Insane school uniform rules

[Incredulousme]

I have two DC's at secondary school. My DD is year 10 and DS year 8. It's a great school all round (outstanding Ofsted) apart from their insane rules regarding school uniform.

Uniform for girls

White short sleeved shirt with tie, scotch plaid pleated skirt (only allowed slightly above knee) and jumper. Thick black tights (must be plain and not see-through) Girls have the option to wear grey trousers.

Uniform for boys

White short sleeved shirt with tie, grey trousers and jumper.

My argument is this, two complaints if you like. Girls are not allowed to wear ankle socks or indeed any kind of socks with the skirts and have to wear ridiculously thick tights (thick because thin are see-through which is against rules) all year round. Great in winter but on very hot days you can only imagine how horrible this is and how sweaty and sore they can get.

My second gripe is that neither boys or girls are allowed to take their jumpers off when walking around (inside) school. They are to be kept on at all times when moving between lessons, queuing for lunch and in the dining hall. They are also to be worn in the library. If they are too hot in class they must ask permission to remove it but must put it back on before leaving that particular classroom. They are allowed to remove them outside at break.

AIBU to think this is insane? With regards to the 'tights rule' for girls I have asked on several occasions about the possibility of socks with skirts but told that this is out of the question as sometimes the children are required to sit on the floor. I agree my DD could wear the trousers but why should she have to?

They both came home yesterday melting (yes I know it's lovely sunshine) having worn jumpers most of the day. It's a very busy school and the corridors are packed at lesson change times yet they are forced to wear jumpers!!!! It's mad surely???

The library is a great place for revision but I'm sure having to sit in a jumper on hot days does not make it a very comfortable experience. And yes, I do believe in rules and more than happy to adhere to most but sometimes a little common sense is needed.

O god how uncomfortable and tedious.

The tights thing is horrible, it must be so uncomfortable. Socks really wouldn't be a problem, would they?

I disagree with those saying girls should have to wear trousers. Those of us with big hips and little waists struggle to find trousers to fit.

The jumpers thing is just daft too - why do they need to be logo'd when they are just in a classroom with other kids - I'm sure they can remember which school they are at.

It must be very stuffy and sweaty and stinky.

I think the skirt/tights or trousers option is fine. The jumper rule is crazy.

At ds' secondary there is no girls/boys uniform just a list of options (trousers, skirts, shirts etc. No shorts but short socks are ok). Jumpers are optional, blazers are not. Tbf though, they are generally pretty good at suspending the blazer rule in hot weather.

Enforcing uniform rules that make kids uncomfortable for no reason other than to cultivate discipline for the sake of it is the school going on a power trip.

Discipline for behaviour and school work? Fine. But teenagers shouldn't have to ask to take a jumper off ffs.

@Gileswithachainsaw Have you tried a school uniform shop for the trousers as they tend to stock different lengths and waist sizes, whereas high street shops don't usually

My dd goes to an all girls (apart from sixth form) grammar school. Hosiery has to be black tights or white trainer socks. Coats are not allowed to be warn on school premises at all. If it is raining at break time the staff wear their coats but the students aren't allowed too. Dd wears proper ankle socks or tights and has special dispensation. An older student tried to give her detention for wearing ankle socks .

I feel so lucky ds’s school doesn’t have a uniform. He has gone today in shorts and a t-shirt, perfect for a warm day.

I hate this must wear jumper/blazer at all times mentality. I'm pretty sure children can judge whether they need to take them off. The school mine are at has let them have blazers off today. And then they're allowed them off all day! Not that mine chose too, but at least they were given a choice.

Tights is ridiculous, I hate tights with a passion. Glad when I was at school we were allowed to wear ankle socks (or knee highs!) and amazing that we all managed to get an education!

I did laugh at someone who asked about air con. Ds told me the heating was on in one of his classrooms yesterday, it was above 20 degrees outside! Nice to know it works now, by winter it'll be broken!

It's one thing to be required to wear blaxers/berets when outside school grounds but being forced to wear jumpers is absurd. R. E. Tights. Just send her in black stockings with a garter belt. At least she will be a bit cooler. If they spit it and complain just say that the tights wearing was giving her recurring yeast infections.

Slieve it's 28° here. What do you call "very warm"?

