Mumsnet School Uniform campaign.

[lagoonhaze]

There have been several threads recently which have highlighted the increasing problem where schools have the monopoly on school uniforms by insisting on expensive logo uniform or restricting parents to expensive suppliers.

Last year the Office for fair trading wrote to head teachers but it appears to have been largely ignored.

www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/markets-work/othermarketswork/school-uniforms#.UirSMOpwbIU

There is also no legislation that regulates school uniform only non statutory guidance.

education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/schoolethos/b0014144/schooluniform

I suggest a campaign whether Mumsnetters lobby for fairer school uniform for all and remove the financial burden many parents and carers have every year.

I'd be interested in seeing if there is support for this and whether MNHQ are prepared to put their weight behind this.

BTW I don't have this issue at the moment but I think as its such a growing national problem it something we can all consider a potential problem for all of us at some point in the future.

I will back this campaign and if we can get the petition started I will sign and share.

Uniform should be simple really:
Plain navy blue, grey or black trousers/skirts/pinafore. White or pale coloured polo or normal shirt. Any choice of coloured sweater, cardigan. Ties if wanted. All logos to be either on the school tie or in the form of patches so ideally a pack of 6 patched could last the whole year.
P.E plain dark shorts and light polo top for summer and dark trackies and rugby style shirt for winter.
Shoes sensible dark shoes, no heels or ballet pumps in winter.

How bloody simple would that be eh? All uniform would be available in any supermarket or high street chain and can be tailored to fit in with their school colours. Tesco and Asda etc would make a killing by stocking different coloured polos and jumpers to match the local schools.

Our school is having building work. The builders have sponsored kit for the teams. Nobody in the school needs logo PE kit - many/most in Reception have it but by Y1/Y2 they are wearing plain white t-shirts with their generic navy shorts.

I think that in primary school uniform is a test for parents. It's only really at secondary school that children have much control over what they are wearing (although obviously younger children might prefer a cardigan over a jumper, or the white polo shirt over the blue).

The secondary school we are in catchment for has a relatively sensible uniform - school tie and school jumper, generic shirt and skirt/trousers. No pointless blazer. But I think it's the extras (PE and games kit, etc) that will add up.

Effective i see where you are coming from but the failure to provide a PE kit ....they just didnt know it was needed until id already started. And to demand coloured t shirts when doing PE in a leotard is not that important in the grand scheme of things as long as kids get excesrsise, and then say its parents neglect just demonstrates to me why a campaign and petition like this is needed.

worley i completely agree Thats completely ridiculous and borderline bullying.

I totally support it!

Support this 100%

Thank you meditrina for posting the Citizens Advice campaign link.

Would defo support this.

I would support this campaign. Tbh I hate uniforms. Dd3's primary does not have one. It's lovely.

Dd1 and dd2 have by the standards quoted here a pretty reasonable uniform but the school is obessed by the length of the girls skirts. Dd1 won't now wear a skirt to school because she felt humilated at the end of Yr 9 when in an assembly all the girls were told to stand up and it was checked to see if their skirt touched the top of their knees. Dd1 was told hers was 'borderline'. Of course it bliking was - it was JUNE and she'd grown a bit. At the end of last year we had a letter about girls' trousers not being too tight. A school near us banned skirts altogether because they said the girls were giving the wrong impression. Amongst all the other crap there's plenty of misogyny in uniform policy.

Neither of my dds likes to take their jumpers off at school btw. Why? Because it's impossible to get a white school shirt that doesn't to some degree show you're wearing a bra......

"Amongst all the other crap there's plenty of misogyny in uniform policy."
Northern you are utterly right there.

Every single letter we got home from school banged on about skirt length.

So now a lot if the girls are rebelling by wearing very tight trouses.

No doubt the, almost totally make, SLT will soon be telling us those are wrong too.

I wish they would spend more time teaching and less time worrying about underage girls legs.

I haven't noticed any great moral decline over the summer when most teen girls have been wearing hot pants, shorts and mini skirts.

Calling short skirts (that would be normal weekend dress) inappropriate, sends out all sorts of dodgy messages.

male SLT

In any case the uniform PE skorts are very short indeed.

No on seems to bother you can see miles of leg then

I support this. I do believe in uniform but applied sensibly - DS1's school polo shirts at 2 pounds for 2 look smart and wash better and won't hold back his learning because they lack the school logo!

