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Original poster

I'm 'against' school uniform is anyone else??

206 replies

zazas · 06/02/2006 13:41

Recently at my DD and DS primary school the majority of parents voted to introduce a uniform. Unfortunately I am in the minority! Is there anyone else who feels strongly about this subject.....I don't want to loose perspective but I really don't want my children wearing a school uniform! Give me your views please.

OP posts:
Blandmum · 06/02/2006 17:19

I'm going to parp myself

It helps to stop kids being competative re designer stuff

It stops 'gangs' being more obvious and troublesome

It stops kids wearing very unsuitable clothing.....sexaualy provocative or racist

It means that I don't have to spend half my life arguing with a stroppy teenager what 'smart casual' actualy means and it don't mean a black bra under a skin tight white top with the buttons undone

It helps with behaviour.....trut me on this one, tighten up uniform and they behave better

It makes it easier to get kids ready for school in the morning

It isntils a sence of pride in the school community

Hulababy · 06/02/2006 17:22

That is what I was trying to say in the second sentence of my last post MI.

BTW - shoud be there not their! Ooops

crunchie · 06/02/2006 17:23

I didn't have uniform at primary school, but fashion for kids 25 years ago wasn't an issue. It is now though! I am pleased dd's have uniform it means that I can spend that little bit more n clothes for out of school as they won't get wrecked When they didn't have uniforms dd2 would insist on a party dress EVERY day of the week, at her pre-school the other mums hated me as DD created a trend (when she was 4) I allowed her to wear party dresses as we had 2 or 3 nice velvet ones that washed and tumbled really well. But now she is in uniform I find it easier.

I can see the point about bright colours, I can also see the point about suppressing individuality, but I still like it

Skribble · 06/02/2006 17:24

First names for teachers? No way, its a respect thing.

Hulababy · 06/02/2006 17:28

The suprising individuality is something I never saw TBH. The shcool I last worked at had a uniform, albeit not that strictly kept as it should be IMO, and believe me - the kids there had NO problem at all of expressing themselves and their individuality. LOL! None at all!!!

littlemissbossy · 06/02/2006 17:32

Another vote for uniform here too - everyone else is the same/less competitiveness, stops them wearing out their decent stuff, they look smart and they can be easily identified i.e. on school trips. I don't understand why you would question it really?

Blandmum · 06/02/2006 17:42

Hulababy, how very, very true!!!

And seriously the dress this can be a real issue when some girls become later teens.

I used to have to deal with a young woman of 15 who's dress would have shamed a working girl. The black bra and a skin tight white blouse undon deep in to the cleavage with a micro mini was her norm.

She was dresseing to be sexualy provocatibve and atract the opposite sex......trust me she was good at it! And trust me, you really don't need that in a classroom of raging hormones. It was aldo deeply difficult for male members of staff to deal with. And that was with a uniform. God knows what she would have worn giver a free choice.

If you have ever had dealing s with teen agers you quickly realise that you cannot debate the issue with them....they cab and will argue the minutae for hours, 'It is Office wear miss' 'This isn't and offensicve tee shirt' You'd never get to teach anything!

mixed · 06/02/2006 17:55

in a hurry, but HATE uniforms, and all my friends/family from my country on the continent feel sorry for my children, or feel it is just one of those weird UK things.

PeachyClair · 06/02/2006 18:04

No I don't like them on ittle ones, and as for the iea of all looking equal... well you can clearly tell our Asda specials from the M &S replaced every half term crowd.

On older ones they're fine, but littleys need a chance to develop before we go and suppress it all.

VColour codes like my sisters used to have at school are OK- anything in red, black, grey or white.

Original poster
zazas · 06/02/2006 18:05

I think that uniform at primary and at secondary have different issues attached to them. Although agree with earlier posters it ain't no leveling ground wearing a uniform - at my secondary school there were always 'cooler' (and more expensive) regulation shoes to be worn and certain ways of wearing things that sent loud signals about who was 'cool' and who was not. Then there were also the unfortunate few (me included) whose parents forgot when the day was to change from summer to winter uniform or visa versa or didn't buy the uniform in time and it had sold out or made the child wear the blazar so big so that it would last or kept them in the younger version of the uniform even if they have moved up a class until they could afford the older style kit!

So if my kids have to wear a uniform - what do you all suggest, what works and what doesn't? Is it better for the school to be strick or just provide a general guideline to what is acceptable?

OP posts:
spacedonkey · 06/02/2006 18:15

I'm anti-uniform too zazas

GDG · 06/02/2006 18:17

I loved wearing uniform at primary and secondary. I felt smart, I felt proud of my school and I felt a sense of belonging.

Ds's is grey with blue and yellow tie and blue and yellow stripe around the v of the jumper - sounds like some of you think that's drab but I think they look very smart and very lovely in it. In the summer they wear a bright yellow polo shirt with the grey shorts so hardly drab.

It means mine can have nicer and more expensive clothes for out of school because they don't get covered in paint and food and they don't get worn as often.

What is it with this individuality malarky - I think most people can pretty easily recognise the individuality of the children even if they are wearing a uniform.

