarter schools in the area.

Boys can.

Last year my eldest had to use a bobble to keep her trousers up. Far more unsightly.

Absolutely.

I'm in Ireland and while there are rules & policies around uniforms, they aren't as excessive & punitive as I read about on MN.

I disagree hugely with the shoes. In my DC school they can wear trainers once fully black. They would hate the 'proper' school shoes approach as they play sports, run etc at lunchtime. Couldn't do that in shoes.

I really don't know why schools have to go up against parents & students like this. There are much more important issues.

Students missing classroom
time for any uniform infraction is absolutely ridiculous. If the school absolutely must punish the student, use a punishment that takes place outside of instruction time so it doesn’t interfere with education.

That's a rubbish thing to be trying to teach. And the wrong way to teach it.

Yes, in adult life there are rules we have to follow, but in almost every situation we have some agency to influence that rule or its adoption.

School children don't.

These are arbitrary rules with little useful basis. Worse, they'll cause distinct problems for certain children.

You don't invent silly rules to try & teach some 'life lesson'

I disagree with the shoes, because office style shoes are not suitable for PE or drama, and would require purchasing a second set of shoes and lugging them around to those lessons.

I'm not a fan of the tights rule either.

That's awful and that's the sort of thing kids should be suspended for, rather than having to wear office shoes which are totally unsuitable for break time activities and ice and snow.

Schools can get Reid of the skirt problem by having the kilt style skirts as uniform.

Best offer one secondary near me has kilt skirt, black trousers and bacon knee length short summer term and autumn half term. Blue polo and navy v neck sweatshirt. Most kids wear Nike air force or converse black leather.

Funnily enough the kids manage to learn and be comfortable. Or maybe they learn and behave better because they are comfortable?

If they were allowed to wear trainers until April last year then yeah, I agree with the parents. I bought both my children new shoes last Easter and they still fit so they didnt have new for this term.

I’d hate to have to dress in office type garb all day.

Don't get me started. She's was very badly sexually harassed last year as well. Unfortunately it's very common. She's a bit of a prude so doesn't roll her skirts up short. Now waiting for a new school.

That said yesterday was walking the dog and a girl passed me in a skirt and ankle socks and from the back you could see everything.

My kids have happily played playground sport at break time in school shoes. It's really not hard to find a compliant and practical pair of school shoes.

If the rule is no trainers, don't buy trainers. Yes some may look like school shoes but then you have kids turning up in black Air Jordan high tops and you're creating another source of contention for staff.

Also a reason for suspension. I'm not sure how they get away with this.

Amazed at so many posters defending the tights rule. I would not be amused if my workplace pulled this.

As for girls and their short skirts: as the mother of two teen dds I am convinced that the schools will NEVER win this one. Give it up, chaps! Far too much time is spent on it and it is unwinnable.

So sorry to hear this. I would have thought that's an arrestable offense.

Me too