I meant to add that I prefer uniforms as such, but not the price of a patch of logo!

especially when the garment is shit quality and needs frequent replacing.

we have 6 kids. 4 in school.
a school jumper with logo cost £15, but the elbows and cuffs get ruined really quickly!
I told the kids they have to look after their clothes or they have to wear raggedy jumpers because I'm not spending a fortune on jumpers they ruin within days!

so guess what, raggedy jumpers it is. I have no shame or guilt about this. and I'm not the only one. if thet don't care to lok nice, I don't care either.

in fact I found out last year, the kids in DS3's class encouraged each other on to chew holes in the cuffs so they could put their thumbs through the holes- because that looked awesome.

I was livid. I had just bought him a new jumper

I support this. In the workplace, many places which require a uniform would provide it if it was that specific. Surely it's better to teach children to be smart and well dressed rather than insist they get their clothes from a small number of expensive stores which hold a monopoly?

Just checked my local school's uniform policy for future reference - it's all my worst fears realised!! Specific clothes you can only buy at the school shop, no trousers for the girls and stupid sexist short skirt and knickers for pe - might start the campaign to change it now i think, so I don't have to get into fisticuffs before school even starts...

I thought we had sorted out this bullshit back in the 1990's when we campaigned to wear trousers to school. I hated wearing skirts to school particularly in winter - used to wear two pairs of tights and football shorts under them when it was cold.
I don't have an issue with uniform but it must be fit for purpose and be adjustable to suit local conditions. rather than pseudosuits what about just specifying trouser/skirts/shorts colour and logo'd jumper so that people can do drama/PE/art/Science without being restricted.
What is forcing children to wear ties and blazers in a heatwave or banning them from wearing coats and boots in winter supposed to teach them other than to un-learn how to dress appropriately for the conditions.

Also gender-specific uniform should be as dead as a dinosaur and as much use as PE knickers. Anyting that reinforces gender stereotypes is harmful in my opinion.

Right on GeekLove - I like the idea of being fit for purpose too, it's silly to send kids out in inappropriate gear for the weather.

Like your handle too, geeks rule ok!

Agree totally. I think a basic uniform - no logo on trousers, skirts, shirts, polo shirt, pe kit etc, Schools can ask children to have badges or a logo sweatshirt. I don't mind them looking similar at school but don't think need to be in identical trousers. Or if schools HAVE to then say they can wear x style trousers from Sainsburys, y style from M&S or z style from ASDA.

There is no need for specialist skirts, summer dresses or logo trousers. Schools should also not change their logo more than say once in 5yrs and existing pupils should be able to wear old uniform for up to 2 years.

If either of the schools my DDs go to started banning trousers for girls I'd be taking it through the courts - all the way. And the school would lose. FFS, I can't believe we live in the 21st century in a Western European country and there are still schools like this.

I think we should go back to a basic dress code - schools to specify colours only, allowed to demand smart (i.e. no leggings, skinnies, trousers on boys that show most of their backside, that sort of thing) but beyond that nothing specific. If the school wants badges, these should be offered at cost and no more.

We have a free school near us and the uniform is £megabucks - clearly intended to keep the 'riffraff' out.

I am against uniforms full stop. See arguments above re: other countries surviving perfectly well without. Also I think that school is a time to learn, and learning to dress appropriately yourself is part of that process - so what if a little self-expression is involved.

I do not believe that uniform affect behaviour, and I'm not aware of any evidence of this: though that is used as part of the argument for uniform. I also don't believe spending time enforcing uniform is constructive towards good discipline or behaviour. Instilling respect for the values of your teachers and school is what does this.

As for the argument that uniform is a social equaliser and means the children don't know who is well-off or not - we all know this is rubbish.

From seeing Mumsnet threads recently there seems to be increased evidence of schools using expensive uniform to increase the uptake of well-off families, or indeed using expensive uniform as a way to raise money (school funds receive money from the expensive uniform sales in many cases) - or to somehow infer more general improvements via tightening requirements on uniform.

None of this does pupils and good - and detracts from the real job in hand - education and producing intelligent, responsible adults.

Financially it is crippling people who need that money for actual essentials.

Mumsnet: Please consider taking up this campaign for reasonableness and flexibility in such a major part of our chidlren's lives.

When will we know if anyone at MN is interested in a campaign? I keep looking out but I'm new here so not sure if they only start them at particular points in the year, don't know how it works yet...

Support! Good idea for a campaign. Much needed.

sky news article on uniform costs

this threads gone a little quiet but just read an interesting news article on Sky news about an MP trying to make people aware of the high costs of labeled uniform.