School photo and head teacher

[Schoolphoto]

possibly outing situation but wanted opinions please.
it was my sons (year 4, age 8) school photo day yesterday, message from the school a couple of days ago with a reminder saying please arrive at school on time and in the correct school uniform.
sent ds to school as normal, black shoes and trousers and school polo T-shirt. When he came home he has said that the photo is awful as the head teacher made anyone not wearing a jumper or one without the school logo to borrow one from the school so he was forced to wear one which was tight and too small for the picture. He has said all but one boy, who they couldn’t get a jumper to fit was made to wear them by the head teacher.
I haven’t done or said anything yet and will probably wait to see a mock up of the image to see if this is all true but it feels wrong to me. i am not that parent who moans, never spoken to the head teacher and only spoken to his teacher at parents evening but does anyone else feel like it’s not right? Surely if they wanted jumpers worn they should have sent a message saying so, but my son doesn’t even own a jumper, never has since the first year as doesn’t wear them and it’s never been an issue for the previous school photos although this is a new head teacher this year.
would I be unreasonable to raise this or is it just petty and I should forget about it?

You're being petty. Forget about it. It's just a jumper.

I’m surprised you didn’t do this before the new headteacher. It’s been the case in every school that I’ve worked in or attended myself- it makes for a much neater, nicer class photo. Class photos are expensive and it’s nice they want to get a good finished product for those who want to buy them.

And correct school uniform does include a jumper. Your son has had bare arms since reception? Even when we had all the windows open during covid over winter and the classes were bloody freezing?

You would be incredibly petty to complain. Your son is fine and no harm was done. The circulation wasn’t cut off from his body. He wasn’t hurt. And he wasn’t injured.

I’m surprised this has irked you so much. I would find a complaint about this extremely
odd to find in my inbox.

Thank you, honestly appreciated.
Yes, he has always had bare arms, I find it odd myself and for the first couple of years always put a jumper in his bag but after a couple of years of them going completely unworn, even in winter I have stopped. He says he is too warm for a jumper 🤷🏻‍♀️
It’s not that i am irked and more just a ponder whether it was odd. Plus the fact that this wasn’t communicated and that he says he was told to wear one too small that bothers me but I am happy to accept it would be petty to say anything and will drop it from my mind if that’s the consensus

Well there’s nothing that can be done about it now so it seems a bit of a pointless thing to start complaining about.
I doubt it’s that unusual a thing for schools to do.
We’ve done it in the past, borrowed and shared the jumpers around so everyone had one. I’ve just looked at my daughters recent class photo and they’re all wearing jumpers even though it was a hot day and I’d be surprised if they all turned up to school with one.

If they feel strongly about jumpers it really wouldn't have been difficult to mention it in the original communication. "Please wear correct uniform, including jumpers". The weather has been warm lately, surely not all the children are wearing jumpers every day ?

On a daily basis I would say the schools uniform policy is very relaxed. They don’t mind whether uniform is branded with the school logo or plain. It’s supposed to be a certain colour/shade but there are many children who wear the same colour but different shade. I do think if the photo comes and he is in a ridiculously way too small jumper I will have a word but if not I will just leave it. At least I will know for next time I guess

I had a million school photos of my girls in full school uniform so I deliberately sent them in just their yellow polos one year for something different. Teacher put a jumper on youngest for their photo alone so the photos didn't quite go together

My daughter hardly ever wore a jumper or cardigan at primary either (quite a few in her class were the same). This thread has reminded me of one class photo, I think she was 6 or 7, where there is a gap on the back row where she should have been. The teachers had tried to make her wear a jumper that she found too uncomfortable, so in the end she just wasn't in the photo. The girl next to her space looks quite upset! I think I didn't realise till we got the proof, and asked dd about it, but looking back I should have said something - the teacher never mentioned it to me.

Surely the idea of class photos is for the child to look back on in years to come and remember their classmates, not some identikit parade.

We've just had class and individual photos, we had to wear proper uniform for the photos, not the summer dresses or shorts, proper pinafore/trousers with jumpers.

Then they took the photo outside, with the teachers and headteacher in their skirts and shorts 🙄

I think it’s ok to mention that a heads-up about the jumpers would have been nice, but I guess they probably realised that themselves.

I've seen lots where they have one line of polo shirts one line of jumpers etc. Looks neat and a practical solution

Actually I wish they'd done that when I was at school. Our school photos had 14 little girls wearing the school green cardi, and one in grey.

Looking back it's clear to me that she was wearing that because they couldn't afford the logoed stuff. I know at times she did feel different, and I think she'd have loved to have been loaned a jumper so that, for once, she could have felt the same as everyone else.

DD's school (at that age) used to swap jumpers during photos too - I think it's quite common for school to do that, so even individual photos the pupils have the logoed item on.

I just wrote and deleted a response to the OP, but really this says it perfectly.

Teachers are trying their best to keep everyone happy. Imagine parents coming at you with 20 variations of minor complaints like this week in week out. It’s exhausting. It’s a school jumper, no harm was done. The head just wanted their pupils to look smart for their school photo.

But parents are also busy and stressed. School photos are so expensive. Kids can also get stressed and upset about these things. It’s a minor thing but it would have been easy enough to mention school jumpers if they wanted school jumpers or just to not do school jumpers this year if most kids didn’t have them. Communication is really important.

That's weird. We've got plenty of school photos with ours in polo shirts. As long as they're in uniform why does it matter if they have the jumper on?

Our school does this too. It’s particularly annoying that they won’t allow them to wear the school badged fleeces for photos. My son hates the jumpers and refuses to accept that they’re the smarter option. His argument is that if fleeces aren’t smarter than jumpers, then why do the staff have fleeces? I think he has a point.

I’d be annoyed, especially if it made my ds look like his jumper was too tight! Don’t schools (and school photographers, sometimes) realise,
at the prices they’re expected to pay, all that parents are interested in is seeing their own dc looking nice (i.e. in the uniform they sent them in)? They’re really not bothered about what everyone else is wearing. Hopefully your ds will look fine, op!

Be pleased it wasn’t like my ds’s ‘whole school’ photo taken in front of the local Cathedral, so no close ups of uniform etc., just a mass of dc and teachers. Happens every few years, and quite an ‘event’.
Half a dozen or so pupils had forgotten that the ‘come in games kit, if you have Games’ instruction had been temporarily suspended for photo day, and they turned up in games kit, whereupon the head apparently sent them away, refusing to let them be in the photo! They could easily have been slotted in to any of the rows and literally no-one would have noticed. So petty, and felt really bad for them and their parents, when ds told me.

Completely standard in our school, and in my own primary when I was a child. Surely everyone knows you wear full uniform for photos

Ds was the same, he is ASD & has sensory issues around having anything around his neck & with the fabric that is on the cuffs, neck & waist of sweatshirts. I simply didn't buy the photos on principal because on the days that photos were bring taken I could guarantee ds would be coming home & having a massive meltdown.

My TA once 'accidentally' spilt something on a girl's clothes on photograph day so we could wash her dirty clothes and lend her a proper uniform. The poor little girl was really chuffed.

We had to do this with blazers for my class photo ...although we tried to make sure they looked ok and anyone's that had buttons missing or arms too short we made sure that couldn't be seen on the photo !!

40 odd years ago I had a class where a mum wanted 2 separate photos as there were two different fathers involved one of whom was doing life in prison. The Head decided to take over and messed it up so there was only one photo of all the children. The poor mother was devastated.

Now that's what I call a problem - not an issue over a jumper.