AIBU to think it’s ridiculous secondary school pupils going to school in PE kit?

[Tengreenbottles2]

I can understand why they did it during Covid, and I can see why it’s more practical in primary schools, especially little kids, when they take ages to dress themselves and the schools don’t always have dedicated changing rooms. But why on earth are some secondary schools still making pupils come to school in PE kit, long after the pandemic is over?

Not being funny, but the kids who really make an effort in sports must stink for the rest of the day. Not to mention getting muddy etc. I wonder how many teenagers make less effort in games because they don’t want to be smelly for the rest of the day..?

They can take a spare top/deodorant if needed surely, that's what my daughter does. She wears pe kit with blazer, that's the rule. Take it off for pe and then it goes back on again. That blazer never comes off!

YABU, round here the girls look smarter in their PE kit than the uniform. Only about 1 in 10 wears it properly.

Spraying deodorant when you haven’t been able to wash or change clothes only adds another strong smell in top of the first string smell of body odour, it doesn’t make the body odour go away.

Our’s have shorts or leggings. Of course wearing skorts in winter would be daft. Obviously.

That makes sense, but that’s an argument for a more comfortable uniform… they could have a comfy uniform and change into a different clothes for PE…

At DS's school they love this, PE wear is far more comfortable than a tie and blazer. They also would get changed unsupervised and the changing rooms were rife with bad behaviour and bullying. Also nobody should be forced to get changed in front of other people, i'm amazed it's gone on this long personally. DS was always much less sweaty after wearing his loose PE kit all day than wearing his blazer which was always a much tighter under the arms. I 100% support this.

We were made to shower in a communal shower after every PE lesson and I found it horrific. I'd pretend I had my period as often as I could get away with to try to avoid it. It was one of the very worst things about secondary school for me. Nobody should be forced to take their clothes off in front of others, no matter if they can try to find ways to cover it up.

If you were to reintroduce showers (where they exist) and insisted on them being used, I can imagine the parents who would claim human rights had been breached, threatened the school with legal action or reporting to Ofsted etc etc.

So whilst I agree about smelly teenagers, it will still be the case.

I agree about comfortable and practical uniform regardless.

If your kids are so desperate to get changed afterwards why don't they just take uniform and get changed in one of the toilets at break/lunch?

This doesn't happen at my son's school. Even in very hot weather they have to wear blazers too. They are only allowed PE kit if the weather tops 40 degrees. Because that happens loads doesn't it? I wish they could wear the kit through the summer, it would be much easier and far more comfortable.

DS's school is currently doing this because there is a timetable clash for use of the changing rooms. I rather like it. Less stuff to carry and less stuff to loose.

Less faff getting changed and pe day the kids smell fresher than the rest of the week. Not sure if is that they wear more antiperspirant that day or that they don't check if their uniforms smell the rest of the week before re wearing

Surely not, then the PE teachers only teach 5 lessons a week.

It’s different year groups on different days. It isn’t inside its games like football, cricket rugby etc on the playing fields. It’s the whole afternoon (different day for different year groups) so I guess in the morning the staff do admin for the matches against other schools, sports tours, buying new footballs… whatever they need to do.

I think schools have realised how much bullying etc happens in changing rooms and it works well to avoid pupils using them.

I can't see showers coming back anytime soon. Unless they are individual cubicles which I guess most schools don't have due to the prevalence of smart phones etc.

Yes to this ! Copious amounts of Lynx or whatever sprayed either before or after PE just adds to the problem .
Mine isn't a mixed sex school , the range of PE kit worn is interesting to say the least ! We all said that when covid had settled and we went back to uniform the whole school seemed unified again somehow, everyone looked smarter and there was a sense of belonging .

Surely unless you shower, you're still going to be a bit smelly after a vigorous PE session, even if you have changed back into your uniform?

Sorry , that should say IS a mixed sex school

I was wondering why all the kids in the local secondary school were wearing their uniforms in the morning.

I assumed they would do sport and then shower and change.

I'm really happy about the PE kit all day thing as are my DCs. We'd have lost way more clothes than we have if they had to get changed!
My DCs spend each break time running round playing footy or basketball so they're smelly everyday anyway.
I do feel very sorry for the teachers having the put up with that much Lynx, though!

Another huge benefit at my school is that the girls actually play on the field at break and lunch (football, catch etc) same as the boys. They never venture on to the field when they're in their full uniform.

Yabu. The only time my DD ever did secondary PE was the post covid year they were allowed to wear PE kit in.
Losing the twice weekly PE kit contributed to her dropping out of school. She can't cope with restrictive clothes.

DD and her friends much prefer to wear PE kit all day on PE days. No changing in front of each other, no loss of lesson time to allow for changing.

Not allowed at our school. They must change. Even if PE is first or last period.

My secondary schooler loves when they can wear PE kit. Much more comfortable.

Participation rates were better in DD's school when they wore PE kit all day. No forgetting kit, no deliberately forgetting kit or bringing a note in because you hated communal changing. No issues with non-binary kids, either. They also got to do more PE because they could get straight on with it. The PE staff wanted to keep it.

I get that there is an issue with smelly clothes, but I've never noticed anyone complaining about the boys who've spent all lunchtime playing footie in their uniform. The other problem can be if they get drenched during PE - we got asked that they keep spare kit or uniform in their lockers for that. Perhaps the solution is to have PE kit all day, but make it easy for those who want/need to to change their shirt afterwards.