Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Getting more and more pissed about school uniform at DD's primary school

96 replies

StaceyBranning · 27/11/2007 13:11

My reason for being pissed off is that there are three boys in DD's class that do not wear the right uniform, not even the right colour. DD's uniform is blue and the jumper or cardi has to have the school crest on. The polo shirts are to be white but can be plain and the bottoms are to be navy for girls and grey for boys.

The uniform is not cheap and like most of the parents I have forked out as that is what is required. What is really pissing me off is that these three boys all come wearing grey jumpers! Not even blue!

Despite numerous notes home in school bags nothing has changed, why should I pay out for the uniform when other parents seem to be just getting away with not having to!!

If I had known I could get away with not buying then I would have saved myself money and sent DD in whatever I wanted!

Every morning I see these boys and get more and more pissed off every day!!

Sorry rant over!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Reallytired · 27/11/2007 17:50

I know a child who doesn't wear the standard school shirt because he has severe excema. He has to wear high quality pure cotton.

Would that piss off the other poster.

emandjules · 27/11/2007 17:53

Hi, i don't understand how it affects you and why it bothers you. If one of the children came to dd school with pink hair, i would not care less. nothing to do with me!!!

emandjules · 27/11/2007 17:57

dd cannot wear skirts or dresses due to sensory issues, has to wear trousers!!!
god hope the other parents are not talking about me!!

bozza · 27/11/2007 18:03

I can see the idea of getting a cheap sweatshirt at Asda instead of the full price school version. But surely common sense would be to choose the right colour.

lomond · 27/11/2007 18:08

I don't see why you are so pissed off about this .

Yes you forked out money for your childs uniform, did you have to? No.

Who are you to say what the other kids should wear? As long as your kids are dressed the way you want them to be then what does it matter what anyone else wears?

Unfitmother · 27/11/2007 18:10

Sounds like a ridiculous uniform to me.

cushioncover · 27/11/2007 18:14

I think you're all being a little harsh on the OP. She not calling for these boys to be sent to the workhouse, she's just having a rant over making the effort when other parents haven't.

It's all very well for everyone to jump on her saying it's a silly thing to get annoyed about but we've all taken a turn into Irrational Street at some point. Sometimes the silliest of things piss us off and it should be ok to come on here and rant about them without being made to feel like a heartless bitch showing no consideration for their financial situation or possible sensitive skin. 'Tis what MN is all about surely?

nametaken · 27/11/2007 18:33

The OP has got every right to come on here, let off steam and have a little rant at the world. It gets it out of your system and makes you feel better.

Maybe the OP's child has been punished or penalised for wearing incorrect uniform. As my dc did. When others wearing incorrect uniform were not.

If there is a rule then that rule has to apply to everybody, not just the decent parents who do as their told but also the other parents who are probably confrontational and the teachers are afraid of so don't say anything.

Oh, and the reason one of the mums is driving a brand new merc is because she isn't paying over-inflated school uniform prices. If she was she'd be driving an 8 year old car like me.

MummyPenguin · 27/11/2007 19:00

cushioncover, I was just about to post almost exactly the same words myself. The OP is only making a point, if this uniform issue pisses her off, that's her perogative. Unfortunately, she's unwittingly wandered into a MN bearpit. Been there myself, it's not nice.

Anyway, I didn't realise that schools (primary anyway) couldn't enforce uniform. I thought kids had to wear it and that was that. The majority of children at our primary wear the uniform, with a few variations. There is a uniform shop where the school suggests that you purchase, but high street/supermarket alternatives are acceptable.

What was a shocker to me was when my DD moved up to secondary in September. She's at a grammar school and her uniform is more expensive than the comps, as it's a particular uniform and colour (marine blue) which you can't find elsewhere. For most comps you can get stuff in M&S and so on. She wears a short sleeved pale blue and white striped cotton blouse, she has two of these, they are £17.95 each. Her skirts are over £20 and the blazer was £42. The jumpers are £18. So a shock indeed it was when we went to buy her new uniform in the summer hols, to think that she'd left primary wearing an asda £4 summer dress! What I will say though, is that uniform bought from a uniform shop is usually very good quality and washes and lasts really well. I've bought asda jumpers and things like that and had to ditch them after a short while. I think in some cases it can be false economy.

MicrowaveOnly · 27/11/2007 19:11

I'm not sure why people are still claiming uniform is too expensive. Kids have to wear something in the day, and while you are washing mud out of their school uniform, their own jeans etc are staying nice and clean, hence will last longer.

And there's 2 types of people in the world,, those that see the need for rules in society and obey them, and those that won't play ball!!!

MicrowaveOnly · 27/11/2007 19:11

And there's 2 types of people in the world,, those that see the need for rules in society and obey them, and those that won't play ball!!!

cushioncover · 27/11/2007 19:13

Yes, at primary we cannot enforce the rule.

However, IME, it doesn't matter whether as a parent you agree with it or not. The fact is that it is a rule of the school that you send your child too and to allow them and worse still encourage them to flaunt any school rule, however small, does not set a good example.

DarthVader · 27/11/2007 19:15

YABU and you need to get a grip!
Why on earth would you be so obsessed about something like this?

MicrowaveOnly · 27/11/2007 19:21

Dv don't exagerate... she is not 'obsessed' just pissed off.

hatrick · 27/11/2007 19:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bozza · 27/11/2007 20:23

Well I think that if you are truly hard up you could manage on fewer than five jumpers. DS has 4 but we are not hard up (well only a bit but not really - YKWIM), but I am also working 3 days/week so don't want the hassle of turn round. When he started though he only had 3. And one of those was an Asda one. Didn't last long at all. The uniform ones last indefinitely unless they get a stain on them I can't get out. One of DS's has a small marker pen mark on it.

seeker · 27/11/2007 20:48

Why on earth would you need 5 jumpers?

colditz · 27/11/2007 20:57

Gosh, only 2 types, MicrowaveOnly? That's not very many, considering there are millions and millions of people!

MicrowaveOnly · 27/11/2007 21:04

look into your soul colditz...which are you??

colditz · 27/11/2007 21:06

I am Citizen Smiffy

madamez · 28/11/2007 09:35

I don;t see the point of rigid uniform policies at primary level either - well, expcet to see who'se a desperate conformist and who's capable of rising above pettiness, I suppose. Kids of that age don;t care what they wear so why not (skin problems excepted) just put them in the cheapest stuff you can get and go and find something else to get your underwear in a bundle about.

cushioncover · 28/11/2007 09:51

It's not about being a 'desperate conformist' as you put it, madamez. It's about teaching your children that school rules are there to be followed regardless of whether you or they agree with them.

This really have nothing to do with school uniform. It's about children understanding that rules (and laws) are there for a reason and you must heed them. It's absolutely fine to disagree with them and to make that point known, even to push for change. It's not ok for themto learn early on that as mummy thinks this rule is silly, they don't need to follow it.

Oh and you're naive if you think that 11yr olds don't care what they are wearing and that the classmate in the cheapest supermarket range will not suffer for it. (sad but true)

seeker · 28/11/2007 09:51

Not sure that putting children in the uniform the school asks for could be considered petty, exactly......

madamez · 28/11/2007 13:06

Actually I think that it's very useful for kids to learn that a lot of rules are stupid and that the point of them is not to make the world a kinder place but to induce unthinking submission to the whims of the powerful. So when you are confronted with a rule, ask what its purpose is, if there is no purpose to it then ignore it.

seeker · 28/11/2007 13:18

Bet your kids head teacher loves you!

Flip

1 2 3 4

Swipe left for the next trending thread