Schools - Christmas jumper day - wear an Xmas jumper and raise £1 for charity

[PineappleRox]

Aibu to be aggravated with notices from two different schools about Xmas jumper day. I would have to buy two Xmas jumpers in order to send in £1 for charity.

It would cost about £40 to send them in with Xmas jumpers and pay the £1 for the privilege.

AIBU to think it’s a tone deaf request from school when people are under pressure with the inflated cost of living?

I never bought them - I refuse to buy anything from anywhere that will only be worn once and my lot were always clear that they would only wear them to school and nowhere else.

I've just asked 2 of them (now all grown up) if they minded and they've looked at me as though I were mad. So I guess not.

It doesn't affect me directly, because I'm not a parent - but I've worked with pupils where their families were facing significant challenges.

At our secondary school for World Book Day, more time was given over to reading for pleasure and to activities related to reading for pleasure. We also distributed the World Book Day vouchers.

This. As I've said above, I'm a retired teacher rather than a parent. I still do occasional supply but quit my permanent post 6 yrs ago.

Some people don't realise that there are families facing significant financial challenges, particularly those families which just miss the cut-off for benefits.

Mine have Christmas jumpers anyway. I size up and they last a few years. Supermarkets sell them for a reasonable price.

And there's always some poor sod in y6 whose parents don't get the memo about going with a cool character, like Alex Rider, so they can go in jeans, t-shirt and sunglasses, and they are sent in as Willy Wonka for the day. Urgh.

Our nursery is doing it all week bundle of jumpers from vinted in a larger size and giving a £1 a day. So all in about £10 donation for charity not inappropriate at all

You can wash them…

For ours they only do it up until secondary and its crazy hair day as well, it costs a bomb in jumpers and colourful spray but my kids love it! They talk about it every year 'do you remember when we had xmas tree hair' etc. I have so many great pictures. Its something really nice to look back on for us.

Then sorry but you should have sorted it out earlier. Then you would have had plenty of time to just order a couple of cheapies from vinted or similar. You said your kids need adult size jumpers so you’re not new to the school system and most schools do this every year.

My DH has several Christmas jumpers which he has had for absolutely years.used to wear them at work, and Christmas when the family are round..my 2 dgks, just had theirs, one has mental health issues, wouldn't cope with not wearing one, with all the other kids participating, guess what,they each borrowed grandad! As for second hand, charity shops, vinted, the most expensive thing I am wearing ATM is an M AND S bra! Jumper,jeggins and jacket I have just removed vinted.

I used to fish out any plain jumper my DC had and sew a bit of tinsel in and a few other Christmassy bits. Is that a possibility?

Where on earth do you buy £40 for a Christmas jumper. In the shops new they £5--15 for children jumpers ..on local Facebook marketplace they free to a few pounds at most. Lots in charity shops for £1 or too. Or you wear a normal jumper and attach a Santa hat or lights to it. It's just Abit of fun. Yabu

Yes you are being unreasonable, very unreasonable actually. This is all about your child, I can assure you none of us teachers want to be in a Christmas jumper all day, but we do it because the children LOVE it.
It’s VERY lazy of you not to pimp a jumper you already have with some Christmas themed bits and bobs, it will cost you next to nothing.

Christmas jumper day is a pain in the backside. Along with 'odd sock day', 'wear yellow for anti-bullying', Children in Need wear a spotty top day, blah blah bollocks.

Yes you can get them from charity shops or vinted/whatever. Not the point. It's not about the cost for me (fortunately we're ok to buy them and donate old ones) but it's just one more thing to do and remember at a crazy busy time of year.

Dress up/different clothes day are often a nightmare for children with SEND. With most schools running at 30-40% SEND cohort these days I'm surprised they don't cross-check their absences in this cohort against dress up days. I've done the math here (for work) and there is always a higher rate of absence than usual across children with SEND on days where dress up is an 'option'. The change to the norm is incredible stressful and overwhelming for lots of them and for some it means they're unable to attend at all.

That's before you even get to those families who can't afford it, or are too time poor to organise whatever top/socks/costume that's asked for this time. Which is almost never the same year on year anyway (with Christmas jumper day being an exception).

And yes of course it's never compulsory but then the children who 'choose' (it's not usually a choice it's usually out of necessity or that they actually can't) not to participate are often sad and feel the odd one out.

We most of us agree to school uniform when we send our children to school and comply with set uniform rules all year. So let's just all agree to stick to those please! There's no need for costumes etc.

If they want to be festive they can spend some time in class during the last week when they do fun activities nearly all week making some paper hats or something.

I'm not a fan, can you tell?

@PineappleRox - no one is expected to do it. Yes, it's a ball ache being on the PTA and yes it is mainly women who do it.
That's a different question to why schools do Xmas jumper day though and is endemic to society.
I'm not going to stop volunteering because I'm a feminist, because that would mean the kids get less.

I've bought them every year for 10+ years off eBay for 99p.

They have it every year i just buy from vinted or last year sale in advance .No need to pay full price ,with kids you gotta learn how to prepare and plan for things .I usually buy a size big so they last

I buy them as they can be used all through November December ,buy decent quality your child has something warm to wear

We got around the waste by holding a swap shop in November bring a jumper take a jumper. It has worked brilliantly for Halloween outfits and Xmas jumpers.

Highly recommend it.

Why so fucking unnecessarily rude and argumentative? The men and women I work with on our PTA do it (organise preloved jumpers, uniform etc) because we want to reduce waste and help our school commmunity. Most people are really pleased that we do, but there are of course always a few who will find fault in anything 🙄

I can assure you plenty of full time workers are able to have a quick browse on Vinted, don’t be ridiculous.

Charity shop!

Do you make all your own clothes? If not do you know who made them and where they've been....?

Our school does.

A £3 Primark jumper is made in a sweatshop from oil-based acrylic. It was quite possibly made by a late primary age child. I don't think it's a great look for a fundraiser personally.

Our school does a Christmas jumper swap the week before Christmas jumper day. Anything not bought gets donated to charity