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....

DS's school uniform consists of anything as long as it's in the school colours and easy to play in (so boobtubes, hot pants and platform shoes are not allowed - a mini skirt would be OK though if it was worn with leggings).

Most of them wear plain or patterned (in the school colours) long sleeved T-shirts, with jumpers, cardis or fleeces when it's cold.

Works fine and they all look presentable enough. I like the way they look colour co-ordinated without being homgenous, en masse.

Not keen on polo shirts for school uniform.

Proper shirts look much smarter, with or without ties.

Our school has an option of sweatshirt or knitted jumper, and from two suppliers for logo'd items. They are trying to do the best of suiting everyone's preferences and considering the cost. You don't really notice all the different styles. Personally I prefer the polo to shirt option for this age, and ds would hate to put on a shirt all the time

I haven't rtft but I wonder if the school have considered how much longer it will take dc to change for PE fpr example with shirts and ties. I think polo shirt and swestshirt is best for primary.

I am pretty strong on shirts and ties for high school though.

The shirt, tie and knitted jumper is usually smarter but more of a bother to wash and dry. It's also more of a bother for dc on PE days etc. My dc do a number of things to make changing easier - only one shirt button done up under dress/jumper if they need to change that day, tie loosened rather than untied etc.

Zombie thread alert

I haven't read the whole thread.

I think the pupils would be more comfortable in polo shirts and sweatshirts. I wouldn't like primary aged pupils in ties. Let them be more comfortable and concentrate in the important things going on in school.