Design & colour of uniform - does it influence your opinion of a school?

[foxtrot]

Just wondering really, especially when choosing a primary school.

no but a shirt and tie help enormously insetad of polo shirt and sweatshirt

No. I chose DD's schoool for lots of other reasons first, although I do like her school uniform (very formal) as it looks very smart.

dh - yes its important
me - ffs, so long as its smart anything will do

Have to say thought that I do prefer a school to have a uniform than not (at all age groups), so I guess in some small way then yes it might influence me - not style or colour, just absence of...but still other aspects of the school would come above that when making a final choice.

Really, jampots? Even when they're too young to tie their own tie?

No, it doesn't influence me. I was initially anti school uniform at primary level, but I've since observed that there are far more important issues to consider.

OK, thought about it some more .... and realised I do actually hold strong views on it. I HATE the white shirt black trousers thing. I know its easiest and cheapest for parents to provide but its so boring.

I do believe that wearing a uniform is important.

Hallgerda - DD has a tie. She is 4. She is learning how to tie it gradually, but until then the class teacher and the FT learning assistant help the girls. There are only 15 girls in the class though - only 1 girl can do it themselves so far - so not too big a job. I do think the tie could be on elastic TBH!

Yes! It took me a while to remember how to tie one again as not done it myself for a long while.

Yes. Might make me shallow, but I believe that what you wear is important, and something like a school uniform that is worn 5 days a week does matter.

The school of my choice was considering changing to long sleeve t-shirt things with a school logo instead of white with tie - I would have seriously considered another school.

The schools that are well thought of round here all have strict and slightly garish coloured uniforms, both secondary and primary (purple and green anybody??) but the students look smart and most of them look proud to be wearing their colours.

As an (ex) teacher I did find uniform important. I really believe it makes a difference, especially at secondary but also at primary to an extent. It is such a contraversial debate (another one, lol!) on MN but I do believe uniform is important.

I also think from a parent's view it makes the mornings so much easier - no argueing over what to wear, just get the uniform on and be done with it.

I just like proper uniforms as it looks smarter. DD's uniform is very formal but all the girls really like to wear it and are proud to wear it. They like to be seen in their uniform and are proud to be part of that school.

If you go to work dressed smart, you get more done. It is all about the mindset of a working environment - I remember mufti days at school were always ones where you concentrated less... the same with "dress down" days in office work - the whole atmosphere shifts somehow.

Wearing a uniform sets a standard of dress, and from that follows on a standard of work and attitudes etc (someone will come on now and say how thir dd/ds has a uniform but school doesn't have high standards). It not the uniform on its own that does it, its the whole school package.

Uniform gives a sense of team / togetherness

Its so much easier than having to decide what to wear each morning!

However, the whole thing only works if the uniform is adhered to by the school. Staff have to be on top of it and pull pupils up on ot wearing it properly, etc.

One thing uniform does is give pupils something to revbel against and rules to bend. When the school works tgogether to make sure it is kept to, with sanctions for not wearing it properly/correctly then the whole overal behaviour thing can work wel.

If small rules are kept to by the school, pupils leave the bigger rule breaking alone - in my experience.

hulababy - agree with the rule breaking. At my school the most daring thing you could do was wear your tie loose and top button of your shirt undone or wrinkle your long socks round your ankles.

Even when you have a uniform that is brightly coloured or patterned, it gives a sense of belonging to a group.

All the local primaries have a uniform, and all but one use polo shirts and sweatshirts. Colour really isn't an issue is it??

I do like uniform, and for primary I prefer polo shirts and sweatshirts. I like how our school allow the Yr 6 pupils to wear a shirt and tie though - and they are really proud to wear the shirt and tie.

Much prefer formal uniform for secondary school, and if the school are sensible about requirements, it doesn't have to be too costly.

I like it because it is a leveller Fio. It reduces the amount of "my trainers are better than yours" playground chat to a manageable level. If the children in question have never seen these alleged Fatface sweatshirts, only heard about them, I can dismiss their existence as pure fantasy.
Wardrobe rage is rife in London, in all types of school, and if they are all obliged to wear a bottle-green tracksuit and look lumpen together, then hurrah for that.

DS1 has a proper tie, whereas DH has a clip-on tie to wear with his uniform, lol.

It only influences my opinion of the school when I don't know anything else about it.

When we move to a new area I spend a couple of days guessing things about schools based on the uniforms I see going past -
girls in boaters, boys in shorts (must be a private prep),
long kilts (convent school),
older kids in sweatshirts (normal local secondary),
7-11s in ties but girls in trousers (sought-after CofE/RC primary)
older kids in blazers (grammar / more ambitious secondary)
7-11s in sweatshirts (normal primary schools)
Scruffy-haired 13+ boys with ties, cricket bags and no coats (private-school boarders going down to the playing fields)

Did some further investigation and most of my assumptions were spot on - the sought-after primary is CofE, and the blazers are a local secondary that'd just got a new headmistress who was shaking things up (and who introduced the blazers).

Interesting MrsBadger..

In my local area, we have the following:

girls in boaters, boys in shorts (must be a private prep - not immediate area, but know the uniform).

older kids in sweatshirts (only one of the local secondaries)

7-11s in ties but girls in trousers (struggling RC primary)

older kids in blazers (all the other secondaries in the area, and an option at the secondary mentioned above)

7-11s in sweatshirts (all the other primary schools)

I agree with Marina that a uniform is a leveller. But I was influenced by uniform in choosing DDs school. I was impressed by the fact that they had done away with boaters and introduced foreign legion type hats (that can be washed!!) for summer. This seemed so eminently sensible to me that I felt the school was probably being run on a fairly pragmatic basis. Of course, there were other factors....!

unknown rebelbang - LOL at your chaps' ties!
It was the colour question that really made me start this thread. We have several good primaries, all different in character - large, small, church, community, and no real problems getting into the school of your choice. But the one school i couldn't even bring myself to look at was the one with grubby looking yellow sweatshirts and bookbags. I feel like i'm being very shallow, as it is a good school, but no way could i deal with that ugly uniform every day.