Ridiculous uniform policy for secondary

[freakinthespreadsheets]

I live in a fairly poor working class area, former mining village. I don't even have secondary age kids but this has got me riled up.
The local secondary has been taken over by a MAT and introduced a new uniform. They say that the blazer, PE kit and jumper must be logo'd from the supplier (which i think is pretty standard everywhere) but also that every item MUST be Trutex branded. Shirts, trousers and the skirt (which you can't even find a dupe for if you wanted to as it's a silly tartan design). No supermarket brands allowed. The boys trousers must be sturdy or slim fit, girls can be slim fit only (so "fuck you" to girls with thick thighs then??)
They also insist the trousers must not be skin tight fitting and the skirt must be knee length, or detentions will be issued (but they're only allowing one design/fit, from one supplier, so if it doesn't fit a taller/chunkier teen then what are parents to do?).
Not to mention the fabrics are scratchy and kids with sensitive skin (I was one, and Mum had to order my uniforms online from a place that did skinkind fabrics) who might not get on with the plasticy Teflon fabrics.
I find myself fuming on behalf of these parents and teens - as a curvy, tall female with sensitive skin this would NOT do for me at all! Not even sure what my question is, I guess am I being unreasonable in my thinking that this is OTT and doesn't follow the new government guidance (which I know isn't fully compulsory but still)

Edit to add : in a poor working class area, to set a kid up to attend the local high school looks to be around £350 for uniform - the prices are awful, £35 for a skirt etc

As an american transplant I will never understand the UK's obsession with impractical, expensive school uniforms... they're just costumes, honestly. They achieve nothing that a reasonable gender-neutral dress code wouldn't, and dressing appropriately for the occasion/environment without a uniform is a better life skill anyways.

I would absolutely complain and work with other parents to express dissatisfaction as a group. Provide examples of schools with affordable, accessible uniforms. Don't let it drop.

In the meantime... slips under uniform skirts should be more common.They shouldn't be hot if they're the right fabric and they can easily be sewn in so it's not an extra piece to keep track of. I'm in my early 30s and I still do this with most of my business skirts and dresses because I'm prone to getting itchy/irritated from certain fabrics.

I worked on a year long comparison study where we had to source uniforms for every primary and secondary school in the UK from both the official supplier and then generic suppliers, and supermarkets. Outcome was the whole thing is a massive rip off. One blue top with yellow stripe is the same as another? One black skirt is the same as another if similar style. They should just let you stick on the uniform badge to generic blazer and then all generic uniform.
I wouldn't send my kids to a uniform school. In my area there are plenty of good schools without.

It's against current government guidence on uniform and a blatent attempt to price out the poorest families. We have a local secondary that has decided all parents need to purchase a tablet for their child, same thing, poorest parents can't and so will end up elsewhere. Should not be allowed.

I could be talking out my arse but I don’t think schools can force you to buy a new uniform, you can still wear the old one.

When I was in school 15 years ago there were still year 11s wearing bits and pieces of the old uniform.

@CraftyNavySeal the problem with this is for the incoming Year 7s they wouldn't be replacing old uniform - they've got to buy the new one 🙁

My grandmother won a scholarship in the 1920s and her parents turned it down as they couldn't afford uniform or the fares to get to school, she had to leave and get a job in the factory in the village. She hated uniform with a vengeance. I went to school in the 70s, our uniform was more lax...she knitted our jumpers.

That's in breach of the uniform law that was brought in fairly recently. Schools are not permitted to insist on things being branded unnecessarily, especially items that would require purchasing frequently. Eg it's ok for a blazer because you'd buy a massive one at year 7 and pretty much hope it fits the whole 5 years. But you can't do that for shirts, trousers, skirts.

I did complain about our schools uniform policy when they insisted on a specific skirt that could only be purchased from school suppliers. They denied it was branded, despite me including the specific legislation wording, so I sent a picture of a similar skirt from Asda and got it in writing from them that it would be acceptable. They didn't update their uniform policy though and I ran out of steam to fight further. Should have gone to the governors in hindsight.

No, it's 2024 and they're a godsend. They reduce clinginess and static, stop clothes being see through and make uncomfortable fabrics so much better! Cool tech from Marks. Brilliant.

@wastingtimeonhere that's sad for your Granny 🙁

DD had to have a specific skirt from a specific shop. She has a size 4 waist and a size 6/8 bum. The skirts cost around £25 each and I had to pay £20 per skirt to have a tailor remake them to fit her. She then got in trouble for them being too short (I didn't get them taken up)
The trousers were worse.
After many many complaints the skirts were changed to pleated ones which had adjustable waists but only after she left

It was, she was so intelligent, so curious about the world, as children we had sets of encyclopedias and regular trips to the library to answer our questions.( long before computers and Google!) She left school at 14 but her written/ reading ability/ maths was far better than many of her contemporaries.
When I read threads like these, it doesn't feel like we as a society have learnt anything.

