School not allowing children to wear jumpers

[Mac3321]

Dd15 has just gone into year 11 at school. They went back last week and the teachers were pulling children out the classroom to uniform check shoes, nails, blazers, lashes etc.
They were cutting the bows off of the girls school socks if they had them on.
But they also told the children that they weren’t allowed to wear their jumpers (plain black v neck which is stated in the school uniform policy) it doesn’t state that the jumpers can only be worn at certain times.

Their reasoning is that it isn’t cold enough yet and they will tell the children when they can start wearing them.

My daughter feels the cold so easily, She near enough always has a coat on but obviously in class they have to take it off but she said today the classrooms were really cold.

AIBU to call or email the school to ask why? It just seems like a bit of a power move with the whole ‘we will tell you when you can wear it’

As a PP said, you can put a jumper on and off as you go about your day. Not so easy with thermals.

Very popular in my dc school especially in 6th form.

It is quite possible that depending on where you are, school temperature could be below the legal minimum if heating is not on, which I doubt it will be. At least in the first hour or so.

Bows on socks wouldn't really work at my dds school, the majority wear trousers and if they wear skirts (very few do) they have to also wear tights.

Threads like this illustrate perfectly why strict uniforms are a waste of time.

Interrupting learning time to get pupils to remove their jumpers.

I cannot wait until the tide turns on the prison camp ethos so many schools live by.

The majority of kids who arrive in year at ours - as they're usually new to the country or in precarious financial circumstances - are almost fully kitted out with unclaimed lost property from the year before (and a handful of donations). All the way to thick winter coats and DMs.

God I hate this. It's so stressful at school for kids. I feel really icky about adults cutting bows from socks. I can't imagine how humiliated I'd feel having an adult do that to me as a kid. The jumpers is one of those ridiculous rules adults impose on children. Like forcing them to eat certain foods when adults all have stuff they like and dislike. I bet some teachers might wear a jumper.

Teachers have enough to do without this nonsense. What difference does it make to children's learning if they have stupid bows on socks?

Totally different scenario but a few years ago a local primary school were outed in the papers for forcing children to change from their PE kit outside in torrential rain because apparently they were “too muddy” to change inside. Needless to say parents were absolutely enraged and it never happened again. Some schools clearly think they’re above treating children with common decency. Maybe speaking to a local journalist if you get no answers from the school is the way forward.

Email and say that there is not (and should of course not be) anything in the school uniform policy to say that the kids have to be cold (or hot) and you will be telling your offspring to remove or wear their jumper (or blazer) according to their body temperature,

FGS these uniform rules really annoy me. It does not help with discipline, and it's a waste of teachers' time.

I just cannot understand what is the point of this taliban-like control of how people dress! It seems very unhealthy, both mentally (for the enforcers and the students), and physically, if you are not allowed to use your clothing to regulate your temperature, which everyone experiences differently. What is it supposed to achieve, except a sort of ritual humiliation and reinforcement of power relations?

I’m a teacher. I wholeheartedly agree.
I have read so many bizarre stories about uniform infractions recently.

My DS used to get forced to wear his jumper/jacket outside at playtime.
When he was outside playing and running around. And y’know, generating heat.

Soon solved that problem. He just went to school in his shirtsleeves 😂

Exactly this.

can you imagine if an employer tried to do this? They would be forever littered with HR complaints and would find it impossible to recruit.

before anyone talks about staff uniforms, the difference is a) the employer will provide the uniforms directly and b) they won’t force people to wear jumpers/blazers until they deem it the right temperature. Modern workplaces are so flexible that I don’t understand what schools are doing.

Does the policy specify plain socks?

I never enforced the uniform rules as a teacher. There was a rule in place that Blazers had to stay on in winter, but I’d just say to the kids that they could take them off in my lessons but just to remember to put them on before they left.
Same with jumpers and things, I’d rather have had comfortable kids who were ready to learn than cold/hot/fidgety kids.

I also used to let kids go to the toilet (not two at a time though). I have a bladder condition so I was always very aware of the discomfort people might be in needing to go to the loo. I got pulled up by the head loads for it though!

Are you sure the teachers are cutting the bows off socks OP? Sometimes kids over exaggerate or ‘hear’ that’s happened in another class and repeat it as gospel. Seems an odd move to make, to damage a child’s property.

The jumper thing is ridiculous though, I agree.

That sounds awful OP, I’d definitely complain.

This school sounds horrible! Where in the world is it 🫣

I swear some people just love the power trip.

Dear God........

I dont believe it

i have said it before and i will say it again (and again and again i suspect) but some school's uniform regulations are ridiculous and batshit.

who the actual ever loving fuck do the think they are?

I spoke informally to the head of an ASD base at a high school I was considering for my son. I asked about uniform rules and he spouted the same kind of bollocks about asking permission to remove jumpers and blazers.

I asked him why he felt teachers knew better than the child as to whether they needed an extra layer and whether he has to ask for permission to remove his jumper.

Of course he blustered some bollocks about respect and I told him that it was clearly best for both of us if I didn’t send my child there.

My son’s current school have a whole bunch of stuff for the kids to choose from and they can combine it however they like. Trainers ok too.

I can't see the point in the bows in socks, they're a nursery thing, not secondary imo.
But cutting them off is not on. A letter home, fine. And if the sweaters are uniform then of course they should be able to wear them. I would write to the chair of Governors and encourage others to do the same.

My daughter is in year 11 and wears frilly knee high socks with bows

Her friendship group are all into manga/Japanese style cutesy clothing and they all wear them.

The socks being plain is fine with me - that's a reasonable standard IMO. However, damaging my children's (and by extension, my) property absolutely is not on and I would push right back on that.

If uniform is being adhered to, the child should be able to choose what item to wear, or not, according to their specific need or preference.

Also, what does the uniform policy say about socks? Does it state plain, or not?

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