AIBU Schools making pupils wear blazers and jumpers in this heat

[plomh]

Every time it’s hot during school time, you hear of schools still insisting that their pupils wear blazers or just their jumpers. https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/kingswood-academy-send-home-defiant-121507.amp

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19462070.wearing-school-blazers-heatwave---readers-say/

What do schools think they are going to achieve from not relaxing the rules? Nothing. More pupils becoming ill, parents keeping their DC away.

It’s barbaric behaviour. Yet I doubt that they make the teachers, non teachers staff wear blazers and wear summer clothes with short sleeves.

I agree. I don’t understand “she had to go in in a blazer”. I just wouldn’t have done it. And like a PP talked about, I’d have written a note saying the school was welcome to contact me about it.

And I am someone who is generally inclined to automatically back the school over their rules.

I remember my summer dresses quite fondly: better than girls having to wear a school tie. Perhaps some schools stopped this because it’s an additional expense which singles out the families who cannot afford to buy extra uniform. In many primary schools the girls seem to wear inexpensive dresses from supermarkets, rather than ones in specially designed fabric which I wore.

Not summer dresses, but in this term at my children’s secondary school they can wear ‘summer uniform’ if they choose. It’s a school-logoed polo shirt rather than a white shirt and school tie for boys or open necked white shirt for girls. Blazers and jumpers are optional.
When the head announces it, students and staff wearing shirts can roll up the sleeves.

I think polo shirts are a good idea all year round, although I admit they are not as smart as traditional shirts and blouses.

I've just seen a load of utterly defeated-looking kids walking to our local private school in full cricket whites, including jumpers, with blazers over the top and carrying huge bags of cricket kit. It's madness.

Link 1 is from 2017 and the pupils were sent home for their rude and aggressive behaviour.

Link 2 is from 2021 and the school was petitioned and the rule was relaxed.

Really OP, your school report card should say Could Do Better.

Ours are in PE kit in hot weather

Dd has autism. Disobeying the rules isn't even an option for her. I didn't want her to wear the blazer, but the thought of getting in trouble made her feel sick.

And given the academy is absolutely draconian when it comes to uniform policy, her worries about being punished weren't exactly unfounded.

Hence everyone else arriving in full blazer and tie this morning too.

She won't be going in for the next three days after today.

Ds’s secondary school has only this year been allowed tailored shorts. We’ve had an email this morning saying that they don’t have to wear blazers but have to wear the rest of their uniform. I don’t understand why they can’t just wear their PE kit in this weather. It’s a school logo’d kit so they all look uniform. It’s ridiculous to expect them to wear shirts, ties and thick shorts with their heavy backpacks on their backs when the majority of them have to walk home in this heat at the end of the school day.

Blazers are the worst invention ever. My hill to die on it that it’s fucking maddness to make our children go to school dressed as mini businessmen, when the vast majority of adults don’t go to work dressed in a suit and tie. My DH is a senior civil servant, he only wears suit and tie if they’ve got foreign dignitaries visiting. Our neighbour is a partner in a law firm, again hardly ever wears full siut and tie. And yet we expect our kids to go to school and be active wearing the most ridiculous get-up. And honestly if your school needs to be stupidly anal about uniform in the name of discipline, then you’re not doing it right and you need to try harder. Because millions of school children in Europe go to school in their own clothes and they aren’t running riot.

Well if the pupils were expected to, the staff needed to set an example and lead from the front.

This has reminded me of when I was at school (day girl) there was a teacher who would check that your were properly dressed before you left for the day. In our case, this was raincoat/coat/blazer, hat and gloves!!

I dont think people would have dared .

Sad isn't it.

All the more reason for the staff to make it clear to management that this was bloody ridiculous. Who the hell wears blazers outside schools anyway? They're grossly impractical, and school blazers end up looking really scruffy.

If my children went to a school like this, I think I'd be letting them pull a sickie. It's not as if they're going to be able to learn effectively if they're overheated all day.

I think anyone instisting some wears a jumper and/or blazer any time is abusive. But doing so in the summer is another level of abuse, its torture with health hazard.

PE kit all week here.
Blazers and ties are just archaic these days. Most men dont wear them at work and women simply dont wear ties.
Polos are considered fine for primary. No idea why a lot of secondarys abandon them to move to blazers & ties etc. Practical for both sexes all year & cheap. Kids can pair with school shorts, skirts & ties as they wish. No need for changes in hot or cold weather. Surely comfort & price this is more important than subjective views about 'smartness'.

Not ties. Trousers. No idea why i seem unable to type these days.

Ours wear polo shirts, and all year round there’s the option for trousers, skirts or tailored shorts. They look smart as the rules are reasonable so they are stuck to.

I can’t understand the thinking behind making kids more uncomfortable than they need to be.

My eldest’s school does this & they have to wear them between classes too so have to put them on to walk the crowded sweaty corridors. In winter they’re not allowed to have bulky jackets either as nowhere to store them. I think the teachers ought to have the same rules be enforced for them if they’re that strict with the kids. They can wear polyester caps and gowns to teach in 30+ degree heat

Fortunately both my DCs schools have said PE kit is fine. If that wasn’t the case on Tue/Wed/Thu I’d be keeping them off because wanting kids in a stuffy uniform in 34 degree heat is evil.

One school nearby has a ‘summer uniform’ so from the start of the summer term they can swap the shirt and tie for a polo tshirt and it looks really comfortable and cooler but still smart.

Yes - if your going to have uniform this seems the sensible way to go. Cheaper.& flexible. Suits all weather. Avoids all the put your blazer on, do your tie up, do your top button up .... conversations.

My DD’s school has said they don’t need to wear them this week

I seriously think many employers are very strict with what they wear.

My job in the civil service- though not working face to face with public, you can wear knee length shorts.

Those colleagues that worked in the CS for decades have said the clothing rules have relaxed. Just no political slogans/images, ripped clothing, midriff revealing or flimsy sandals/flip flops

Punitive nonsense. I hate school uniform. I am glad my kids’ schools have never required it.

Why the need to swap though? It just adds expense. If the polo look ok in May it will look ok in October. It just seems cheaper & easier to accept polos all year.

Our school is no blazers or ties this week. Dtds are doing gcse mocks, which isn’t ideal.