AIBU to think it's not school's decision?

[GlitteryRainbow]

Somehow I got volunteered to organise the Year 6 Leaver's hoodies. When I looked into it there was a discount available if we ordered by 31st January, so seemed perfect. I got a shop setup everyone ordered on time. I got the order delivered to school because it seemed easier. It was due to arrive in half term so I got it rescheduled. I let the secretary know they would arrive this Monday.

I told my daughter they were coming Monday and she was excited. No hoodie when I came home yesterday. I've been told today that the children can't have their hoodies until May. The parents paid for the hoodies, so AIBU to think that school can't decide when the children get their hoodies? I realise it's their decision when the hoodies can be worn at school. Other schools get them early on and wear them for the entire year. We've never been told that there is time they aren't allowed to wear the hoodies before.

Would I be unreasonable to ask the school to give the hoodies to either myself or the children. We'll agree that the children won't wear them to school before the date the head stipulates. In hindsight I should have just got them delivered to my address.

Other half of the class are year 5

Have you asked the school why you can’t have them?
I used to think some of my DC’s school policies were a bit bonkers until I joined the PTA and later started working for the school and found out there was often instead a very understandable
and common sense reason which hadn’t occurred to me as a parent.

I see you're going in tp see the HT today. That's good.

I suspect that part of the problem is that, when hooodies are given out in May, SATs are over and Year 6 is a completely different place to it is in February.

When you offered to organise the hoodie, the school might have just assumed you were being organised by doing it this early but they wouldn't be ordered/delivered until slightly later in the year.

No one in school will have time to organise sorting out/distribution of hoodie at this time of year.

It might be that the school are saying May because that's when they will realistically have staff acailable to do it and will be able to enlist the help of sensible year 6 children to help them. At this time of year, all available staff are timetabled to run additional SATs support groups in most schools.

They might just be saying they physically can't allocate the resources to do doing it until May but will let you collect them.and organise the sorting and distributing before then.

The bottom line is that staff don't have the time to do absolutely everything that is a statutory requirement in the working day they just won't have the time to do this at this time of year.

The HT should have spoken with you directly but they are also.really busy - finding our HT during the day can be impossible on some days! Their heads just aren't in leavers hoodie territory yet.

Other than that, even if parents don't always agree with a school's decision, the school is a workplace for its staff and sometimes decisions are made for reasons that parents won't fully understand because it's not their workplace.

Yes. This is exactly what I meant in my last paragraph.

I'm a teacher but also a parent.

I started teaching when my eldest was 8.

You end up with a totally different perspective!

My children and their friends loved primary school but they pretty much forgot about it by about day 2 of the summer holiday. None of the leavers stuff is worth the drama it seems to cause.

That doesn’t say it will happen straight away! They’ll have to find time to do it and it will be a relatively low priority. Don’t get angry, speak to them about it.

Hoodies were given out on Wednesday. They have a new teacher Monday and Tuesday and she wasn’t sure of protocol. There are rules for when they can wear them to school that we’ve not been told yet. All done now. Not a single parent thanked me. So there we go.

Thanks for all the comments and advice.

My advice if you have a child in year 6 let someone else do the ordering or make arrangements with the school in advance.

Have a lovely Friday and weekend.

My advice if you have a child in year 6 let someone else do the ordering or make arrangements with the school in advance
Because of a tiny 2 day delay in getting them when it's still nearly 5 months till they actually leave? Somewhat of a storm in a teacup.

I'm a teacher - have been for 25 years so I've some idea about behaviour issues.

Year 6 is a special year and, alongside graduating to sit on the benches instead if the floor in assemblies, I think getting and wearing a Leavers hoodie is a right of passage that, if handled correctly, can be really positive.

The only thing I take issue with is some having 1 and some not. The PTA paid for 2 kids whose parents couldn't afford them at my school.

I think that's ok, as you say school made sure everyone got one. However the OP says they are not in school colours, everyone has a different one.
I also think it depends on the dynamics of the school you teach at...nice leafy suburban school, where parents have kids in a good routine etc ..fine.
School in a deprived area where families face a lot of barriers and helping the children feel regulated and ready to learn is a massive task, not so much.