SlieveDS1 would be in a dead faint today if he didn't have a fan by his bed. He's naturally a degree hotter than most people, and even 1° can make a lot of difference. Be careful of sweeping generalisations.

Good lord, the first sign of the sun and you're all practically dead. How will any of you survive summer?

By dressing appropriately for the weather? Same as every year.

But if you have to wear a jumper, how will you ever cope?

You know, I'm not going to say what I want to, because I'd get directed to Talk Guidelines. Not everyone's like you. DS1's ill, and naturally warmer than most other people. Days like today do make him faint. Stop being a GF.

Why would i have to wear a jumper?
Do you make your kids wear jumpers all summer?

If I went to work in todays heat with no air-conditioning and was told I couldn't take my jumper off I'd tell them to stick their job. Mind you, I wouldn't bloody wear one in the first place because it's too hot for a jumper!

I sometimes feel that schools make the environment deliberately depressing. Seems counter productive.

yearofyouremember on what grounds is your DD allowed to wear normal ankle socks instead of trainer socks? I’m struggling to imagine what could be the logic for the dispensation.

Apart from wearing a jumper in the corridor at all times all of those rules seem perfectly reasonable to me. My school had the same rules about tights and skirts and trousers and we all chose to wear tights and nobody died (or get thrush and cystisis like a pp suggested it was a recipe for)

Well apparently the reason they have to keep their jumpers on inside the building is because their shirts come untucked and it doesn't look smart and their ties are a mess. Apparently the jumpers hide all of this.

Anyway, they are now trialling letting them take them off everywhere inside except the corridors and once they have mastered the art of staying tucked in they will let them take them off in corridors too.

As for tights, they are going to "look at this" once they have trained them to keep their top half smart. With regard to ties, it can only be the children from year 9 and above who are having 'tie trouble' because years 7 and 8 are only allowed clip on ties due to health and safety regulations.

JessieMcJessie - why do you want to know?

7 years ago when the school I was going to changed to a academy we where all made to wear are blazers at all time with shirt button done up, are pervious uniform had been a polo shirt.

Our first day back everyone was complaining about how hot we where but we still wasn't allowed to remove blazers. Until we had a whole school meeting to welcome the new head teacher and a girl in my form fainted due to the heat.

They didn't enforce that rule anymore.

"Strict uniform policy leads to better behaviour in the classroom" well I'm pretty sure that's not true, how on earth do schools across Europe and America manage to educate their uniformless pupils? it must be total chaos. Oh, no it's not, that because it makes no difference.

I hate these kind of petty, pointless uniform rules. All the secondary schools near us have a fixation with it being necessary to wear a blazer at all times. At my daughter's at least they are allowed to take it off with permission from a teacher. (the first phrase she learnt in French and German lessons was "Please can I take off my blazer." - what a brilliantly useful phrase they will need all the time when abroad....not) At one local school, new year 7s starting in a sweltering September were told they had to wear them all day because it was the "autumn term" and blazers could only be removed in the summer term.

School uniforms should have options to suit different weather eg short sleeved shirts / shorts/ skirts/ ankle socks for hot days and jumpers/blazers for cold days. It isn't in anyone's interest to have the children being uncomfortable - nobody can concentrate and learn effectively if they are too hot or too cold, and as a teacher I wouldn't want to sit in a classroom full of sweaty, grumpy teenagers.

To the person who doesn't think you could faint in British heat, it all depends on the person, different people have different tolerance for heat, that is why adults regulate their own clothing to suit themselves, put on a jumper if they are cold and take it off if they are hot.

I would be interested to know whether staff at the OP's school are subject to the same rules ie have to wear a jumper/jacket all day and that ladies have to wear thick tights or trousers? I suspect not, as I have never heard of a workplace having such strict rules. So if the staff can dress appropriately for the weather, why shouldn't the kids?

These days fewer and fewer workplaces have much of a dress code at all, so the 'preparing them for work' argument is nonsense. My husband is a mid management civil servant (so your archetypal desk job) and hardly anyone in his office wears a tie to work.

@Yearofyouremember Because this thread is about reasons why school uniform rules might be relaxed and your DD’s situation strikes me as a fairly unusual one. But if you don’t want to answer that’s your prerogative, just seems a bit odd to go to the bother of posting and only give part of the story.

JessieMcJessie - I didn't feel I only gave part of the story. We felt proper ankle socks were better than trainer socks due to problems she has.