Uniforms

[Haberdashery]

I'm curious to know what others think of uniforms for primary school children. Does it make your life easier? Do your children like wearing a uniform? Is there a downside? Has it proved expensive for you? And how strictly is your school uniform enforced? Or do your children attend a school without a uniform?

The reason I ask is that our local school which has always been non-uniform is thinking of introducing one and I am quite against it (it's one of the reasons I picked this school).

It seems to me that lots of countries get by fine without uniforms and there doesn't seem to be any sensible evidence that they improve academic outcomes (which I think may be where the school is coming from). I also think that it's nice for children to wear their own comfortable and colourful clothes at school.

But I'm interested to hear from other parents as I've never had a child at a school with a uniform so I don't know what the reality of it is like.

I dont mind uniforms but I do not like polo shirts I MUCH prefeer shirt ties and blazers and I have tried a multitude of different set ups I think polo shirts inevitibilly ends up looking scruffy and messy.

My DS is a rule freak and loves his uniform, he wears it even on non-uniform days! DD doesn't mind it either, though she loves non-uniform days. It's cheap, I buy far fewer clothes for them now they are at school, just for weekends and holidays, comfortable, doesn't need ironing (at least I have convinced myself it doesn't) and as long as I remember to do a white wash and count the correct number of white polo shirts, vests and girls white socks into the machine every Saturday morning, all is well. The rest of it gets washed along with everything else and we rarely run short. Luckily DS, despite being extremely active, does not seem to be a trouser hole wearing sort of boy, nor does he scuff his shoes. DD's stuff on the other hand is usually filthy as she prefers to spend her days in the sand pit or rolling down the muddy hill. I use lots of laundry bleach and remind myself that it is slowly improving and she is not a messy as she used to be when she was 3 or 4.

Lonnie, quite by accident, intact due to an accident, DD2 has converted many of the girls at her school to blouses.
She broke her arm and had a cast over her elbow. She couldn't get into a polo-shirt.
I bought a pack of very cheap Sainsbury's blouses.
Turned out they looked smart and stayed white. Never gone back to poloshirts.

But I don't iron them

I hate school uniform

I didn't have a uniform at school until I was 13 (in the 70's) and I hated it. All the really popular girls would be wearing expensive and fashionable clothes that we couldn't afford and I felt so out of place. Shoes were a real problem as my Mum insisted on well fitting sensible shoes whilst the others were in platforms etc. All my DC's have gone to strict uniform schools. My daughter,in particular, says it made life so much easier for her as there was no silly competitions over clothes.

Love uniform. It's cheap, easy to find, lightweight and comfy.

Washes reasonably well and means you don't need to buy as many 'ordinary' clothes.

DS's school were flexible in the first few weeks of reception as children got used to school, and stayed flexible for the very very tiny boy in the year who would no way have been able to get standard uniform small enough. He just wore the 'right colours'.

I would rather have spent my money on ordinary clothes than school uniforms

I don't feel very strongly about it either way, but as I have two dds....on the whole, I'm grateful for uniform. Easy, no agonizing over choice every morning, and doesn't need much ironing if any.

Also glad there is no competition over clothes - though not sure how much there would be, as not had the chance to compare.

I love uniforms, dds have always worn them, in primary school and in nursery school, just supermarket trousers/skirts and poloshirts, school have sweatshirts. I always wore a uniform to school too, everyone knows what they are wearing the night before. It also saves on ordinary clothes as well, much less wear and tear if they only wear them for a few hours after school and at the weekend.

They also seem to keep their uniforms cleaner than normal clothes.

Yes, and I've discovered you can wipe porridge off a school pinafore in 2 seconds without any stain or mark whatsoever

Haha, Elibean, that does sound like a plus point! Porridge is the most awful stuff to wipe off clothes neatly.

Uniforms make life easier. So long as they are sensibly chosen, they are comfortable, easy to keep clean, cheap and reduce arguments and competitiveness. What's not to like?

Haberdashery the world has changed - I'm sure when all of us were kids there were no issues with fashion conscious children - I too went to a non-uniform secondary school (but mine was definitely not selective or private!) and looking back at the class photos we were the "saddest" bunch - completely lacking in any fashion sense, happy to wear anything. But look around you know - the little girls are forced towards fashion from a very young age and it really does start to become an issue.

I love school uniform now. It makes life so much easier! I also favour the stricter uniform - shirts and ties (but not silly hats...). I wouldn't have thought this before the kids went to school, but I've found that they love uniform - they take pride in it. They moved from a t-shirt / sweatshirt school to a shirt and tie school and DS went from the child who'd always lost his jumper, everything hanging out to the smartest at the end of everyday. He wants to look good and he has a uniform he feels he can be proud of, rather than looking scruffy.

