Wrong school uniform trousers GCSE debacle

[rarebite]

My daughter went to sit her Maths GCSE and was told she could not because she was not in the complete school uniform.

She had on a school T-shirt but the teacher said she must wear a jumbper and she had to squeeze into a year 7/8 jumper which made her feel hot and sweaty.

She was wearing black trousers which the teacher thought too narrow. She told the teacher none of the trousers would fit but was made to try and change in the unisex toilets. Three times she tried 3 different pairs.

When she came out the last time the teacher had gone, the exam room door was closed and my daughter came home in floods of tears.

Was this an appropriate way to handle a possible breach of school uniform policy? I am feeling very upset as she spent hours revising for the exam and I feel a detention more appropriate. She didn't intend to flout the policy - that is why she tried to get into the second hand clothes. She wasn't the only child forced into too small clothes but she was the only one who could find nothing to fit. Now she doesnt feel like going back to school.

I really sympathise with the OP. My DD's school (she is now 18 and at a different college) were a nightmare with uniforms. She was/is a good student who never caused trouble but like many of her peers was constantly in detention during her GCSE years because she had the wrong colour hair bobble/taking her blazer of on a hot day/wearing a coat inside the school (corridors not classrooms) even when cold/ wrong type of black trousers and countless other minor misdemeanour's.

We also had massive issues with morning registration because she was sometimes a few minutes late (automatic detention). I wrote to the school and went in to see them explaining that this wasn't her fault as at the time I had 3 smaller children, one with SEN and one who was a baby and because of a house move in Yr3 I had to drive her quite a lot of the time (no bus route and I wasn't prepared to let her walk alone on dark mornings). It was hell trying to get them all out of the house some mornings but the school wouldn't budge an inch.

In the end it really got her down because she felt the rules were inflexible and as she was a good student with good grades she, like many of her friends, felt picked on. I am very proud of her though for just sucking it up and getting through it.

Like the OP's school there was no specific school retailer to buy clothes from (apart from the blazer) if they wanted to take this stance they should have a definite uniform.

I always felt that the school (probably the highest achieving comprehensive in the area at the time) was trying to behave like a selective school which you just can't do with such a wide demographic.

It was a very good school academically but there is no way I would send my sons there because of their inflexible attitude. One of my sons has ADHD/ASD and I can only assume they would probably exclude him before the first year was out.

The experience has taught me that a school's academic successes alone do not make for a good school.

If it's not too late though I would advise the OP's DD to just try and stick it out- she will be at college soon which will probably feel totally different.

I asked for the school uniform policy and it does not say jumpers should be worn at all time or in exams. DD gets sweaty with anxiety on a normal school day never mind an exam day. She also had her period and was particularly hot and sweaty. She may be a size 12 but she is big on top so I think it must have been stressful and humiliating wearing this too tight top when trying on the trousers - plus managing bags and coat in the small toilet cubicles. I think most of us would develop a tension headache under such circumstances. So, yes, I think the practice of forcing children into other clothes is wrong - but it was also a reasonable adjustment that could have been made in DDs case.

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Wasn't your DD in school uniform the previous day? If so, why couldn't she wear that one?

As for the door being closed, it didn't mean she couldn't go in - the door to an exam room can not be left open so everyone can look inside.

Every school I have worked in that has a uniform has the same rules; full uniform for all students. However, we had the policy of if a student didn't have the full uniform then they were made to sit the exam in a different room. If students see one of their peers beling allowed to "get away" with something then it has a rollerball effect so this was the most sensible way around it.