And as for first names for teachers - no way, I'm not into that at all.

Spidermama · 06/02/2006 18:27

'individuality malarky' GDG?

Would you be as forthright in quelling individuality in children in any other setting?

Martianbishop, I had a feeling you and I wouldn't see eye to eye on this thread.

I do take your point about sexually provocative clothing amongst secondary school pupils but my objections are about primary school pupils being forced into dress codes. It's plain weird and wrong.

singersgirl · 06/02/2006 18:38

I like school uniform for all the reasons of practicality etc given before and more eloquently. When I was at primary school I longed for a uniform (mind you, I wanted homework too - my primary school wasn't nearly Jennings enough for me).

Lucky that both DSs look lovely in royal blue! But it is a shame that they spend so much of their lives wearing it.

harpsichordcarrier · 06/02/2006 18:41

MI - "And frankly nobody could be proud of grey polyester."

Skribble · 06/02/2006 18:42

Its not like my kids are crying and sodding to be allowed to wear jeans or something they are quite happy and proud to wear their uniforms.

Perhaps I should go to work in whatever I fancy?

Original poster
zazas · 06/02/2006 18:42

I don't quite understand the expensive / good clothing can then be saved for the weekend bit. That is when my kids 'dress down' - old and comfortable clothes for getting dirty outside or mucking about inside (actually they spend most of their time in fancy dress or various stages of undress come to think of it.) If mine were in uniform and old clothes at the weekend it would be one good outfit a year if that - except for school holidays and then they will have to have new clothes to attend out of school club. It seems easier to me just to have 'their' clothes and as they are worn out at school they become their old clothes. Still not convinced about primary kids in uniform

OP posts:
Skribble · 06/02/2006 18:43

That was supposed to be sobbing .

Blandmum · 06/02/2006 18:44

Spidermama.

In all honesty, and any mother of a teenager will back me up on this, teenagers will argue ad nausiam the tiniest aspect of a 'rule'

Don't chew gum, 'I'm not miss' yes you are, I can see it, 'I've just swallowed it' I can still see it ' I've swallowed it now' no you havent, spit it in the bin, 'In the bin, spitting is bad miss' in the bin please, 'Why'

Repeast on and on and on.

Try doing that with 30 and not wanting to love the small of napalm in the morning! ?

I couldn't teach if I had to argue the toss with them every day. You just can't run a school like a family. You have to have good, clear, obviously delined rules or it becomes untenable

spacedonkey · 06/02/2006 18:47

lol MB, that's so true

Skribble · 06/02/2006 18:47

What has it got to do with individuality anyway at primary level, I chosse most of my kids clothes so it would really be my individuality I was expressing not my children expressing theirs. I am not interested in showing off my latest purchase from next/ gap/ boden or where ever.

twirlaround · 06/02/2006 18:55

Can see that there are some advantages of uniform but I hate it and am thrilled that the schools in my area don't have it!

I find it cheering to see kids in bright colours, not in pinstripe grey mini adult office uniform. Kids can choose clothes they are comfy in, and it is true that uniforms are usually made from nasty sweaty synthetic fibre.

Kids at my daughter's primary school are NOT competitive about clothes and it is not a fashion parade. Anyone who wants their child in uniform style clothes is free to choose it and there is an optional uniform sweatshirt. Hardly anyone chooses to wear it.

So I am in the no school uniform fan club. Big time. One of my favourite gripes is how hard it is to buy shoes which are NOT black or navy. I find it a crime to buy shoes in these colours for small children. Even more of a crime to dress kids in dull colours. So H&M's brightest colours and wackiest prints are my dd's school clothes!

frogs · 06/02/2006 18:56

But surely you wouldn't send a child to school wearing their nice clothes anyway?

Dd2 (24 months) has just started nursery, and I've learnt the hard way that her nursery, lovely though they are in every other way, are spectacularly useless at getting the kids to wear overalls for all the wonderful art activities they do. So we now have a self-imposed uniform for dd2 on nursery days, which consists of one of half a dozen pairs of ageing dungarees and a selection of rather tatty tops.

She too now has lots of lovely clothes in her drawer that never get worn, and she's not starting school till 2008!

Tortington · 06/02/2006 19:01

am easy manageable scfhool uniform.

no ties for little boys, no button shirts or anything fancy. just a polo top pants and a jumper - in junior and infant school

i am whole hearedly FOR school uniforms. can you imagine the designer warfare in playgrounds accross the country? the debt people will go into to save their children from bog washing and bullying, the debt people will go into becuase little princess needs shoes costing £180

i honestly could not handle the financial pressure of sending my three children to school without a uniform.

and stop them from looking like thugs or slags - without being bogwashed....and thats just in junior school

Spidermama · 06/02/2006 19:01

frogs ... I regard all my childrens' clothes as 'nice'. (except the school uniforms).
This doesn't mean they are all new or posh. They and I have taken care choosing them to suit their needs and to express their personalities.

Come on now, how many of you would be happy to wear uniform if your work suddenly decided to adopt a compulsory dress code?