Ridiculous School Rules - Coats

[DeadBetty]

Children are not allowed to wear coats in the playground at my daughter's school. The reason given is that it would cause confrontation when teachers asked them to remove their coats inside the buildings.
They have one cloakroom which holds around 50 coats and is locked during the school day. There are 1500 children. They are not allowed to carry their coats around the school within view, coats must be kept in a bag. This means that children are reluctant to wear coats at all. Unaware of these rules, I made my daughter wear her coat to school during the coldest winter/spring that I have ever seen. She was told to remove it by a teacher in a large, warm coat.
On the school's website "a sensible coat, preferably of a dark colour" is on the school uniform list.

I am hoping for a review of these ridiculous rules and would appreciate any advice as to how to go about it.

I would go to the Governors and if you have a parent action team ask them to look into this.

Write a polite letter to the governors and head teacher stating your concerns andthat you do not feel a ban on wearing coats is sensible or good for the children.. Add (again politely) that if you do not receive a written response within 7/14 days you will contact your MP and the local paper to ensure that local parents are made aware of this important welfare issue as they are failing to ensure adequate duty of care to the children. I suspect you will receive a response within the seven days....
There will be an approved complaints procedure for the school, ask the office for a copy and then follow it. Good luck!

OP has a teenager who will wear a coat?

What lljkk said

Seriously though ? I'd check with H of Year or whoever your first point of contact would normally be, before you go straight to governors. Sounds like the sort of thing that can usually be sorted without too much difficulty.

I assume this is a secondary school and would say that its a fairly standard rule . Children that age don't wear coats and if they do its only because their mum has made them ,give her a scarf and a small umbrella ,that's the norm around here.

My teen has a small waterproof he can smush into his bag, it does the job (20 minute walk).

The children would love to be able to wear coats when it's -2 outside and snowing. they are being told to remove them. I'm not talking about a 20 minute walk to school, it's about break time, which is an hour of standing around. There is inadequate provision inside, with only one classroom per 200 children open for breaktimes.

This sounds bonkers. I have never heard of a secondary school that does not allow children to wear coats, while specifying them in the uniform list. Umm, no wonder teachers are overworked if they are enforcing gibberish.

Most teens don't wear coats, yes, but that has nothing to do with a rule saying no-one can. Many teens also go to bed too late, don't wash up enough, are sometimes rude to their parents, but we don't insist on those delightful traits .

It sounds so bonkers I wonder about crossed wires. If your dd is young enough for this to be plausible I would start off using the old chestnut "My dd claims this is the school rule but as that cannot be the case/contravenes H and S advice/is idiotic, I wonder if you could clarify the position and send me the relevant written policy". I have used this to good effect - either a genuine misunderstanding has been resolved, or something that has just not been thought through or was a mistake is quietly dropped with no egg on faces.

Sounds ridiculous to me OP.

Teens don't wear coats, what?? My dd wears a coat when it's cold and so do her friends as far as I know.

I know it's not the point OP, but are there no lunchtime clubs? They're really all standing around for an hour outside?

I too have never come across a secondary school that makes the pupils stand around outside for an hour - a) because most don't get that long for lunch, and b) because they don't have to 'stand around outside' at any of the schools I've had dealings with.
I'd certainly use tiredaftertwo's suggestion / wording.... it's my usual approach when something just sounds wrong.

@tiredaftertwo It's definitately not crossed wires. It took 3 emails of the ilk you suggested to get the head of year to admit that no coats in the playground is the rule! Have decided to leave the issue for a while as had little interest from other parents. Waiting for the Autumn! lol

If there was enough indoor provision I wouldn't be complaining.