Is my child’s school allowed to still have multiple branded uniform items

[Anothernamechange3]

Hi,

my child’s secondary school (part of a multi academy trust) is still insisting on branded trousers and skirts from a single supplier in addition to the branded blazer. As far as I am aware this is against statutory guidance. Apparently their take is that they are allowed to do this because they offer a scheme where you can buy second hand from the school items that have been donated.

Everything I have read seems to say they should be removing unnecessary branded items AND giving second hand options: it’s not either/or. Am I right? Are they still legally allowed to do this? The gov.uk site I have looked at recommends going through the school’s official complaints procedure. Before I do this, I’m asking advice here as to whether they’ve got round it with some convenient loophole, or if they do indeed need to allow non branded skirts/trousers from other shops.

Thank you.

I will definitely be making it last its tons!

I think this is one of the issues with all the branded clothing, children wearing clothes which are too big/ too small / really old which then don't look as smart as if they had just been wearing a polo shirt from Asda bought every year. Probably better for the environment.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor I'm not sure I agree tbh. My DDs PE top is great quality. Yes it was £20 or so but she's had it since Y7 and she's now in Y10. I'm sure it's different for boys who tend to grow a lot more but I find at least our schools stuff is all very good quality. They really don't do PE much in state schools so I don't see the fuss.

basically using the logged skirts to morality police the girls' dress

Indeed.
Girls' skirts must be a certain length because boys have been doing upskirting.
Tights must be 60 denier because legs are distracting.

Give me strength.
If I didn't abhor publicity I'd be contacting the local paper.

Our school just introduced a branded sixth form uniform, this year for the first time.
The whole of April/May I had been saying to DS "18 more days and we can throw trousers away" until this news broke.
Now he has the option of buying new Sixth Form trousers or he can continue to wear his old ones. If he does not have branded trousers, he gets sent home. I am hoping that branded trousers, too short and with holes in the knees will be ok, although I am not sure that that is the look the school is actually going for.

And don't get me started on the new branded jumper!

For clarity (and not having a go at you at all), there are two sets of guidance.

There is non-statutory guidance issued last month. That is indeed just guidance and schools are free to ignore it. All that says about branded items is that schools should "consider how any branded items if they choose to have them, are sourced".

The statutory guidance, issued in 2021, says that, before summer 2022, schools should make changes to their uniform policy such as removing unnecessary branded items. However, it also says that branded items should be kept to a minimum and used only for low cost or long-lasting items.

I obviously don't know what uniform policy your school has adopted, but you need to be sure that, if challenged through judicial review, you can show that you have indeed kept branded items to a minimum and used them only for low cost or long-lasting items. If you haven't, you would need to show that there are exceptional circumstances that allow you to depart from the statutory guidance.

Remember that the courts will not accept that a branded item is necessary just because the governors think it is and have minuted their reasons. And this is the fundamental problem. I'm not saying it is the case at your school, but I see far too many schools that insist things like specific, non-generic designs of jumpers, sweatshirts, cardigans, socks, etc. are necessary. It is, in my view, unlikely that the courts would agree.

I'm sure you're right prh, but how many judicial reviews are on the horizon? Until there is at least one highnprofile challenge I can't see anything changing.

I didn't say whether or not I agreed with our governing body's decision because, as you will know if you have ever been a governor, the governing body speak with one voice (even if, within it, some voices carry more weight than others 🙂).

Uniform skirts is the thing that annoys ne the most. Is there really any benefit to a checked skirt compared to a plain grey or black one?

DDs school uniform is changing in September. They've simplified the PE kit (plain navy rather than navy/white) and the school logo is changing but both uniforms will run along side for the next few years.
But... its going to mark out any new Year 7 to who has hand down or second hand blazer.

As others have said, the statutory guidance is guidance only, not law as such.
In a CoL crisis I think it's unacceptable that parents are forced to spend so much on branded uniform items. The only branded items should be a badge for a blazer and a PE top, everything else could be generic.
I would recommend writing to the Head and the governors to suggest this.

My secondary school used to sell a logo patch for about £4 so most of us had jumpers with those on. They introduced blazers just after I left but they could be plain black with the logo sewn on.

If schools want to implement standards of uniform they should be contributing to the cost. Especially for PE kits- who the fudge is going to be looking for the logo on the kids socks?

Schools aren't abiding by the guidance and parents mostly don't want to rock the boat by pushing complaints. I know several schools in our area who not only have fully branded uniform but also colour code the years so you can't even pass jumpers down to siblings because the elder child needs blue piping on their jumpers and the younger is red.

I am enternally grateful that our high school which is also in an academy trust has made things easier not harder recently. Very little call for branded options. Just blazer £40 and tie. We even have a relaxed shoe policy.

I imagine if it was just £20 most people would not be complaining, especially if it lasts 5 years. It is over £120 for one rugby top and one house PE top in the larger sizes, most will need to buy both at least twice in their time at the school and having different colours by house limits secondhand options. Yes this is a state school.

I can understand that where children are competing it is important to have for example a certain style of top, but economies could be made by not having these with logos so the same style could be use by a school in Birmingham and a school in Southampton. They do not all need their own logoed unique design.

In my comment though I was actually thinking of their primary school where the logo polo shirts were ten times more expensive than a supermarket one and in a colour that faded a lot so there were various different shades of fade happening in all the secondhand uniform.