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.

Wow. This comes across extremely snobby and with class superiority.

I'm a firm believer that comfort should always be the priority, especially in primary school aged children. The kids get absolutely zero benefit from being in a shirt and tie.

My oldest two are are secondary school now, so shirts with a clip on tie and a blazer are mandatory. They spend the whole day feeling uncomfortable and have stripped off within 30 seconds of arriving home. If anything, being in smart clothes which are uncomfortable is probably more detrimental to their education. Speaking for myself as a woman in my 30s, if I'm uncomfortable I cannot concentrate.

I'd scrap stuffy uniform and replace it with comfortable, practical options for every school if I had my way. It's completely unnecessary to make kids look "smart".

Wow this took me back! I think we were required to keep a hymn book in the pocket of ours? Along with several pens, a packet of illegal chewing gum, notes we'd passed in class, and a CD walkman.

At my son's secondary they wear polo shirts up to year 9 and then shirt and tie for years 10 and 11. I like the way they differentiate between KS3 and 4 but would have been fine with polo shirt all the way through. They all have a jumper and blazer and it looks absolutely fine. I can't see a problem with it.

Are they learning? Are they happy in shcool?

What they are wearing is irrelevant.

Sorry! I have no idea why I quoted anyone - just thought about ironing and got triggered apparently lol.

@PurpleThistle7 that makes sense, no harm done. I guess I got got a bit triggered and wtf there too, sorry.

It’s parents like you who ensure my daughters school are still in pleated skirts and blazers as if we’re in 1954. Ridiculous. The idea that you would put a 4 or 5 year old in a collared shirt and a tie. There’s no actual reason why a school uniform can’t be comfortable and appropriate without turning them into tiny corporate lawyers ( I bet corporate lawyers don’t wear ties much ). All the primary schools in my area have polo shirts in any case and we’re Surrey so certainly not “ low rent “

It comes back to my first point that it is dependent on each individual.

looking at my friends children when I ask I know mine are not in a minority for this preference where we are. I think often the preference is for the adults as they see polos as an easier option.

However it doesnt change that ops school us moving to polos.

My daughter is moving schools and she's thrilled to be going from shirt and tie and girls having to wear skirts, to one that has a polo shirt and girls being permitted to wear trousers if they wish. She will be much more comfortable.

Suits are becoming much less commonplace in the workplace now and kids will surely be happier if they are comfortable. Polo shirts can still look smart enough with a decent pair of trousers as long as they're washed and ironed carefully. Quite honestly I see some of the kids coming out of my kid's old school with shirts hanging out and ties askew and I can't say they look especially "high rent" (if that's even a term) just because of their garments!

There is no one item of clothing more pointless than a tie. Even in formal workplace professions like the legal sector they are not universally worn these days. A polo shirt is more than sufficient if schools will insist on following the UK's silly hang-up with uniform, which often works to the detriment of things that matter more.

School uniform has no proven effect at all on standards but seems to serve as tangible signal - which some parents seem to accept at face value - that a school takes these seriously even if it doesn't in reality. The US and Europe rarely adopt uniform and in many cases educational standards there are better than in the UK.

The rules about not removing those awful, shiny, polyester blazers without permission is also wholly unnecessary IMO. Thankfully DC's school doesn't mandate these, albeit the 'house' tie is a requirement.

Yes, I do value education. I am an educator. And I'm far from convinced that attire in an educational setting (within reason) needs to form part of that conversation.

I think the only people who look smart in uniform are BA/ Emirates cabin crew and barristers. I think school uniforms should be practical. My kids had polo’s but my son preferred short sleeved shirts, which I had to iron … he never looked smart, he looked like a small child in a badly ironed shirt.

I'm sorry, but why do little children need to be 'prepared' for an over-the-top secondary uniform? People who work rarely dress to the same level that secondary schools these days ... but we expect young people to be uncomfortable all day? Madness.

Just let them wear a shirt and tie at the weekends, so they can feel smart😂

I have two DC, a couple of sizes apart, and we buy 5/6 in each size (depending on pack configuration), in both short and long.

I work in a primary with polo shirt and sweatshirt combo. They wash terribly and kids look scruffy as hell. I think they'd look scruffy whatever uniform school asked them to wear though because a lot of the parents clearly don't separate whites and darks, don't iron anything, don't get shoes that actually fit their children or that are practical for running around in, don't sew missing buttons back on cardigans, don't bother washing children's faces or hands or brush their hair etc.

Re corporate lawyers, they mostly don't (DH is a lawyer).

An open-necked shirt looks perfectly smart and formal.

100%

My children are now in their 30s. When they were in school, they wore polo shirts and sweatshirts until fifth and sixth year (in high school) when they wore shirts, ties and jackets. On 'formal' occasions when representing the school, the younger high school students did wear shirts and ties, but not for everyday school. We're in Scotland.

My DC's school uniforms were polo shirts and sweatshirts with dark grey school style trousers/skirts right through to Y10. Sixth formers didn't wear uniform. I don't see the issue. My own school uniform featured ties and collars, and if anything they had more potential to look scruffy, with greying, unironed whites hanging out, and crooked ties.
Aren't schools meant to ensure uniform costs don't exclude families with tighter budgets these days?

It’s the snobbery and those who thrive on being controlled who beg for shirts and ties, out school changed from full unifoem
to tracksuit, tbh we all hated the polos as they loose shape but these are light more football jersey type material plain navy with crest on chest, half zip top and navy bottoms with crest or shorts in summer, the kids absolutely love it and are all delighted it’s being changed, the reason being about 70% we’re going in daily with PE kit on instead of uniform (mainly older classes, first 2-3 years mostly uniform after that was vast majority PE) so they decided to change the whole thing design a new “uniform” and it’s perfect, kids far more comfortable and happy. Anyway IMO schools a full controlled environment of mostly crap they’ll never use in daily life, should be more like Chinese schools who teach daily life skills, 3 year olds learn to cook ffs, 13 year olds struggle with that these days and half them barely tie their shoes, by that age the Chinese kids can build a whole house 😂

No kid needs to be wearing shirt and tie to school - not even secondary.

Yanbu

Your local primary is doing the right thing. There’s plenty of research to support kids uniforms that better enable physical activity and comfort. High schools need to be moving in that direction too. Most adults are not employed in workplaces that require suits and ties. And most people who are employed at those kinds of workplaces have university degrees, and universities don’t have any uniform!

Weirdly they do for school, all bets are off at the weekend.
When either of them has misplaced their tie for schooI explain they can have the top button open (as no tie to hold up) and they both insist on keeping it done up (!)

I live in an affluent area with an outstanding primary school, which my son goes to. They wear pe uniform 2 days a week and polo with sweatshirts 3 days a week. I think at primary age comfort should be the priority. There is plenty of time for wearing shirts and ties at secondary.