to think people should dress their children in the correct uniform?

[pigsinmud]

The uniform is blue shirts or polo shirts, grey trousers for boys and navy skirt/pinafore for girls. There is a boy who always wears a white shirt and now his sister has started she is wearing a white polo shirt with a grey skirt?!

I mean does the mother not notice that her children are the only ones in white shirts? All other girls are in navy pinafores apart from her dd. Her dd looks like she goes to a different school as she looks so different to the other girls.

It's getting on my nerves. AIBU?

stewiegriffinsmom... its actually been proven that children who learn to read before the age of 5 find it easier than children over 5

ds wore trainers to school today and not black one eithers nice jazzy ones , but all fits over his afos and will shoot down first parent atr school to judge me on

Hanaboo, bearing in mind the old mantra of 'correlation does not imply causation' is it not possible that it might be, in fact, the case that children who find it easier to learn to read, tend to learn earlier (including before the age of 5)?

Totally agree with SolidGoldBrass. School shouldn't be a conveyor belt - it should be a place for each child to develop him or herself to meet their own individual potential. I'm amazed by how traditional some schools still are - they still seem grounded in Victorian values of children being seen and not heard and learning what They Must Learn.

StweieGriffinsMom, it's different attitude to kids' clothes in the US. Children's Place is great, and Target has some fantastic stuff (some crap too but that's the fun of rummaging). I picked up some gorgeous t-shirts last week for me for $6 each. No-one cares much about the designer labels for kids. It's more about the look than the label, which is refreshing. Although I got some very sweet AnnLoren dresses from Overstock for a whopping $22

I think once you abolish uniform, clothes stop being an issue. As someone said earlier - they're just clothes.

My son doesn't wear those horrible Teflon trouser things - I think they feel awful, the knees don't seem terribly strong, and they are cold in the winter.
He wears other - very smart - trousers in the "proper colors".I have never seen a policy stating what material trousers have to be.

I think that if the school picks kids up for not wearing "proper uniform" then they should start calling in parents who send their children in with last nights dinner down their front

My kids are at school in France.

They don't wear uniform and they don't enforce learning to read until 6.

There's no hope for them.....

I've been looking for blue polo shirts for a 4 year old and blue and white checked dress since school began. I can't find them anywhere locally. I know I had all summer but, frankly, I thought I'd find them in the first shop I pop in. (I have some suitable alternatives.)

'I didn't know about uniform being optional at primary school and I work in one.'

I think it's misleading to say that uniform is optional. I researched this a bit when our school changed its uniform at short notice. Schools can decide whether or not to have a uniform. If they do decide to have a uniform, then they can make ensuring the child wears the uniform part of the home-school agreement. The opting is on the school's part; if you send your child to a school that has a uniform you can't then opt out. On the other hand, there's not much the school can do when children don't wear the uniform. At primary level, they cannot exclude a child or send them home for not wearing the uniform. At secondary level (afaik) they can.

'I didn't know about uniform being optional at primary school and I work in one.'

I think it's misleading to say that uniform is optional. I researched this a bit when our school changed its uniform at short notice. Schools can decide whether or not to have a uniform. If they do decide to have a uniform, then they can make ensuring the child wears the uniform part of the home-school agreement. The opting is on the school's part; if you send your child to a school that has a uniform you can't then opt out. On the other hand, there's not much the school can do when children don't wear the uniform. At primary level, they cannot exclude a child or send them home for not wearing the uniform. At secondary level (afaik) they can.

I would love to see the end of ties being part of school uniform, both primary and secondary.

Oh god don't get me started on the homeschool agreement

Getting small children to SIGN things...???then they get it thrown back in their faces if they miss some homework.

I hate school uniform ...thank fuck my youngest is at college now no more bloody god awful logoed sweatshirts

Purpleduck - Yes, I know. But the point is that in signing up to the home-school agreement, one is entering into a sort of (not very enforceable) contract.

Wow no wonder the world is going to hell in a hand cart when adults think school rules are there to be broken and don't care if their children break the rules, what hope is there for the kids?

MadBad, it always annoys me when people say 'by choosing to send your child to x school'. We don't choose a school in any meaningful sense. Here, we have one school nearby. The next nearest school (6 miles) shares the same headteacher. We could go on to the next furthest school (which would mean a 15 mile round trip each day) - they are if anything more strict than dd's school in terms of uniform, religion etc. In what sense is this a choice?
Clearly, those who live in towns have a theoretical choice of more schools, though from the people I know it often seems to be the case that - if you are lucky - you get a place in a school that you don't dislike too much, rather than choosing the school that you would like your child to go to.
And yes, of course, we could in theory take our children out and homeschool (getting loads of grief from the council in the process) - but there are lots of reasons why I don't want to do that, because I do in general think that school is a good thing for children.

Primary schools, IME, tend to have a long list of what the uniform "is", then a disclaimer to say that it is not compulsory.

This is because if they declare the uniform compulsory, parents with low incomes would be able to claim for free school uniform for their DCs.

It's a get-out clause, essentially.

No wonder the world is going to hell in a hand cart when people blindly set and follow rules that have little or no reason or thought behind them or the rule has outlived whatever reason there once was

I'm with CarmenSD - I've always felt that stupid rules teach children that rules are stupid - which means that they will then be more likely to break really important ones that are there for everyone's safety.
Luckily for us, our school takes what seems to me a sensible line on uniform - its there, its not compulsory, most children above reception age wear some form of uniform most of the time. They do ask that they all wear the school jumper when out on a trip, which makes perfect sense, as of course it helps those in charge identify 'their' children. AFAIK everyone complies with this.

God, I love uniform - it is cheap (school second hand shop for most stuff) and I do not have to debate with my nr 10 yr old what may be suitable, I'd never get there on time!

Having said that...DS has been in trainers this week (not allowed) as his new splints have hurt his ankles so he cannot tolerate them or his corrective boots also it is a struggle to get school trousers to fit his skinny waist and over a nappy.

After half term they can wear trousers rather than shorts, am considering keeping him in shorts as sticking plasters are cheaper than new trews.