I also totally disagree with the idea that you can't express individuality in a uniform - frankly if you have to have your own clothes to express yourself it doesn't say much for your personality...

Uniform is a brilliant leveller. Looking at it from a 'school' point of view, because of the type of school we are we quite often have families turning up on the front doorstep to be admitted (often for only a few weeks). One raid on the big box of secondhand sweatshirts, and those children are members of the school and immediately accepted by the rest of the school as such. It also makes it easy for us as a school to warmly clothe children who would otherwise not have suitable clothes (that box of secondhand sweatshirts again). It smoothes over what could otherwise be some massive social and income divides.

From the point of view of a parent, it is cheap, practical, hard-wearing, universally available, requires no choice or argument, wholly interchangable (no 'favourite jumper in wash' moments) and most articles can be handed down from an older boy to a younger girl.

And to the parent who says 'you have to buy other clothes anyway', I really do buy far fewer non-uniform clothes. DS has 2 pairs of jeans, 2 hoodies and a couple of T-shirts, and with the addition of a couple of pairs of shorts for the summer, that's him outfitted for the year for out of school. Equally, even much more clothes conscious DD's winter wardrobe is 2 pairs of trousers, 2 warm tops, a skirt and a dress / leggings combo with a couple of T-shirts left over from the summer. They would both need much more if they weren't wearing school uniform every day.

I think also for parents who are new to the country and really don't know what English kids would normally wear it is very helpful.

I've seen schools back home introduce uniform just for that reason. (They also had classes for parents to teach them how to make sandwiches for packed lunches..... As food they would have normally had four lunch just couldn't be bought)

Not saying that kids shouldn't wear traditional dress. But some parents do want their children to fully integrate and don't really know how to.

(I've lost count of the times I'm in primark picking through the pink section and have had strangers ask me if these were girls or boys clothes :) )

(I've lost count of the times I'm in primark picking through the pink section and have had strangers ask me if these were girls or boys clothes )

(to which the correct MN answer is 'yes', isn't it? )

Oh, but the washing, though. The constant struggle to have enough clean uniform. DS1 in particular goes through an entire set of uniform every day (spills food, pen, glue, paint whatever, chews shirt). Optimistically, this year, I thought I could get by with 3 trs/shirts and 2 sweatshirts each. No, no, no. I'll have to buy more. 5 trs/shirts, 4 sweatshirts is the only way.

way easier, the thought of doing the what to wear battle every morning! I have friends with girls who would never get to school if they had to make a decision on what to wear. My son is very proud of his uniform.

It makes sense in terms of school and parental discipline, but most uniforms seem to have had a style bypass.

Regarding white polo shirts. Our school has them and I thought whoever chose them was a total idiot.

Until I realised that I could stick them in a bucket of bleach without ruining the colour. And hang them out on the line in the blazing sunshine to be bleached, without ruining the colour. Now I'm a big fan of them and very glad we have them.

Haberdashery: If parents have to choose a colour for uniform, I would suggest that you all have a look around the local supermarkets and check out which other colours they already sell. You don't have to go with blue or red just because most schools do. I've seen bottle green in all of the three main ones here plus burgundy jumpers/cardies in at least one, pink gingham dresses in a couple of others. Also yellow dresses. There are more choices than the obvious ones, and if the uniform anti crowd are all about individuality, then why not let the school as an entity continue to stand out from the local crowd, even if its pupils are wearing uniform.

Absolutely in favour. My DS spends enough time worrying about whether he "fits in" without having to worry about whether he is wearing the right thing.

DC's school has reasonably flexible uniform code, but it's enough to be a real leveller - my DC have less out of school clothes, it's not expensive as most of it is second hand (so we get most of the money back when outgrown things are sold), and I don't have to battle DD daily about what she will or won't wear.

I went to a primary school without a uniform and it was great. It would be my preferred option. There were no issues because everyone got used to what everyone else wore.

However, if a school is going to have a uniform, I like the version that exists around us. E.g. coloured sweatshirt with school logo and flexibility on trousers/skirts/shorts etc. as long as they are in black or grey.

you need fewer normal clothes, the supermarket bought uniform is cheap and hard wearing and there is no difficulty in working out what to wear in the morning. So I am in favour.

The only things I am not so keen on is young children having to wear ties and having to buy lots of bits of the uniform from the school uniform shop (which is GAP type prices for Primark level quality)

Oh and I couldn't agree more about white polo shirts - easily the easiest option in terms of laundry