Have the school done the right thing even though it punishes the wrong set of people ?

[Mumof3bringwine]

DC is in year 6 and as I am sure everyone with a child in the same year is aware the leavers celebrations are in full swing.
The leavers hoodies were organised by the class parent rep.
The hoodies were handed out a while ago and the children have been proudly wearing them 2 days a week in school and were due to wear them for their residential.
unfortunately the Rep has purposely left 1 child without a hoody and also did not include their name on everyone else’s hoody.
I am not sure why it has only been bought to the attention of the school now, but they sent an email basically saying due to one child’s name not being on the hoody they are now banned from being worn on the school premises. Some very angry parents who think the school are punishing the children for something not in their control.
I am not sure what else the school could of done ? I believe they made the right decision but I seem to be the minority!

if parents feel that strongly, why are they not volunteering?

It's easy to moan that things are not right, or not the way you like, but why aren't you doing it yourself then?

We’ll have to agree to disagree @FlockofSquirrels- as some people here have pointed out, this takes hours and hours when doing it as a group and it sounds like this rep was doing it alone. The parent does sound mean, but equally we don’t know the full story. Don’t step forward then you have to accept how things are!

I’m sorry but I really don’t agree. I understand that the rep’s job is a lot of work but to say that this effectively gives them carte blanche to do anything they like and say no one can raise any issues does not logically follow. It’s one thing to make a mistake but another to act with mean spirit and deliberation where the impact of that will be on a child who is 11.

I'm a teacher. I'm always involved in my Year 6 end of year hoodies and celebrations. My head checks the hoodie order. HTH.

School did the right thing. Bullying isn't OK.

Next year either take control or don't do a leaver's hoodie.

That isn’t fair tbh. Every should pay the same- whether is a kid’s hoodie or an adult is a bit moot. When we did it we charge an adult price with vat for all the hoodies and we used any extra raised to go towards paying for the parents who couldn’t afford the hoodies and the PTA paid the difference. No one had a problem with this approach.

This. It's bullying to allow one child to be left out. The school couldn't just go along with it. They don't have a choice.

I wonder if parents organising them
is a primary school thing? It’s not something I’ve come across in secondary. It isn’t something I’d be comfortable asking parent reps to do, though school resources are so stretched I can see why it would end up happening.

That really doesn’t stretch to all situations.

If you don’t volunteer, then don’t complain when the PTA pelt you with cakes and deliberately feed the anaphylactic child peanuts at the cake sale because he got the part of Joseph in the nativity and their children were sheep and donkeys…

No. The child has been erased from the class on all the bodies. They all need replaced, courtesy of the class rep, for this to be fixed. But nobody can make her.

Just a thought, OP, do any of the parents have a Cricut machine? The child's name could be added to the existing hoodies then, in iron on vinyl. If someone was willing to spend the time ironing them on, it would be a much cheaper option than reordering them, or returning them all for extra printing.

Of course, the horrid woman should foot the bill for the vinyl.

I feel sorry for the teachers having to deal with this kind of drama.

That’s a nasty human garbage, the rep. Shocking behaviour.

Yes it is (well it was at my children’s school) a year 6 specific thing. We formed a year 6 committee of 3 per class so 6 in total and we organised the hoodies, yearbooks, collections, and other incidentals. It was a big deal at their school- and It was an awful lot of work (for almost zero thanks, not that I was doing it for that but still!). We did liaise with the school and I think they did sign off the hoodies and the yearbooks before they went to print.

i do understand the frustration if one parent was doing it alone. It seems very odd. Lots of people actually wanted to help with the year 6 stuff as it was such a big year. Doesn’t excuse her taking a name off though as she didn’t have any right to do it. It wasn’t a private enterprise, it was being done for the school.

Probably impossible as if it is the common type, their names get arranged inside the year numbers on the back so there wouldn’t be room to add another name. It took a lot of work to get all the names in and correctly spaced so it looked good.

How would you force someone to do this?

I don't really think the school could do anything else to be honest, it was a shitty thing for her to take the name off even if they were to cancel the child's order over the price difference

It's not exactly what I meant. There shouldn't be carte blanche, but others should be involved from the start. Once it's done, it's too easy and too late to complain.

If you think they are doing it wrong, do it yourself! Or at least help.

I know people who volunteer are amazing etc but this is just so typical of that sort of parent. I bet the other parent had the audacity to question something rather than bow down at her feet at the volunteers brilliance. And now the group of fellow PTA queens will have turned on the poor woman too.
These mums usually were bullies at school and can’t wait to get some control back in their kids classmates parents too.
imagine being that pathetic to leave a 10 year old out. Good on the school.

The rep is so clearly in the wrong at every step.

Completely agree that the rep should never have deleted the child's name. That is the biggest problem and the reason why the school had no option but to take the stance they have.

I'm also stumped on why anyone would think it okay to pass on a VAT charge that was only incurred on adult sizes to those who were buying child sizes? It's a purchase tax that's to be paid by the person making the relevant purchase.

This is a truly cruel thing for the rep to have done. The school are completely right to take action.

see that's the attitude that really annoys me, and it's so common

rather than bow down at her feet at the volunteers brilliance.

as if volunteers, mainly parents with full time jobs, left to deal with all the random crap because they think it's good for kids but no one else can be bothered, have nothing else better to do in their life.

Not only CF do nothing themselves, but abuse or insults those who do.

I know what's pathetic, and it's not the PTA.

And again, if at least 1 other parents had helped, the situation here would have been avoided.

I agree @thetrumanshow

Well maybe, maybe not. It isn’t clear cut. It was a bulk purchase of hoodies so could be reasonable for everyone to pay the same regardless of who incurred the VAT. Everyone ends up with a hoody that fits their child. It’s unfortunate that the govt taxes those of us with big kids. My kids were 6ft by the time they were 12. The clothing and shoes that I’ve paid VAT on for them over the years is a fucking disgrace. I do think there should be a reclaim scheme for kids like mine. A leavers hoody for a Y6 is only goign to be worn by a kid, regardless of what adult size they need. Thinking back, my kids both had leavers hoodies in adult sizes, but it was organised by the school and everyone paid the same.

The school is right not to let the hoodies be worn on school property/at school events though. How must that child feel - 2 arguing adults, both unreasonable but a kid left off the jumper.