You can't see the issue with uniform costing £350? Are you a millionaire?

Oh god. This would have been a nightmare fir me. As a girl who's always had thick thighs and alot of junk in thr trunk I'd have never gotten in a pair of slim fit trousers. What do they expect girls to do? Slice off their arse so the skirts arent too short? Take a chainsaw to the thighs?

The cost of this is criminal. Needs a complete parent protest in the hope they see sense.

Mine’s just left school so no skin in game but hate the must buy from one shop uniforms.
Any grey skirt must be knee length is prescriptive enough.
DD’s school requirements were initials embroidered on pe kit, expense and stopping second hand. £28 girls logo gym leggings v boys wearing any tracksuit bottoms was another terrible rule, what’s wrong with any navy leggings.
My grandad is another who passed 11+ and couldn’t go as family couldn’t afford uniform.

Uniform policies like this are (as far as I’m aware) totally unheard of up here in Scotland - this is the entire uniform policy for our local high school and they’re considered very strict with their uniform compared to other local high schools. The kids look very smart.

Forcing parents to buy from one brand supplier is utter snobbery and only done to stop kids from poor backgrounds going to the school - it doesn’t have any impact on how smart the kids look, doesn’t improve their learning at all and shouldn’t be allowed.

I agree schools should have cheap uniform policies. Many primary schools in my area have affordable uniform.

Secondary school though is more difficult. In fact all secondary schools in my area have the expensive uniform described by the op. 100% of them. We have no choice.

£35 would be the standard price for a blazer in the secondary school. If it is a white shirt so normally in all schools everybody can buy those in Tesco, Asda , Sainsbury's. And it is unreasonable to expect one specific brand for a hefty price. Skirts are most often also unique and therefore at a £20-30 price. Similar price for trousers but in the school where my son goes there are 3 types of sizing: narrow, regular, " sturdy". Optional jumper and tie.
In our school there is also an elaborate sport kit with socks, short sleeve/shorts version and long sleeve/trousers version + they are expected to have 3 pairs of shoes: black for school, trainers and studded.

The £350 you said is probably for several jackets skirts, shirts ?

Much more sensible policy (though I still think no uniform policy at all is even better) but I'm intrigued by clothing that can cause injury to others, I wonder what that could be? Unless its so clashing it hurts my eyes...

Things like metal studs on jackets etc

Ah right

£350 sounds like a lot of uniform and quite a lot of it on shoes. Shoes/trainers are standard everywhere. I think this uniform policy isn’t legal but parents have to complain.

We have an epidemic of very very short skirts being worn by school girls here. Bums on view. Cannot see that this is acceptable. Trousers not favoured so much. The skirts are shorter than tennis skirts. Not sure if they are allowed like this in school but it’s certainly the fashion here. It’s also draining on school staff to have to keep checking on uniform all the time.

I think uniform has always been seen as promoting a sense of belonging and avoiding very expensive fashion in school and competition for wearing the most expensive fashion gear. Where my DCs boarded, book bags were Mulberry (not my dc) but you can see it’s desirable to try and stop envy.

Haven’t there been uniform protests in some areas? A policy should reflect local area and ability to pay.

Between this thread, the one where the teen had her drink spiked in school by laxatives and the one where the five year old was kneed in the back, I’ve never been more glad my DC are home educated.
What dysfunctional environments we place are children in.
@freakinthespreadsheets No, you are not being unreasonable. Even bankers don’t dress so formally and stiffly in 2024.

>I’ve never been more glad my DC are home educated.

That doesn't make them resiliant and is hothousing them, whereas they will have to face real live at some point. Shielded.life doesn't prepare them for tough life as a student

tbh most of kids are going through education without incidents as you listed.

‘Hothousing’? Explain please? No idea what you mean.

Also my dc are very resilient thank you. You seem to be suggesting that resilience is only built by being exposed to stressful situations in a school setting? Actually resilience is built by adapting to any difficult situations and they have plenty of opportunities to build that muscle without being in a toxic environment.

They are also not ‘shielded’ from anything. They live a very full, social, varied lives IN the real world. They attend groups, workshops, courses, the older ones have volunteer jobs and they are very well travelled. They have lots of friends and socialise plenty so your stereotype of a home educated kid is just that. A stereotype.