Are your children allowed to wear coats outside?

[Frankinator]

Our local school has recently changed policy to not allow children to wear coats outside. I completely understand not allowing children to wear them inside, but cannot fathom what the problem is with wearing them outside, particularly in January when it's surely universally agreed that it's pretty cold. Is this common in schools?

No, it isn't, and it sounds mad.

That's ridiculous, unless you are somewhere tropical! It's been baltic here for weeks!

Isn't the entire point of a coat to wear it outside. Bonkers.

Not the case at my eldest's high school

I'm so glad that it's not just me that thinks this is bonkers. I honestly thought my son was making it up / exaggerating when he told me, but it's been confirmed by numerous other parents. Any ideas around approaching the school very appreciated as I'm not even sure how to say, you are all mad, without actually saying that!
For context this is a 13-18 (state) school so admittedly the children are older. But I'd have been cold at that age!

Mine are allowed to, and non-black coats are highly encouraged for dark night visibility reasons.

Are they allowed to stay inside? If they are forced outside with no coat in January that's a health and safety issue, surely?

Just asked my 14 year old who said normally no coats allowed walking between lessons or at lunchtime but they have just changed it and said they can wear them at lunch and between lessons.

Do you mean moving to and from lessons that are in different buildings?
My secondary in the 80s was a sprawling campus and we spent half our time traipsing from one building to any. We had a Head for a while that insisted we didn't wear coats "in the corridors" which included actual outside footpaths from one building to another.
It was ridiculous.
We didn't have cloakrooms/lockers so we were expected to carry our coats, bags and anything else we needed for that day - PE kit, art folders, home ecc ingredients etc around with us all the time.
Thankfully that Head only stayed a year. I can't remember if the rule was officially abandoned or everyone just ignored it because it was pretty much impossible to carry everything.
Why do schools do this crap?

I suppose they've had safeguarding issues

Eldest is expected to only wear their blazer to school as they have nowhere to store coats and they’re definitely not allowed to wear coats in school between classes etc. They’re also not allowed to wear boots in bad weather (not even docs although boys get to wear them with trousers as the tops cant be seen). In hot weather they’re not allowed to take their blazer off.

Living in Scotland in winter this is madness although less of an issue with our summers

No lockers or cloakroom at school here so all bags, books, pe kit, coats are carried around all day. Can't realistically change footwear because they'd have to carry it so had to walk part way with my DC recently due to flooding and wellies needed to get through. It's a shit school but also no other choice.

I’d just ring up and say I assume my son has got this wrong as it’s obviously freezing and anyone sensible would wear a coat, but I wanted to check what he’s saying about coats?

What safeguarding issues would stop someone wearing a coat? This isn't me being goady, I just can't think of any and I'm interested.

My daughters school can wear plain black coats with no fur trim at all times except in classrooms.

i suspect the locker situation/storage and a school not fit for purpose.

The amount of teenagers round here that wear all black and then cycle home from school with no helmets ☹️.

This sort of shit is what puts me off going in to teaching (that and the hoardes of teachers leaving is obviously for a reason).

I can't believe how much schools try and rid our children of any individual choice and basic rights. If an employer behaved the way some SLT do no one would work for them, yet we expect our children to tolerate it without a word. It's not a dig at anyone (bar SLT who bring it in) as I know school choice isn't always there.

Thats got to be negligence of the school to expect kids to go outside i freezing cold weather without their coats.

Its just crazy, and may be dangerous.

No coats indoors, but they are allowed outside.
"Regulations suggests the minimum temperature for working indoors should normally be at least 16C, or 13C if much of the work involves rigorous physical effort." (Health and Safety at Work Act 1992)
So I would suggest no coats outside if it's under 16C is unreasonable.

What kind of bonkers rule is that. My dd walked to school in every weather. Pouring rain, snow, cold wind etc. She and all her friends wore proper coats. It was a pain cos lockers were not suitable at all for coats so they had to carry them.

What safeguarding issue is helped by not allowing a coat during a lunch break? That's not a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely wondering what this could be. Easier to identity someone who isn't a student, because you can spot they aren't in uniform??

As a retired woman primary head once said to me, if you are looking for examples of toxic masculinity, male secondary school heads are a good place to start

Coats allowed in school I work in & also my kids school.

My head went to Michaela for the day & apparently coats are banned outside there & apparently they have to stay outside too. That sounds nuts to me.

I get fed up of asking kids to take off hats, scarves, coats in lessons. It’s exhausting. I used to get them to come into room minus their coat - but it was causing the corridor to get congested.

Schools need to have lockers in sensible places. Sometimes it's miles from their tutor room.

Possibly outing, and not an example of toxic masculinity, but bearing in mind this is a headteacher who called Gavin Williamson a "cretin" in a sixth form magazine, I do have my doubts.