what do you think of a school that makes the children wear short trousers and during the winter

[espares]

Hi
My ds has just started at a new school and has to wear short trousers and long grey socks.
Do you think its reasonable to expect the children to wear them during the winter also. we have to walk to school and I am not sure about this.

Nooka - they are not cold. The shorts are wool and the socks are wool. They are boys - they run around. they don't go out at playtime if it's wet.

The teachers at my son's school do have to follow their own guidelines - ties and suit jackets for the men and something smart and officey for the women. Trousers frowned on for women.

"they don't go out at playtime if it's wet."

Well exactly. Dress them properly so they can go out and get some fresh air then.

'Trousers frowned on for women'.

In 2008!!!!

I thought we were talking about fairly young children-something officey is hardly appropriate! Trousers are practical.
Infant teachers need something they can get on the floor with, get covered in paint and glue, sit on tiny chairs-dressed for the office is as ridiculous as making the poor little things wear shorts in the snow! They should have practical clothes that they can go out in all weathers in.
My local school has a male teacher in reception-he doesn't wear a tie and suit jacket.

dd wears skirt and socks her choice we walk a mile to school she doesnt complain

The school that i work at wear shorts til the end of yr 2. They never get cold as part of the PE kit is a school tracksuit that they can wear over shorts at playtime. None of the boys seem to complain.

Well each to their own. It's not something I have or would subject my children to. The day I force them to wear shorts in winter is the day I do too. I hate being cold! Here we have just been sent home instructions on how to spot frostbite. I think if the children wore unsuitable clothes (ie shorts on cold winter days) the school would be having words. I have put away all the shorts for next summer (as I would do in the UK at this tie of year too).

Pe teacher wears a school tracksuit all the time. Art teacher has an enormous smock. Music and drama department tend to wear pants (or legging under skirts in very designer type way) as we will be down on the floor. Headmaster wears a suit 90% of time.

We dress to our job, so yes, the teachers do have to wear special clothes too. In the NZ state schools I also work at around 20% of the teacher wear jeans every day to work - so it is a big difference.

The boys wear the PE kit if they are doing a school trip to the zoo.

I know I will never persuage you Nooka - but it's honestly not a problem.

DS2's best friend, who moved to a private school this September aged 7, has come to play today and he is complaining that his new school make them wear shorts in the winter!

am seeing both sides but, as I said - I have seen several men out running this week in shorts!! Wouldnt do it myself but they seemed fine .....

Have bought my ds some black tights to go underneath shorts/socks combo if it snows!

I would think they were a bunch of wankers tbh.

I recently went to a child protection course and one of the things they flag up for a slip of paper in the file, is inappropriate clothing - shorts in winter was specifically mentioned.

Whether you agree with that or not, it's interesting that at one LEA it's a flagging up issue and at another it's school uniform...

I'm amazed at how contentious this issue is. Never even gave it a thought when choosing my ds's school and he doesn't give it a thought either. I imagine with his wool shorts and long wool socks he is a lot warmer than the number of secondary school girls I see every day whose skirts are so short they are more like belts (showing my age but in my day if your skirt didn't touch the floor when you kneeled you were sent home to change!).

I wear tights and skirt for work and I reckon my ds is more warmly dressed than me. As far as I can work out (ds is 4) they play outside in all weathers except heavy rain.

Not sure I understand why wearing shorts in winter would be a child protection issue.

oh because they're hysterical mollie o

She also said if there were unexplained bruises that should be a slip of paper as well.

As one of the teachers said to me, "If I did a CP slip for every one of the situations she covers, by the end of the week every single child in my class would have been flagged up".

The main reason for the shorts in winter, along with no coat, too light clothing etc, is that it indicates that the parent/ carer is neglecting the child's physical needs. (IE the need to be warm and/ or dry in winter.)

It's a balance, isn't it?

I think what's misleading is the use of the word 'shorts'.

Some folk here are thinking flimsy cotton SHORT shorts.

The ones my son wore were thick, worsted, on the knee shorts. With long socks. A small amount of knee exposed--very small.

LittleBella I think there are some parents that might qualify at my ds's (private) school as neglectful. They are the ones who drop off their dcs (usually in their shiny 4x4s) with no coat, forgetting that their dc will be outside at break time and completely underdressed. I dress my ds so if he had to be outside all day he would be warm enough (even with shorts on ).

Ds's school has summer and winter shorts. One of the other schools has summer knee socks.

It is not unusual here to see boys in knee socks at school until they are 16.

my ds (5) has to wear shorts to walk to school but he also has to wear a huge winter coat, hat and gloves too - his socks come up to his knees so the overall effect is of a teeny tiny michelin man with half an inch of knee - he hasnt yet complained that hes cold...if it snows i might put him in the tracksuit bottoms and then whip them off at the pegs though.

the seniors get to wear long trousers - my ds cant wait to be in year 1 - cos then he gets a shirt and tie and then two years after that he gets long trousers - it marks the older boys out to the younger ones...

matbackfeck - mothercare do grey shorts as do M&S but they arent lined like the ones from the school - john lewis maybe?

My dad used to wear shorts and long socks to work in NZ in the 70s - so adults do wear shorts in some countries

I'm sure it is a historical thing.
Boys are likely to tear the knees of trousers and so it was more sensible to leave them in shorts until they were old enough not to be scraping their knees tha whole time.
Clothes were washed once a week, on wash day, and it was much easier to have less material, also knees could be easily washed rather than the trousers. Now that people can wash clothes when ever they want to, and are able to put a pair of trousers in the wash and have them clean and dry for school the next morning it is silly to have shorts in the winter.