Sent a note with daughter and coat still got confiscated

[Lionness2020]

My daughter started in Year 7 BullersWood on Wed 6th Sept.
She came home after her first day excited to show me her new books and weekly planner. We sat down together to read through it, I had to sign parent/teacher contract and then we went on to read the school policies and rules.
Whilst reading I came to realize that now I need to buy my daughter a black coat! This isn't an issue....I will buy a black coat ( I just need some time to do this).
She left for school on Thursday with her current coat (purple I might add, I know its bright, but it was that or pink!) and I sent a note with her explaining the situation to giver to her teacher, my daughter got to the school gates and took her coat off and put it in her bag and never gave the note in I found out later that evening....my assumption here is that she was scared she may get disciplined or that it was a hot day and she didn't need a coat.
Come Friday morning, its raining and daughter decides she's going to wear the purple coat as it's waterproof (it was raining most of the day on Fri, I think i saw the sun come out around 3oClock), so again I wrote a note for her to hand to the teacher.
Now this is info I have managed to gather from my DD.......She was going into morning registration, as they were filing into class, the headteacher of Yr7 has stopped her about her coat (according to my daughter her office is opposite her form room). So, daughter says she has a note, hands it over, head of year reads it and say "how sweet, I will have to confiscate your coat and you can have it back at the end of the day, as it's breaking school rules".
I was absolutely astounded by this, I can't believe my daughter had no coat to wear during break/lunch on a cold/rainy day!
Where was the health, safety and well-being of my child?
Not a happy mum!
I will be making an appointment to see the headteacher.

MSLehrinen there are of course linguists working in the City too. There are lots of job opportunities in the private sector which is more attractive opportunity and money wise than teaching which is why the recruitment pool for schools is so poor and that I hope pne day will change. I don't want our schools to be full of people who smell blood at the sight of a pink coat. Luckilu my children go private now and it feels like we have a much better dialogue with the school and that the teaching staff is better, but evrryone should have access to good schools.

@Caprianna read my post again. Too graduated do not always equal top teachers. Nor do private schools always offer the best education.

I love how people who don't work in education are capable of passing judgement on its intricacies. 🙄

Top graduates! Bloody autocorrect 😃

Didn't read the full thread but I would be livid if my daughter would be made to go out in the rain without a coat because her coat is not the right colour.

While I do my best to respect all the uniform policies and my kids have never been punished for not being fully equipped as requested if I would have made a mistake I would expect the school to take my word for it and respect my circumstances.

The school's goal is to educate my children, not get into petty fights such as the colour of coats. And I mean this kindly, I understand when DS was made to wear plimsoles because he dared wearing black trainers instead of his school shoes (without any reason, just his choice to push boundaries) and I found it quite amusing but sending a child out in the rain without a jacket (a child who cannot buy her own jacket may I add) is a sign of cruelty and I wouldn't just accept it. I find it shocking that so many people agree with it.

I don't want our schools to be full of people who smell blood at the sight of a pink coat.

They aren't. They are full of people who have to do their job and uphold the rules of the organisation within which they work. Just like other people in other jobs do. Are you really dim enough to think that people go into teaching because they enjoy telling children off (about pink coats or anything else)? Do you think that teachers care personally what colour coats are? I have had to tell kids off about uniform and I'm not even really in favour of uniform.

MSLehrinen, I was not necessarily talking of top degrees either. Of course people can comment on teachers and the quality of education their children receive. This is why I moved my children to a good private school where staff engage with parents in a very positive way.

@Caprianna how do you measure the talent of graduates then?

As I've said previously, private education doesn't equal the best education. Remember education isn't simply about exam results. I hope your DC get a good deal, given the fact you'll be paying a lot of cash for it.

Find uniforms in general a completely ludicrous concept unless one is a member of the armed forces or emergency services.

Caprianna, I would be fascinated to hear your suggestions on how we make teaching as competitive as banking and how we ensure everybody has access to a good school.

I worked in a lovely private school for a while. It was certainly very easy there to 'engage with the pupils in a positive way'. In fact it felt like an entirely diffetent job. The uniform rules were strictly upheld btw, but this resulted in almost no difficulties because the supportiveness of the parents and the cooperative nature of the pupils meant that infringements were very rare. Interestingly they had no trouble recruiting teachers.

MSLehrerin
We have rules in schools to mimic the rules of society

Agree with Frequency - school uniform rules are more prescriptive (and sometimes more lacking in logic) than e.g. business dress codes. And in other areas of society, when somebody unwittingly falls foul of a minor rule, they have the opportunity to put it right before sanctions kick in. Confiscating a kid's coat because of a parental oversight is overzealous and unnecessary. Some schools are generous enough to allow a few days for correct items to be sourced - that's a more human response.

By the way, I think mimicking the rules of society has little to do with the rationale behind school uniform policies.

Op another poster linked the school uniform list above. It's very clear and you should not be surprised that your dd wasn't allowed to wear a purple coat.

By the way, I think mimicking the rules of society has little to do with the rationale behind school uniform policies.

