Should the government introduce a scheme to help families afford school uniform?

[Darcey123]

A government e-petition has been set up which, if successful would help ease the burden on parents of buying school uniform but what are your views? Read all about it here: epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/65790

I think dress code would be a good compromise. I thought that s smiliar to most primary schools and six forms. Children are allowed to wear what ever style as long as their cloths are in certain colours may be just wear a badge or ID. So we know the right children belong to the right school.

So why yr7 to yr11 are do different?

I don't believe there is any relationship at all between uniforms and discipline. Sure, expect pupils to dress appropriately for institutional/official life; but most uniforms are hideous and an incentive for some form of rebellion against the authority that imposes such hideousness. Civilised, respectful behavior is a two-way process, not a top-down one.

I just think some people on this thread do not have teenagers. They may have missed the fact that for the last few seasons girls have been very into "short shorts" and no doubt would be wearing these on a day-to-day basis were there no school uniform. They may also not be aware that for some kids trainers are a religion. It's all very well saying, "Oh, children should be more mature and rise above the silliness of peer pressure" - but try telling your teen that they must be content with an Asda jumper and trousers when all the other kids are sporting Hollister (or whatever).

Interestingly I have seen that in Italy an increasing number of schools are introducing English-style logoed sweatshirts.

School dress codes deal very efficiently with short shorts. No uniform doesn't mean anything goes.

There should be a cap on what schools can require in terms of uniform cost. My DSS's new blazer cost over £70! £70!!!! There is actually a scheme here to help families, but the maximum grant is something like £30.

Again, it's foolish to make assumptions that people who are against uniform don't have teenagers.

The 6th formers at my local schools, who are allowed to wear their own clothes. You never see any skirts so short you can see their pants or shorts that expose arse cheeks. What you see is a lot of jeans and tshirts.

The 6th formers at DD's school don't wear uniform, but they do have a dress code - basically what is expected to be worn in an office.

I prefer uniforms as long as they are not excessively expensive. Gov should ban expensive uniform, they should ban schools charging silly money for a £1.50 logo embroidered on a cheap polo. School do this for extra funds, this should be stopped.

Parents could then clothe their own dc, including uniform.

Simple Uniforms or dress code however blazers and ties should go. They are impractical and outdated.

I have three teenagers and I am totally against school uniform. Through the years at school you can teach students to wear clothes appropriate to the school day.

I dont agree with insisting on office type wear for secondary school. Actually look at what students are doing. They are moving from classroom to classroom. They will be doing PE so needing to get changed quickly. They will be doing art/science/drama which will may be messy or require that students can move around a lot. Students may well be walking to and from school.

Jeans, tee shirt, trainers would probably be about perfect.

lainie darling, I have a teenager and a nearly-teenager. Don't make silly assumptions.

Holland had a short shorts epidemic a few years ago. Schools dealt with it. No uniforms required, just a bit of common sense.

pointy don't patronise with your 'darling'- it's not helpful and indicates a certain attitude which does not lend itself to educated debate.

P.S for the record, in state schools where locker are at a premium and often miles away, actually, a blazer is actually quite a useful storage device.

Loved mine!

Sorry, Tansie but when the pro-uniform brigade starts trotting out the 'oh, you probably don't have teenagers' platitude, one good attitude really does deserve another.

I haven't heard a single valid argument in favour of uniform on Mumsnet or anywhere else, ever, nor a reason why people think UK children are so incapable of coping without it.

This argument: but try telling your teen that they must be content with an Asda jumper and trousers when all the other kids are sporting Hollister (or whatever). just cuts no ice with me whatsoever. We are the parents, our house, our rules. Teenagers need to learn what things cost and what their household can and cannot afford. Again, parents in the rest of Europe seem to manage this perfectly well.

In favour of uniform:
•Cost
A supermarket sourced uniform is cheaper than regular clothes and children need fewer clothes if they're wearing one outfit 5 days a week.
•Practicality
Maybe because we don't have a culture of going to school in non uniform clothes, UK kids often look inappropriately dressed for the weather and for activities. Uniform gets round this.
•Anxiety reducing.
DD doesn't have a uniform. The stress around dressing for school is awful.
There are problems too. I hate hate hate the dark coats, in the winter it's incredibly dangerous. And any state school that stipulates expensive uniform is selecting on parental income and should be called on it.

pointy maybe the fact that this debate has distilled down to a very few people arguing the pros of non-uniform might tell you that most of us really feel there are far bigger issues in life other than whether our children wear more or less the same thing to school on a daily basis- Is it actually worth the argument?

Some will argue about Europe', like every European state has the same outlook to the British, which they patently do not. It is naive to assume they do. You might need to do some more research. The reasons why and how some but by no means all Europeans score more highly on the debatable and disputed PISA scale absolutely cannot be attributed to uniform/non-uniform. The other factors in the debate are far more complex than blazer'n'badge; Holister v. Asda can address.

The Adsa/Holister might cut no ice with you but guess what? It's a debate in my household over which no ice need be disturbed. I have bigger fish to fry.

I dont think that anyone has ever claimed that non-uniform improves educational results. What has been said many times is that there is no no evidence of a relationship between school uniform and educational results.

Come and see the thread running on AIBU to see that the pro-uniform brigade aren't as big a majority as they would like to think...

And yes, the British have a different outlook to the rest of Europe. They crave conformity. Why does anyone think this is a good thing?

Note that I did not mention that all European countries which do not have uniform do better than the UK in terms of education - all I said was that they do not do worse and that they do not have enormous issues around discipline, behaviour and bullying compared to the UK. You argue that non-uniform has no benefits - maybe, but neither does uniform, both systems can work well.

I don't have the brand name debate in our household either, by the way. It is a non-issue because I also have bigger fish to fry.

At least we agree that uniform should be sensible and affordable - so let's do something about making our government legislate in that direction; we clearly cannot trust far too many schools to manage this themselves.

Lastly, I really have to take issue with this statement from a PP:
Maybe because we don't have a culture of going to school in non uniform clothes, UK kids often look inappropriately dressed for the weather and for activities. Uniform gets round this.

No, it does not. DD1's school does not allow sensible outdoor footwear in winter, it insists on 'school shoes'. Uniform offers no protection at all against some of the harsh winters we have had recently. Let's hope we're in for a good long spell of damp squib winters so that we have time to make schools see sense about this and many other uniform-related issues.

Sort of off topic but the reason everyone thinks kids would get bullied etc because of their clothes if there was no uniform is because there is such a hype around no uniform days atm. If it was non uniform every day half of them would just come in in jogging bottoms and more casual clothes because it would just be 'normal'

fluffy - yep. Absolutely.

My school provides £40 of free uniform each year for families in receipt of Pupil Premium/Free school meals. This has been received very positively by all concerned.

If uniforms are essential then they should be given out to pupils free of charge. We don't buy uniforms to go to work. The idea is that the kids only wear these sets of clothes specially for school nothing else.

It's crazy to spend taxpayers' money on uniform. Talk about non-essential spending....