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Secondary education

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Original poster

If it was down to you, would you want your child to wear a blazer?

275 replies

MrsJamin · 22/12/2013 14:37

I personally don't like them at all but am interested what others think as I'm on a group deciding school uniform for a Secondary school. Are there any manufacturers that make comfortable ones? Would it put you off a school or make you excited if they didn't have a blazer?

OP posts:
RVPisnomore · 22/12/2013 15:06

I like them my DS has to wear one with shorts, proper tie and shirt. Whilst you may not like them it does remove the whole peer pressure of children wanting to wear the latest fashions and therefore children who can't have them aren't singled out.

Uniforms and blazers I also think enforce a certain standard of what's acceptable and this I think is important.

ivykaty44 · 22/12/2013 15:08

See now I want to start on ties and how even in hospitals they are wanting to get rid due to the bacteria that live on them and spread nasty illness - its no different in schools and ties spread germs and make people ill…

As for woman being put in a skirt shirt - not blouse but shirt and then given a tie which again is a gents piece of clothing.

Could you see boys being happy to wear a blouse and jumper?

Dwerf · 22/12/2013 15:14

I don't like them. Our secondary scrapped jumpers in favour of generic blazers supposeably because they were cheaper and you could buy them in tesco or whatever. Handy for my six footer son who was simply not going to fit in any children's size and fairly cheap. Then they decided they would have to have logoed blazers. Price doubled. (They also decided on logoed pe kits and the price for that then just about quadrupled, cheers for that)

They'd be getting the same education in polo shirts and jumpers.

DwellsUndertheSink · 22/12/2013 15:19

I like blazers - except my son manages to destroy them under the arm and across the backside vents. He is broad shouldered but short, so they fit where they touch.

My DD always looked smart - her school has the most hideous trousers for girls, or the regulation knee length kilt, which cannot be rolled up much. As a result, everyone wore skirts (except those that needed trousers for modesty) and looked good, unlike another local comp where the lasses where skirts so short and tight you could be forgiven for thinking they were wearing a belt.

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic · 22/12/2013 15:26

I'm not getting how blazers are for boys and not girls? DSs school has 'boys' and 'girls' blazers - I presume the cut is different on each?

I like them. I liked them when I had to wear them! DSs wear coats over the top of theirs in really bad weather (just buy them a size bigger to fit over the top) It helps that the school sells the uniform directly so it's relatively cheap (£20 for a blazer iirc) and that they're realistically sized. DS1 is 6'3" and has no problems getting stuff to fit.

DD wears one for her primary school even though it's optional as she liked the boys ones so much

TheChimpParadox · 22/12/2013 15:26

I like blazers. Far easier to wash and dry than the schools jumpers after having been used as part of a goal post.
Not bothered with a school winter coat either since DS started secondary school either. He's old enough to tell me if he's cold.

SMorgauseBordOfChristmasTat · 22/12/2013 15:28

No blazer. No uniform would be even better.

octopusinasantasack · 22/12/2013 15:32

Yes because it's the only way to get them to wear anything resembling a coat - a blazer and jumper in winter is much better than just a jumper.

ClaudiusMaximus · 22/12/2013 15:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

eatyourveg · 22/12/2013 15:36

I like blazers - choose a generic black or navy one and use an iron on crest to make it school specific, that way it is easily washed, easily available on the high street for a fraction of the cost of a woollen one which is only usually stocked in the uniform dept of expensive old fashioned mens outfitters

TeenAndTween · 22/12/2013 15:37

DD's school has blazers and I like them. The pockets mean she doesn't forget / lose canteen card, phone, timetable etc. They look smart.

The blazer price was reasonable especially considering it is worn 7 hours a day, and is going to last her all 5 years. She wears a coat on top if rainy / cold.

Sparklingbrook · 22/12/2013 15:40

The other thing to consider is lockers. The children might be more inclined to wear a warm practical coat if they had a locker to put it in rather than carry it about all day.

