Following on from the 'I'm against school uniform' thread . . .

[JonesTheSteam]

... does your primary school have a school uniform and if so, is it compulsory?

Was always under the impression that at state primary school, uniform cannot be enforced (due to uniform grants only being given once children go to secondary school).

At the school my DD goes to, all the children wear uniform.

At the primary school I taught in, less than 25% of the children wore uniform. Nothing was ever said.

Is this the case elsewhere?

I don't think it is compulsory. Even where there are shirts/jumpers with logos, plain alternatives are acceptable. You could, if you wanted, send your child in their own clothes, but I think they wouldn't like it themselves.

All the children wear the uniform at ds1 and dd's school. It is available from the uniform shop with school logos etc, but can also be bought off the peg as it were without the logo and is much cheaper. Also, they don't have to wear school polos - can wear plain white ones or plain ones in school colours which are available in lots of high street shops and cost a fraction of what the uniform shop charge.

As far as I am aware it is compulsory to wear the uniform at ds's state primary. I haven't read anywhere that there is an option not to. Everybody wears it anyway.

At my kids primary it is encouraged and the school sell logo jumpers, fleece jackets and polo tops at a reasonable price. But many parents also buy non logo stuf as well. My kids have the jumpers.

The school would never refuse to teach a child not wearing uniform, I think it is a good idea to have a uniform as it saves us thinking about what they are wearing each day and cuts out the worry about your clothes being cool or the in thing.

With the prices in the likes of Tesco and Asda it is cheaper to kit out kids in school uniform than it is to buy jeans and tops.

ds 's school says that uniform wearing is 'encouraged and expected', so kind of a way of saying not compulsory but ....

It's the same with our school. It's encouraged and expected.

I'm sorry to have missed a school uniform thread. I love those. I was just fuming more this morning about the drawers full of beautiful clothes my children have which rarely see the light of day because they're forced into grey and bottle green teflon horrors.

It is not compulsory to wear a uniform at DDs school but it is encouraged. However all the pupils do wear the uniform.

One of the reasons I like my ds's school is the absence of uniform. I'd need five sets of the bloody thing for a start or to do a hell of a lot more washing!

Mine are expected to wear it "although its not cumpulsary" questions are asked if they don't iyswim. Quite honestly it is plain and practial and stopes competition over who wears what so i don't mind. Althouh i bought the logo sweatshirts from the uniform shop 9as they last better than the high street alternatives, all the other stuff is from the high street.

there is uniform, I thought it was compulsory. But not very strictly enforced.
There is a girl, about age 10, who regularly wears very bright stripey tights... they clash wildly with her grey pinafores. I know the school gives the child grief about it but I thought the mother was just being shirty, didn't realise the school might be out of order!

Agree with what Spidermama said about the lovely clothes stuck in drawers that the kids rarely get to wear, but still think I slightly prefer uniforms.

The school I taught in had the same thing in its prospectus - school uniform is encouraged.

I was always amazed at the fact that so few children wore the uniform. It was in quite a deprived town, but was one of the 'better' schools in the area (lowest no. of free school meals etc.) so I don't know whether that had something to do with it. But the kids who didn't wear the uniform always wore branded stuff - like adidas, umbro, kappa etc.

The younger the children were, the more likely they were to wear to wear the uniform. By the time they reached Y6, you would only get one or two of them wearing it. It was as if the parents couldn't be bothered forking out for sweatshirts for another year!!

Our head took the approach that as it wasn't compulsory and he couldn't enforce it, nothing was ever said.

Throw your opinion in here, spidermama .

DD usually wears mathing red tights but sometimes wears pink or flowery, what ever is clean really.

Don't see the need for five sets!! DS has 3 jumpers and 2/3 trousers and a couple of polo tops, sometimes the trousers and jumpers last 3 days sometimes half a day . In the winter the polo tops hardly see the light of day and might be worn all week, come the summer i will get him more as the will only be on for 1/2 days.

In the last town the charity shop was good for picking up school blazers and jumpers, the village we are in now doesn't have a charity shop though. DD does well as she gets all DS's jumpers and has about 6 on the go, shame she can't wear his trousers. Why not set up a uniform exchange at school?

mszebra thanks. I've had my say now.

My ds's uniform wouldn't last more than one day - ever!

I don't understand the problem with washing. My children's uniforms are the easiest thing to wash and if I tumble dry them, they don't need ironing. If one of them makes a mess with their yogurt at school, I can easily wash them overnight. I think school uniform is great - but I have reservations about busty 14 year olds wearing ties. Round here the girls wear open necked shirts with a v neck sweat shirt in secondary school with a straight pencil skirt. There is no blazer and it looks very smart. I get tired of seeing my children in jeans day after day.

DD starts prep school in September and will have a strict uniiform, which is compulsory.

my kids wear a school uniform, I think its great, no stressing in the morning about what they are going to wear and it cleans really easily. Also you can get a grant for primary school kids, for when they first start, in reception or year one.

well jennypog, I only get a load full in the washing machine about once a week, so need more then 2/3 pairs of stuff.
Also agree with Aloha and spidermama!!!!

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JonesTheSteam - I think that you are right - uniform is not compulsory at primary level. So when they introduce it at my children's school - I guess they will have to make that known. Having said that as the children mostly don't want it, I guess the parents won't want the children to be made aware of that! Mine won't be wearing it. No doubt it will be a general uniform of polyester blues and greys with the existing multicoloured sweatshirts.They will still stand out less in their own clothes than when they eat passionfruit and tamarillos from their lunchboxes - plenty of comments about that which doesn't bother then!

Yes and yes but it is a private school.

Uniform is very strict, summer knickers are plain white, winter knickers are dark green etc. DD's love it!