Am so angry with Dd1's teacher, she is so bloody picky.

[nutcracker]

Dd1's school has a uniform and Dd1 always wears it, plain polo shirts but I buy the sweatshirts with the school logo on. She always looks smart etc.

Their pe uniform is plain white t'shirt and royal blue shorts. No where except for the uniform shop sells royal blue shorts and they are about £6.

This sept i was given a grant by a charity to help pay for their uniform. You could choose between vouchers for the uniform shop and vouchers for BHS, one or the other, not both.
As I only buy the school sweatshirts, I chose the BHS vouchers.
As they had no Royal blue pe shorts I got Dd a navy blue pe skirt that is shorts underneath.
I didn't think for one moment it would be a problem as I have regularly seen other members of the school in navy shorts instead of royal blue, and one other girl wears a royal blue skirt so didn't think it being a skirt would be a problem either.

So sept arrives and dd does pe and no problem, shorts/skirt doesn't get mentioned.

However, today dd has come home virtually in tears as her teacher has told her she cannot wear it as it isn't the right uniform.

FFS she has been wearing it since last Sept and the teacher has only just noticed ? Plus the fact dd also has a pair of jogging trousers for outdoor pe and these are also navy but apparently these are ok.

Her teacher is such a bloody nit picker.

Is she primary - I don't think the uniform is enforacable anyway! My mum is a state infant head and said they could not inforce the children wearing the uniform!

God she sounds ridiculous. As if it matters what they wear for PE!

Not sure Cazzy, but she is primary yeah, year 4.

Dd has just said that the teacher said "well your mum will have to buy you some more".

Like f**k I will. If she is so bothered she can bloody buy them.

If the school were routinly strict about uniform then I wouldn't mind so much but they aren't. You see kids going in with brightly colured stripy tights etc and nothing is said about that.

Go in & give off hell to them!!!! I sent dd in plain navy joggers for weeks, washing them each night as they only had one in her size in M&S & the school had specified that they wear plain & not stripes. One day I dropped her off & saw a wee fella go in wearing green Celtic bottoms... now she wears stripes to school

Exactly, thats happened before too. They were all told that they had to wear school pe uniform for sports day and so I made the dd's wear theirs and lo and behold, we get there and most of the boys have footie shirts on and alot of the girls were in fancy t'shirts etc.

I'd be livid, how dare the teacher upset our daughter for something so trivial?

nutty, I would suggest you call the school and speak to the teacher. I am furious on your behalf - surely she knows you are a single parent on a low income?? And how dare she humiliate your dd (at such a sensitive age too) over something so trivial.

Actually, no - write her a letter and cc it to the Head Teacher. Explain exactly what you have just explained to us re the grant situation etc. Put it on here if you like and we'll add helpful comments.

OOOOOooooh I am spitting feathers

your daughter (doh)

i'd speak to the head, rather than the teacher. teacher may only be trying to deal with what is being perceived as a bigger problem in the school under instruction from above. though there are ways of doing that appropriately.

Good idea Miaou

Feck her... we'll teach her not to mess with your dd's feelings!!!!

Defn go to head -great idea Miaou - teacher should be more sensitive

I would go the head but I really really dislike the woman.

Dd isn't feeling well at the moment but if she does go to school tommorow I will speak to her teacher at the end of the day.

I will cooly and calmley ask her what the problem is with dd's pe kit, and when she tells me, I will inform her that IMO the skirt is entirly appropriate and had she not noticed before now that dd was wearing it.
Whatever she says, I will tell her that I will not be replacing the skirt until dd has outgrown it.

Dd is quite a sensitive girl and she was upset, plus I am ont keen on the teacher anyway, she seems like a right meany to me.

When they were swimming the other week, they were shown how to get out of the pool without touching the bar (why ffs). Anyway dd's friend who is a bit over weight struggled and had to use the bar to help her self get out. Their teacher then told her off and made her get back in and out again in front of the whole class and reduced the poor already self concious girl to tears.

TBH the head will take teachers side, she is well known for it.

God she sounds like a complete bitch, nutty (she says helpfully).

I would make the points about the fact this has not been brought up before, and that you are not in a position to replace the skirt, very strongly. Don't be ashamed re. the grant/lack of money thing (I don't know if you would be or not!) - hold your head up and state the facts. If she feels that strongly about it maybe she would like to buy your dd a new skirt herself!!

Oh no I don't mind about me having had the grant, at the end of the day I am struggling for money and so I did need it and I will explain that this is why I brought what I did and that I will not be wasting my money replacing it.

I try so hard to make sure that my kids always look smart and well dressed as I feel it is important, which is partly why I am so annoyed I think.

Uniform is not compulsory in state primaries - end of. Silly cow/s.

Honestly, nutty, if humiliating kids is par for the course at this school, why not complain to the govs? And if that gets you nowhere, to the LEA? Oooooh teachers like this make me boil

I will go in armed with that fact Jan as I didn't actually know that.

Will see what she says. From previous dealings with her, i think she will probably back down, but if she doesn't then I will go and see the head.

I think the bar thing at the swimming pool (DS learnt at his lessons ) is that if they fell in a river they wouldnt have anything to hold onto so they have to get out as if on the river bank , Having said that what a cow she sounds . I am often on here praising my DS teacher so this is not a teacher bashing message .

If the teacher has only just commented on it, it could be that a message has come down from the head to sort out uniform issues. That is what normally happens in our school.

So if I were you I would write a short polite note the the head explaining why your DD is wearing what she is wearing and see what the response is.

However - as the oldest child in family with 3 younger siblings and where I had second hand faded outdated uniform and the wrong colour slippers due to family finances I still feel it today. I totally appreciate the financial struggle that it must be to clothe children for school but I know I felt so "out" of it for having the wrong things.

Not an easy situation to be in Nutcracker and I totally sympathise.

But thats part of the point budababe, she's not the only one not wearing the royal blue shorts.

I will make sure I buy her some new shorts for Sept but certainly not before then, just can't justify spending the money on them when there is nothing at all wrong with what she has.

If she tells me that the head has said that it's a problem then thats fine, will enjoy having a heated argument with her as I can't stand the woman, she is so totally false and only interested in the pupils when they are being wheeled out in public.

It makes me so sad to know there are still teachers like this out there who seem to have no idea how to deal with problems that require sensitivity. Some actually seem to get off on humiliating small children. I was on the recieving end of three years of routine humiliation by my primary school teachers and it is completely unacceptable.

Nutcracker, when you go and see your dd's teacher I would make it absolutely clear that your dd is not responsilble for buying her school uniform, YOU are and if her teacher has any problem with what she is wearing then she discusses it with YOU not dd. Of course a little girl is much easier to tackle than a fully grown adult though, wonder what she'll say to your face!

Your DD is lucky to have such a lovely mum.