DS1 has a locker so he has no excuse for the coat refusal though. Grin

LondonMother · 22/12/2013 15:42

I loathe polo shirt and sweatshirt uniforms on secondary-aged children. Maybe there are better quality ones around, but my view was formed years ago by seeing that type of uniform in a nasty shade of mint green on teenagers at one of our local schools. The sweatshirts clearly weren't keeping either their shape or their original colour after repeated washings and I thought they looked scruffy. The school now has a blazer and tie uniform, as does every single secondary school in Lewisham, as far as I can see, and the students look a million times smarter. My impression is that there are hardly any secondary schools in SE or central London now that don't have a uniform and off the top of my head I can't think of a single one that isn't blazer and tie.

I do think state-funded schools should have a legal obligation to keep the uniform affordable. Insisting on getting it from a single supplier just so it will have a badge or logo already sewn on is very bad from an equal opps point of view.

crochetedblanket · 22/12/2013 15:52

At my school they had two types. 1 bought from the school uniform supplier shop that cost £60 and then they sold badges you could sew on to ones bought in a supermarket for £20. They were slightly different shades of blue and those in cheap ones were often picked on. The girls were a different shape.

I hated it as a teenager. 13 year old girls in shoulder pads look ridiculous. They're usually too big as well dueto the price, tthey are bought to 'grow into'.

RRudolphR · 22/12/2013 15:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

crochetedblanket · 22/12/2013 15:53

I agree with the comment above about the school looking better without focussing on better education!!

NoComet · 22/12/2013 15:55

NO! My slight Y8 would look stupid and I'd just find the pockets full of sticky sweet papers.

NigellasDealer · 22/12/2013 15:58

*Love the blazers.

Hate the current trend of people bringing their children up to think "the rules don't apply to them*
what do these two opinions have to do with each other ? could you expand?

NoComet · 22/12/2013 15:59

As crochet says they are always bought big. Since DD2 still hasn't finished her first growth spurt hers probably wouldn't look sensible until Y9 if ever.

treaclesoda · 22/12/2013 16:00

at school we didn't have blazers but the boys did. In later years my old school brought in blazers for girls too, and my younger relatives who now attend love the blazers. They are a wonderful piece of uniform for self conscious teenage girls, as they hide a big bust, and they hide a flat chest. I can't stress enough how much difference it would have made to my confidence as a teenager if I could have worn a blazer instead of a clingy acrylic jumper.

curlew · 22/12/2013 16:01

I hate them. But I can't see the point of school uniforms at all.

If I had to design a uniform it would have some sort of jacket because pockets are so useful.

But I think I would go for a hoodie with the school name on it, like the ones a lot of them have for games.

AnitaManeater · 22/12/2013 16:01

Blazers are ok as long as they are affordable. My main issue with my sons school is that there is no school jumper to wear underneath in the winter.They are no allowed to take their blazers off either unless the teacher permits it

NearTheWindmill · 22/12/2013 16:02

I wouldn't have sent my dc to a school that didn't have a blazer or a proper collar and tie for the boys.

DS had a navy blazer with school crest. DD's is distinctive school colour with banding. Both schools have a business suit policy in 6th form. I nearly cried when I saw DS in a man's suit and good shirt and tie for the first time.

Oblomov · 22/12/2013 16:07

Ds1 can't wait to wear one. He said it was the best bit about secondary Hmm

ivykaty44 · 22/12/2013 16:12

I see men in ties in the working world - but I get the feeling that schools put girls in shirts, ties and blazers as it is easy for them to be the same as the boys - so sort a uniform for the boys and the girl must follow suit ( excuse pun) and that is in part the part to which I object it makes girls seem like an after thought. There is no way it would be conducted the other way around.

Traditions sometimes need to be left behind and finding an alternative uniform (if a uniform must be worn) would be preferable.

I don't wear shirts, I wear blouses, I don't wear ties and never have since school.

I associate uniforms with jobs I have had where the pay has been low, so possibly this has clouded my view of uniforms and badly paid jobs…?

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