To think that switching to polo shirts makes the school uniform look low-rent?

[Byetoshirts]

My kids' primary has announced a change from shirts to polo shirts (previously just KS1) for all years except year 6.

I just think it looks a bit rubbish - all the other (in the main more affluent) local primaries have kids that look smart, and ours now get to look like they've just rolled out of bed. My DC are annoyed as they enjoy looking smart at school.

I associate polos in school uniform with young children and others who struggle with buttons and spilling stuff on themselves.

They also wash and wear badly (as stains kind embed themselves in polos) and the collar doesn't sit properly when open so a lot of (KS1) kids wear them tightly buttoned up to the neck, which doesn't exactly seem comfortable.

I think practicality is more important. I work in the NHS and see the impact of children being an unhealthy weight, it's heartbreaking. I'd like to see all primary school children wear clothes and footwear they can play and move around more easily in, most children these days aren't active enough to benefit their health, and being in the comfortable clothes suitable for being active in would be really beneficial. I'd put polo shirts in this category, so I'm all for it.

But as a pp said, fabrics used to be much heavier (and more expensive to replace so presumably came with more pressure to take care of uniform), and children were generally slimmer.

Haven’t read all the answers but my son’s London private school uniform no longer includes blazers, ties or white shirts. Sports kit and polo shirts all the way. I can assure you it’s anything but “low rent”.

Yes in the “old days” clothes were expensive and laundering them was hard work so children would be in trouble for messing up their “good” clothes. But children also walked miles to school and played outdoors all the time after school (not in uniform) so got plenty of exercise and were usually quite skinny. (My DH, growing up in a rural community, walked a couple of miles each way to his primary school and after school he and all the kids in his village were allowed free roam to play football or run about until dusk - which in the summer meant hours of exercise).

Nowadays children are often driven to school, aren’t allowed to play out as much due to modern fears, and we have the opposite problem of child obesity. But doing laundry is easy and clothes are much cheaper.

So all the more reason to put children in clothes that encourage rather than discourage physical activity during the daytime since if they don’t run about at school they will have almost no exercise as part of their day. (2 half hour of PE a week isn’t going to cut it.)

Maybe you need to move your little darlings to a more affluent school then.

I imagine this is cheaper so those families struggling a bit don’t have to spend so much. Kids in primary school will constantly grow out of clothes so smarter shirts won’t last long either.

if your concerns are staining and discomfort rather than appearance, talk to other mums and feed it back.

Woah thats why we will always have a social divide, silly attitude 'low rent' jeez take a look at yourself

No the reason (within school) is things like:
When DS2 was in reception, to incentivise regular reading, the teacher put a treasure trail in the kids' reading records whereby they would get a stamp every day if they read or were read to and the parent made a note of it. Every ten reads, the child would get a prize from the treasure chest and the teacher would put a note on Tapestry.
Even with the incentive, it was almost always the middle-class kids who were most likely reading every night anyway who 'won'.
Of course there will be reasons (time/resources/parental literacy) but it exacerbates the social divide for sure.

God, I hate school uniforms.

I love them
-Don't have to think about what the kids will wear every day
-Separation between home and school clothes/reduces wear and tear on home clothes
-Cheaper than home clothes (appreciate secondary is different)/good second hand availability

It’s admirable that you claim to care so much for the kids who don’t have parental support to encourage reading but calling a new uniform “low rent” is a horrendous example to set your kids if you want to bring them up to be inclusive, not materialistic or judgemental and kind to everyone, regardless of how much they have. Having language like that used around them is likely to turn them into insufferable little snobs as if you use it, they’ll think it’s acceptable.

Oh, I'm in favour of clothes that are for school to be changed out of the minute they come in but it's what they end up having to wear. Ties for girls? Never happens anywhere outside a school. 'Smart' blazers? Fantastically expensive, no practical necessity & girls' blazers are frequently significantly longer than their skirts - this is not a 'smart' look anywhere.
I am still traumatised by the (compulsory) rugby shirt I had to buy my son at eye watering cost which he never wore because he never ever played rugby.
Polo shirt, fleece, trousers/shorts - job done.Smart bedamned. There are people who will look smart in a bin bag & there are those who will never look smart whatever. Mercifully, I don't have to have the endless worry of finding the money for nonsense articles of clothing.

They are so much more comfortable for young children. My DC have to wear shirts and ties (yes from reception!) and they just look so uncomfortable, especially with the top button done. 5 yo DS with SEN also can’t fasten his buttons independently. Polo’s are better in summer too.

This was never about money for me. I think appropriate presentation is a good thing to teach your kids (I am pretty casual but wouldn't wear joggers out of the house; kids know they need to wear 'real trousers' to granny's birthday lunch etc).
It goes along with having decent manners (including table manners), conversational skills, speaking 'properly' - normal parenting stuff.

What do you think is inappropriate about small children wearing polo shirts?

You don't need uncomforable school uniforms to teach children that, as you say it is parenting stuff.

DT’s went to a non uniform school from ages 4-18. Normal outfits were jeans and hoodies or shorts and T-shirt. Amazing they have successfully transitioned to the world of work (one at the EU in Brussels and one at a global environmental engineering company in Amsterdam). The lack of a formal (ridiculous) school uniform had no negative impact on their schooling.

FFS they are not dressing them in T-shirts with offensive slogans on them, it’s a polo shirt. If it is a comfort and quality issue, then raise it with the school. But I think you’re pissed off that your kids are not at the posh school and think that if they are seen out and about wearing something as “low rent” as a polo shirt, people might not think that you are properly posh and treat you with the deference you think you deserve. Normal kids don’t care what they wear, you are teaching them to be insufferable little snobs and that will not serve them well in life.

Every time these threads come up I ask why it is that hordes of young people across Western Europe manage to move into the world of work and dress appropriately without 12 years of training by wearing uniform. I haven't had an answer yet. 16 years and counting.

DT’s have cousins in the US, Belgium and France - none have ever worn a school uniform but all have grown up to be high achieving students, went to high ranking Universities and got excellent graduate jobs. How was it possible without an outdated school uniform?

I have nieces at school in California and there is a lot of stress and pressure about wearing the right clothes. Its certainly not easier and cheaper.

California I think is an exception (for everything!). DT’s worn regular jeans and hoodies - rarely branded. No one was interested in what you were wearing. I found it much cheaper as I was only buying one type of clothing as they wore the same during the school day, evenings, weekends and holidays. Much better value than buying a school shirt or blazer that they will only ever wear during the school day.

I've heard that argument too. The answer here is parental responsibility: you teach your children not to be brand slave fashion victims. It's not rocket science.

When my two went to 6th form, where there was no uniform, there was no pressure to wear anything in particular. Most wore jeans, hoodies, T-shirts. My two bought their clothes from charity shops and were alternative/goth. It was absolutely easier, cheaper and more comfortable than uniform - unless you raise your child to be one of the sheep.

Hope you didn't hurt yourself with that reach

How was that a reach? You are the one describing a primary school uniform as low rent as if it is beneath your precious offspring to wear something that, shudder, common people might choose to wear. I really hope they have other adults in their lives who are not ridiculously obsessed with appearances and caring so much about the social ostracism that comes from not wearing the same uniform as the posh kids down the road make sure you’ve got your best pearls on to clutch as God forbid a child should look a bit scruffy at the end of a full day of education.

Interestingly both my DC were bullied at their shirt/tie/blazer secondary school for being posh/speaking properly.
DS, was not bullied at all once he changed to his polo shirt secondary.