HEATWAVE & UNIFORMS - Should they be made to wear it all?

[MumofSilver]

My DS has just informed me that he has been instructed he 'might' be allowed to take off his blazer in the heat wave whilst in class. But their ties must be kept on at all times and blazers worn for transit between classes.....

Having lived in a hot climate, schools had air con classrooms & kids were in shorts and t-shirts; office workers open necked shirts etc. Team that with they are used to the heat and we in the UK are not.

I'm all for a good school image, upholding standards etc, but surely child welfare, comfort and common sense should prevail here rather than that? Surely the schools should be allowing them to remove ties & blazers? Thoughts anybody?

Beyond stupid . Makes you question the intelligence of whoever comes up with these notions, which is not something I would want to do with regard to the staff at my child's school. I wonder how many adults have been wearing tights in this heat?

It says something when the school uniform policy of a private school in the 70s and 80s are more enlightened than state schools in 2015.

I still remember all the fainting and the vomiting and the tears at both primary and secondary school when kids just got too hot. and that was back in the day where jumpers could be taken off or not even worn at all. no logo crap

I wonder if say prisoners would be forced to wear jackets in really hot weather or if that would be a breach of human rights

Indeed!
My on DC are at what people always assume is a snooty public school.
In fact they only have to wear blazers for special assemblies, photos, showing visitors round etc - don't wear ties in the summer term, and all the uniform apart from tie and blazer available from anywhere - I buy ours form Asda. Seems like state schools have far more stringent rules.

I think people get so caught up in school rules they don't stop and think about how ridiculous they actually are.

I swear half of MN would send their kids in Eskimo outfits in heat waves if that's what school uniform rules stated.

It's almost as if children stop being seen as human beings and become merely vessels to prove how saintly the parents are for supporting the schools all the way and to prove ridiculous pints about kids not learning to follow rules ready fir employment.

no one seems to stop and think about how these still young children are being forced to feel uncomfortable or itchy in the name of education.

This rule I can assure you would bring my dd nothing but misery. She would be too busy bleeding to be focusing on her work. It would build resentment not "character"

I think some of the academies and free schools are desperate to emulate Eton or whatever when it comes to uniform, there's a primary free school near us that has 4 yos in ties, which not even the top private schools nearby do.

Yes I've certainly noticed it's very common amongst schools not doing so well to suddenly re design a uniform and become ridiculously rigid with it.

maybe if they unworried about the uniform less...

worried.

Agree with you giles I think that some schools think that by insisting on rigid uniform rules to the nth degree then somehow, by osmosis, the pupils will magically start getting better GCSE results.

Or, the schools hope to distract parents from the relatively poor exam results by going 'Yes, we know the GCSE pass rate is grim but ta-dah all our children have to wear full polyester body suits and balaclavas in the school colours, which makes it all alright.'

I can see why schools that are trying to improve bring in strict new uniform codes. It's one less thing for people to sneer at if they can't say "Have you seen the state of them? They look such a mess!" etc. Rightly or wrongly, people do judge the appearance of school kids as well as the behaviour. If a school is successful, popular, oversubscribed, then they don't need to worry so much about attracting customers.

And obviously they are trying to improve academic results alongside this. The ones local to me are anyway. Often they've got bigger challenges to deal with than more academic schools.