Does anyone else consider the uniform when looking for a school ?

[mummyloveslucy]

It sounds really silly but I have been put off certain schools because of there uniform. Our local one is grey and maroon. I don't like it at all. I love the navy and white. I think that looks really smart and crisp. Is it just me that does this? Don't misunderstand, if it was a fantastic school with an awful uniform then I wouldn't have a problem but when it's two schools that are both about the same, then I'd be going for the nice uniform.

Ah, I resorted to Friends Reunited as well to see if my hunch was correct (which indeed it was).

If I tell you that I spent most of my school career in a prolonged daydream about much older, largely ineligible, men (firstly of the pop star variety, then the real McCoy), that will probably tell you whether you found the right FU profile!

It is nice to re-meet you...

I just cannot get my head round the idea of 5 year olds wearing ties. Or girls of any age wearing ties. WHY? Does it hark back to the days when education was largely for boys and girls had to blend in as much as possible? And all those hideous hats and things that children have to wear. Again - why? Children should wear working clothes to school - something like jeans and sweatshirts.

nice to re-meet you too. I was out with two SHS girls on Saturday - still see quite a few of them every now and then

Well I never! I can't remember when I last saw anyone from school, but there may be geographical reasons for that - lots of them seem to have ended up in London/the SE generally, which is a bit of a hike from where we are. Funnily enough, my parents have ended up living in Curbar, in the same road as another former classmate of ours...

On the uniform topic (again), I do like my son's tie, seeker. He looks smart for, ooh, at least 30 seconds in the morning!

0y dd is at an "outstanding" - according of Ofsted too - and it is without a doubt the "scruffiest" secondary uniform in the town - sweatshirts and trousers - no blazer, no ties. And there is huge schools spirit and sense of commnuity and in the top 100 state schools. As I said, they need working clothes, not smart clothes.

Continental European schools have significantly better results than English ones - and not a uniform in sight!

The school uniforms here in Sydney are still a source of facination to me. Public (State) primaries tend to go for the grimmest colour combinations and put them together in tartan for winter uniform (our local school makes the boys wear bottle green and red tartan ties with red shirts while the girls have tartan pinnys!). Public high school uniform encourages the jail bait look as seen on Aussie soaps. The really upmarket private schools favour the 1950s throwback look complete with boaters, stripy blazers etc.

I didn't even look at the school on our street because of the red/green tartan thing

The uniform is the only thing I don't like about the school we have chosen for DD- it is vile and twee, but the school itself is excellent.

DH pointed out some years ago that the school our DC go to had the worst colour of sweatshirt for DS1 (ie red).

I quipped that nobody would choose a school on that basis. Maybe I was wrong.

(Oh anyway it really suits DS2 so that's OK )

ds's old school uniform was brown! White shirt, brown and gold stripy tie, long brown socks, bermuda shorts, brown blazer, peaked cap (also brown). He also had to have a brown duffle coat and brown shoes which were an absolute nightmare to find. he did look cute though but I didn't choose the school because of the Uniform because it cost an arm and a leg. I tried to find the right school for him.

I'd like to see him in a boater though. Or an Eton uniform.