School wants to change the uniform!

[tinytalker]

I am after some thoughts and advice please.
Our First and Middle school is amalgamating and will now be called a Primary school with just 1 head teacher instead of the previous 2. The name of the school will remain the same but the school management want to change the school logo as previously there were 2 (one for First school and one for the Middle).
No problems so far.
Well on Friday the kids came out of school all excited that they were going to have a whole new school uniform in a completely different colour scheme and that they had been surveyed to ask which colour they preferred.
This is the first that the parents had heard about this and most people I have spoken to are not happy.
The school is 75yrs old and has always had the same uniform, we are proud of our smart colour scheme and 'proper' shirts, ties and jumpers. The school wants to introduce generic sweatshirts in a colour that 4 other schools in the borough have! We are one of only 2 schools that have bottle green and gold colour scheme.
Our PTA has a shed load of second hand uniform which we sell for school funds and to help lower income families. If the uniform changes this will all have to be chucked!
Can the school do this without consulting the parents?
Is there anything we can do about it?

I don't understand why schools seem to think polo shirts and sweat shirts, which are essentially sportswear, go with smart trousers or skirts
My DCS primary school used to have shirts and ties from reception onwards ( tying ties not on elastic).By the end of teh first term they could all tie them (although you could tell when it had been a PE day)
WHAT exactly can you do in a polo shirt that you can't in a shirt???

When there are uniform changes, it is pretty standard to allow children to wear the old uniform or a mixture of old and new for a year or 2. Can you suggest this?

Kreecher you presume wrong; it is a STATE school!
I glad I'm not the only one who thinks sweatshirt and polo shirt are scruffy.
Also out current school logo is a crest which reflects the history of the school; it has meaning. They want to change it to some generic holding hands type logo or a tree bearing fruit! How twee! There is nothing wrong with it.

Ours did this last eyar and 75 years is nothing- 1743 IIRC, although the uniform was slightly different (the orphans had their own for a start, to amrk them out as future service staff, delightful- the attitude remains).

TBH I was pretty annoyed: 4 kids, passing down etc. But the eldest leaves in July and has been able to stick with the old shirt / tie option as he prefers whilst ds2 is much happier in his polo shirt, it HAS to be more comfortable surely?

I think that the threat of change is often worse than the relaity of it, and that most schools have a gradual phase with a handover whree OK smartness goes down a bit but hardly the end of the world. I am not a big fam of tradition without rationale, tbh, anyway.

Oh and I wish we had the options of generics: our sweatshirts cost £13. Nightmare.

I asked my kids whom have been in both polo shirts and ties

school 1 polo and sweatshirts

scool 2 sweat shirts shirts and ties

School 3 blazer shirt and tie

school 4 Shirt tie and Sweatshirt

School 5 no uniform (in Denmark)

school 6 (secondary) shirt and sweatshirt

(I have 4 kids and none of them have gone to all 6 schools)

so

dd1 (school 1 2 3 and 6) says she likes her present uniform the best shirts and sweatshirt but wishes they didnt have to have sweatshirt in the summer)

dd2 (school 1, 2, 4 and 5) prefeered no uniform at all but if pushed she prefeers her current school (shirt tie and sweatshirt)

ds (school 3 and 4) prefeered school 3 shirts ties and blazer says the sweatshirts gets to hot and uncomfortable he likes summer in school 4 (current school) whre they are allowed short sleeved check shirts and no sweatshirt.. (good thing as when he goes to 2ndary he will end up in blazer and tie laughs)

dd3 has only tried school 4 so has no clue about preference.

when asked about the polo shirts they all said they got stiff and itchy and didnt feel very comfortable in the summer

so much for them being better for kids.

Personally I prefeered school 3 with the tie blazer and shirts as I think they looked smart

now as for if the school can do this yes they can but from what I know they have to make it known to parents whom can then object/voice their concerns. My friends childrens school did this and thei intention was to have a summer dress for girls that was a white chest piece and then check for the rest the parents were in uproar (nice with tomato sauce isnt it laughs) and it got changed to just a plain usual check dress.

dd2 will in September (providing we get school of choice but feeder school and only one in catchment area so changes are high) will end up in cardigan shirt and tie so will be a 7th option for us

What's all this rubbish about shirts and ties being uncomfy? I wore them at primary and I can't say I noticed tbh.

One of the local schools here gives children a choice of pastel pink,pastel blue and yellow cardigans/jumpers to wear with grey skirts or pinafores, with pink, blue or yellow dresses in the summer. Whilst it still looks like a uniform, there is enough variety and it still looks smart.

I really don't like polo shirts and jumpers. They always look scruffy after a few washes.

I was at a primary school without a uniform and I don't remember any competition about clothes. Perhaps children are different these days. I'd much prefer a school for my children without uniform, simply because primary school is much too early for such dreary clothes.

Llareggub I don;t think my boys would like that uniform

My aprents amde me wear uniform to a non uniformed school: now THAT was tough.

There was a boy at my school who was always sent to school in uniform, poor chap.

England is not unusual in having uniforms. I have seen school children, inc primary age, in unforms in various countries throughout the world - eother in person or through seeing them visitng other places or through speaking to other people I know. Uniforms are worn in Australia, Japan, Kenya, for example - plus others.