I agree. Ironically, as I said upthread, I think a lot of it is about attracting potential parents by presenting an image of what they want in a school. Which is pretty hilarious, considering that many of those same parents who consciously or subconsciously chalked up smart uniform as a point in the school's favour, are really pissed off by the expense and rigidity of the rules once their child gets there.

It's a bit similar with discipline. Parents want schools to take a hard line on behaviour... until it's their own child getting in trouble.

Can't believe the sarky comments on here, get a grip, it's a coat ffs!! What harm does a kid do wearing a purple coat? Much more in the world to worry about than that!

If I went into teaching and ended up spending my time confiscating coats from well-meaning pupils I'd feel like I'd failed.

Thank god we don't have strict uniform codes around these parts. The teachers spend time, well, teaching.

Hello to all ,a interesting topic! a good friend of mine works as a teacher in a school in a large(ish) town on the south coast ;His school has a uniform policy that is applied with zeal ! however they are, he tells me now floundering in law suits from parents who,s children have been sent home from school for not wearing the "correct" uniform it would appear that the school updates its uniform policy on a term by term basis ,nothing wrong with that i hear you say ,however it would appear that the schools IT (web page) and letter sending ability are or where not up to the job and at least half the pupils parents did not get the policy updates .After the parents complained the head just pointed out that the policy was on the schools web site and letters where sent out as far as the school was concerned end of story ,until it came to light that the web page had not updated and that not all the letters had been sent out ,Que the some what pissed off parents legal action singly and collective asking for damages for lost work time ,extra child care etc etc ;The school ,to its credit is doing its best to settle this in a amicable manner and has put its uniform policy on hold until its settled ,however a couple of the affected pupils parents are solicitors/lawyers and want the policy fixed in place with changes only made after talking to the parents and compensation for the lost school time of their children ...never had this when i went to school mind you that was a few decades ago !

Nonsensical uniform codes speak volumes about how children are perceived in this current society. Make them wear clothes that might not be fit for purpose or appropriate for the current climate as apparently they don't count as real people.
Children are people first.

This ans the last two years make me despair but I think that is the intention. So those of us who want school to be a place where teaches can teach and not enforce stupid riles to no benefit to them SHOULD make a fuss! It is your duty to do so.

If I went into teaching and ended up spending my time confiscating coats from well-meaning pupils I'd feel like I'd failed

Firstly, even teachers who confiscate coats still spend most of their time doing pointless paperwork teaching.

Secondly, in what way would the teacher have failed?

I'm still waiting agog for Caprianna's excellent solutions to the recruitment crisis and her suggestions for access to excellent schools for all... I wonder if these excellent schools will have uniforms.

I'll reiterate with regards to this particular school that the year 7 dd would not have had to go out in the rain at breaks. The coat was retrieved after school so if it was still raining then, no harm done.

It is crystal clear on the website and in the info sent out before school starts for year 7s that coats should be black. Same with shoes etc (and the uniform shop wouldn't have mentioned the shoe requirements because they are bought from wherever the parents fancy, same with the coats and bags).

Personally I think it's a bit prescriptive but in view of the rules being similar to pretty much every other school nearby, not worth seeing the head about. I thanked my lucky stars that dd not at the local school requiring a brown coat (and only a brown coat, no other colours - and limited use for out of school I would imagine, unlike black) and while ds can have black or navy coat, he also has stupid blazer and has to ask for permission to remove and monogrammed trousers and white shirts - way more onerous given he's likely to grow massively in next few years while dd is still wearing, in year 10, the same uniform as she did in year 7!

I will say also that the uniform codes I know locally are also very hot in zero logos/branding which I actually think is good. Generic black, no highly visible logos and less of a tendency for wealth to be displayed in the brand of the coat/shoes/bag. There is a huge range of parental wealth in the area and i think that the uniform policies try to an extent to remove the visible labelling of wealth. That said, all the schools need to work a damn sight harder at promoting second hand uniform sales and I do think that the mongramming of white collared shirts is a step too far in my opinion (but I suck it up anyway - it is what it is).

Eolian, why are you waiting agog? I would have though it was obvious. Better pay and working conditions. It is not currently an attractive career so you don't get the best people in the jobs. Not rocket science I would have thought.

You would have had a copy of uniform list before she started

The uniform rules are rules, it's pretty normal to be asked to take outerwear off before entering school if they don't fit the policy

Tell your daughter to take it off (I'm presuming the school has heating to ensure your precious darling daughter stays warm), put her coat in her bag or locker and take it out when she's outside. (She must have been wearing it for another teach lee to have seen it and confiscate the coat)

School take the first few weeks of term to make sure the kids know they aren't fucking about and they are there to learn and they have to follow rules. May not seem like much of a deal having a purple coat but the other kids will see it and buy wrong shoes or bags etc, leading to more and more kids disobeying the rules and causing drama when they could be learning. The school is right to stamp this out early on

If you still have a problem, you could be really precious and see the head about it

@Fuckit2017, the school OP named has extremely good results. I suspect it's in an area where folk can afford everything.

Parents do have a choice about which school they send their child to. If they seriously can't live with the rules at the school that their child attends then they can always look for a different one.
I personally like uniform. It's needed where I live and work as a social leveller and on the whole it makes parents lives easier. I don't care about how lenient or strict it is, just that its in place.