Junior school uniform: Sweatshirt/polo shirt or knitted jumper/shirt/tie? What's the Mumsnet view?

[RustyBear]

The head at the junior school I work at wants to change the uniform from the current seatshirt/polo shirt combination back to the original shirt and tie (clip-on/elastic available) with a knitted jumper/cardigan. The change would be phased in from September, so no-one would be forced to buy a lot of uniform at once.

All the parents at the parents' forum agreed it was a good idea, looked smarter, was more hardwearing etc (the current sweatshirts tend to fade quickly, though they are the best we've tried so far) but after a newsletter came out mentioning the proposed change there has been a certain amount of vocal opposition from some parents...

My mumsnet addiction is well known to the head, so I suggested starting a thread to see what the reaction was on here....

Personally I don't get why anyone would want a primary school child to wear a tie. I really don't get that at all.

We have lovely blouses, with pinafores and a knitted jumper. All of this is very hard wearing and as a result we have a good second hand shop. The uniform looks really smart and the children are proud of it.
Last year I bought 5 blouses from the second hand shop for £2 each DD wore them for a year, grew out of them and I sold them again through the shop for £2 each.

I don't think young children should be made to wear ties at school so I would vote against it. One of the benefits of state school is that they don't have to wear uncomfortable uniforms. I also prefer polo shirts because they don't need ironing.

Why not either or?

My DCs school has both included in the uniform, although they only tend to wear the shirt tie combo for school photo days.

merry, where do you buy your poloshirts from that don't need ironing?

At my daughters' school, the infants wear round necked sweatshirts and polo shirts and the juniors wear shirt and tie, with V-necked sweatshirts.

I was interested to see how excited my daughter was to wear the more grown-up uniform, when she moved up to Juniors. They do look smarter and seem to take quite a bit of pride in wearing it. Haven't heard any complaints about the ties yet.

My son's state primary school wears shirts, tie and knitted jumpers/cardies and looks much smarter than local schools with a polo shirt/sweat shirt uniform.

The tie causes no issues at all and is not uncomfortable. M&S does non-iron shirts so shirts don't have to be ironed, although I still press my son's as I think they look better ironed. The knitted jumpers have been washed and tumbled for 2 terms so far and look great.

I'm more than happy with the uniform.

I detest polo shirts and sweatshirts. They're fine for PE, but otherwise look grotty. I would go for the shirt and tie option any day!

(Merrymonsters, all my DCs are at private schools, and one of them still wears the polo shirt/sweatshirt combo... so is that another myth about private schools scotched?)

Well personally I like knitted jumpers and polo shirts . Polo shirts because they dont need ironing and knitted junpers because they are much more hard wearing and look very smart.

Why can't they have the choice? It's different up here as they tend to have "colour schemes" rather than uniforms, but DS' state schools have always had the choice, and a number of items are available with the embroidered logo (polo shirt, sweatshirt, jumper, cardigan, jacket). They all look like they "belong" without having a rigid uniform.

The DSs school has shirts/ties and knitted jumpers. They wear well and look very smart, must smarter than the other local schools who all have sweatshirts/polo shirts. I much prefer it as a uniform. It's also very flexible for different temperatures - shirtsleeves for hot weather, jumper if it gets colder, plus you have short sleeve and long sleeve shirt options. They are allowed to take off their ties and undo top buttons on very hot days.

There's uproar at my dh's school because of the scheduled change from sweatshirt/polo shirt to shirt, tie and blazer at the end of this year. Fairly deprived area and they argue that it's less cost effective because you can't pass uniform down from older brother to younger sister as they are gender specific items now.

I much prefer shirt/tie/blazer, just because IME it seems to create a better atmosphere for learning. I know that sounds illogical to many, but if you spend a little time in mornings picking up on uniform issues such as low ties and shirts out, it gets a message through that there is little room for manoeuvrability on rules, and seems to quash some of the other rebellion before it has started. Taught in two schools with t/s/b and three with ps/ss and this theory worked in all cases. I'd rather ds goes to a school with t/s/b for these reasons.

Ds1 would have a complete tantrum if he had to button more than 2 buttons a day

We have a choice at our school, they mainly wear polo shirts and knitted v neck jumpers.

The older boys seem to wear shirts but no tie. Also the girls tend to wear cute blouses and pinafore dresses from reception. So maybe it is just the boys not wanting to do up 8 buttons

As long as they all wear the same they will look smart. My daughters school has so many accepted variations of the uniform that the kids don't even look like they are wearing one and they look really scruffy.

Blouses/shirts and jumpers are so much smarter than a polo shirt and sweatshirt.

I am coming out in a cold sweat just thinking about tryng to get DS into a shirt and tie. Its taken 2 years for me to get him to wear a polo shirtwith one button on it (I had to cut them off in reception) - he has a real button phobia.

I don't mind the uniform but would like to have the logo removed from it. The school sweatshirt is a complete rip off - £9 for a jumper that looks like dishcloth by half term just because its got the school logo on.

LOL at you giving the HT feedbck from Mumsnet

Agree sweatshirts are grotty, and polo shirts can go grey and shapeless.

My DD had a shirt and proper tie from Reception in the UK. When they learnt to tie the tie properly they went to the headteacher and got a badge, they loved it!

Must have been a pain for the teachers and TAs at the start of the year though - 30 ties to re-do after PE?!

If they must have uniform at primary (and I really don't think that they do)Then sweatshirt/polo shirt is much preferred.

Even reception children can put them on themselves. They are widely available and cheap. The sweatshirts at my dc's school do not fade and usually last 2 years and can be passed on.

tie fgs

why?

Personally I love the polo shirt and sweatshirt option that DD's school use. She is only in reception and despite having some motor skill issues can manage to dress and undress herself for PE with this sort of clothing. It is not clear in the original post if we are just talking a junior school or if it also includes reception, Y1 and Y2? If so then they should think hard about the need for the teachers and TAs to help the youngest children and the time taken in doing so. Perhaps there is a comprimise could be reached if there is a division of opinion from the parents and that the "smarter" uniform can be an option and the polo shirts/sweatshirts can also still be used too. I think there are more important things a school could be spending time doing than worrying about how smart their uniform is. Practical all the way and improve their reputation/keep it up in other areas such as discipline.

I have to admit that I think shirts and knitted jumpers look smarter than polo shirts and sweatshirts, and if I had the choice I would definitely go for the latter. Although I don't think the ties are really necessary; surely shirts and jumpers would be smart and hardwearing without a tie?
I wore a tie from Reception age, (although only in winter), and used to make my mum despair by constantly getting it covered in glue, paint, lunch, sand etc etc - if you aren't wearing a jumper they just trail down and get caught up in whatever you are doing. Or was that just me?

Thanks for all these opinions, I want to get as many as possible.

I have just realised that I should have changed my name to start this thread if I'm planning to show it to the head! I shall have to c&p it into Word & edit my name out

It is a junior school by the way, so the youngest are 7; the infant school ('linked' but with separate head) has a different colour uniform.