School Uniform

[JoeBloggs]

I don’t. I think all kids should wear a uniform but basic nothing with logos or from specialist shops.

Kids will always comment on other kids, I remember having comments on my shoes and bag. So where do you draw the line over ‘designer’ clothes, to some M&S is high end etc.

I think all kids should be in grey/black trousers/skirts/shorts. White polo and a coloured jumper/cardigan. Easy to pick up from the supermarket etc and then there is no comparison between them all. Kids should be aware of the difference between school and home and the behaviours needed. I know I feel a lot more professional in work clothes instead of jeans.

 

[Tublet83]

I don’t have time to negotiate with 7 year over what to wear in a morning I’m all for uniform!

 

[Kinvarra]

It’s interesting isn’t it as I believe uniforms were initially about just that - uniformity. So the old haves and have nots issue was manageable. But it always showed itself in shoes, trainers, coats ...bags (I went to school an extremely long time ago and had a mother who Would Not play the label or brand game). So I suppose it was about limiting where people could flash their status.

It’s not repressive for children to wear a uniform though. That is lol. It’s ok to learn sometimes there are protocols you follow to participate in the world.

 

[StormSolitaire]

I’ve not got kids but if my school was anything to go by, the kids were very judgmental when it was an own clothes day/school trip. It exceeded class and financial boundaries too- the word was ‘uncool’. The posh kids dressed sensibly but with dear labels like Berghaus for geography field trips and the working class cool kids didn’t care about brands but had to dress like a 21 year old in heels, short skirts etc. I got laughed at for wearing c&a and one day I took my PE kit in in a Miss Selfridge carrier bag and they said ‘I bet she robbed the bag from the bins at the back of the shop’. God I hated my schooldays.

 

[Ohflogoff]

I’ve not got kids but if my school was anything to go by, the kids were very judgmental when it was an own clothes day/school trip. It exceeded class and financial boundaries too- the word was ‘uncool’. The posh kids dressed sensibly but with dear labels like Berghaus for geography field trips and the working class cool kids didn’t care about brands but had to dress like a 21 year old in heels, short skirts etc. I got laughed at for wearing c&a and one day I took my PE kit in in a Miss Selfridge carrier bag and they said ‘I bet she robbed the bag from the bins at the back of the shop’. God I hated my schooldays.

Kids are fucking horrible sometimes

 

[Funsizes]

I do support school uniforms but they should be simple, affordable and comfortable. This is purely based on my own experience teaching but even mufti day can be distressing for pupils, on more than one occasion I've seen tears because of it. I couldn't put up with that every day LOL

One thing I definitely don't agree with though is the focus on uniform standards like top button done up, tie perfect, shirt tucked in... it's never bothered me and I don't like to waste time on policing it.

 

[Tublet83]

Just realised how limited options must be for parents nowadays. When I was a kid in the 90s everywhere sold uniforms- Littlewoods, BHS, Mothercare, Woolies, random lower budget shops- seems with most of the high street gone, the few shops that do stock it can charge silly prices.

Not really all the supermarkets sell school uniform, it’s probably cheaper

 

[Sayitso]

I think uniform is a good idea, though it I thought it was so kids all had the same, you couldn’t tell who didn’t have the latest labels, but these days school uniform is so expensive, everything’s got the school badge on, can only be bought from a specific supplier, it’s a bigger pressure on some families than it should be

 

[Ravenclaw24]

Totally agree with having school uniforms because they create a sense of equality no matter your economic background and spare a lot of potential bullying based on what he or she wore and how it looks. However I felt my school took the whole uniform thing a bit too far. You'd have to tie your hair in 2 braids with black ribbon- if not, penalized. No watch allowed before 9th grade- this didn't make sense to me as we could tell the time we'll before the age of 14. constant moral policing regarding piercings- a girl with more than a certain no of piercings by a certain age is publicly questioned by teachers and shamed. Lots and lots of moral policing and enforced controll. Not exactly uniform related but my school used to send prefects to conduct random classroom raids during PT period when the class was empty, and we'd come back to find facewashes,hair brushes etc confiscated and kept on a table in the front like guilty loot, and havE it taken away, never to see it again. Idk what's so wrong with bringing a face wash or a brush to school tbh. Was a very conservative school with a lot of control over the students.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

My old secondary school now requires that you buy specific skirts and trousers with the logo on which are of course more expensive than a pack of 2 from Tesco. When I went there you could wear what ever skirt/trousers you wanted as long as they were grey and skirts were a certain length. Even the pe kit is all school branded now, it’s ridiculous and I don’t understand the point of having to have the logo on everything. Seems to be some weird dick wave from the school if you ask me.

Also think primaries that make the kids wear a shirt and tie rather than a polo shirt are ridiculous too. Funnily enough my old primary was like this but now they allow polo shirts. Fuck it I don’t see why secondary school kids can’t wear polo’s either, much more comfortable.

Im not particularly for/against uniform - many countries don’t bother with it and cope fine, but if we’re going to have one it should be affordable, practical and not pretentious. They are children, not little business people.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

What are the prices of school uniforms btw? I always hear that it can be really expensive?

Supermarket school uniform is generally cheap in my experience, you can get a 5 pack of polo shirts for around £6 for example. My kids primary aren’t bothered about logos so we can get pretty much everything from asda/Sainsbury’s. A single polo shirt with the school logo on would cost around £10.

It’s the logo stuff that costs more and if your school requires it then that’s where it starts to get expensive as you can’t get those from the supermarket. It’s usually secondary schools that are guilty of this but it’s not unheard of at primary level too.

 

[Meh]

These prices are outrageous!

When I was in high school we didn’t have to wear uniform. The policy was for uniform but it wasn’t a great school and wasn’t enforced. It was the goody-goodies who wore uniform. My teachers remarks used to infuriate me though; I was still top of my classes with exception of Maths, because... well... . They used to haul me out once a week to scream about how I wouldn’t pass my exams... because I was in jeans/trainers. Wtf. Left with As and went to Uni.

Now, as an adult, I can appreciate where a uniform policy comes in useful. Reducing bullying over financial status. However, don’t tell lies that a person is unemployable and will not pass exams. When clearly that has nothing to do with attainment.

 

[DuckDuck]

My daughters school has decided to reverse back to an old previous school name .... she has 3bastard blazers at £30 each , school pe kit with the school logo on which socks itself was £15 and she’s lost 3 pairs in the year she hasn’t really been there , pe tops school logo , pe jumper school logo
They are fucked if I’m paying for more . She WILL be attending school in the uniform she has now unless the school give me a huge amount of towards new . I’ve only JUST bought more because she grew out of hers since being off since Christmas and only just going back
Don’t the school actually give a shiny one . I will be making noise A LOTof noise it’s not even going to an academy like all now are , it IS an academy they want to drop the Academy part.
Think Manor park academy so the logo is MPA but is going back to Manor park ... it’s not the name of the school by the way I just made that up but all it’s doing is dropping the academy part

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

Just realised how limited options must be for parents nowadays. When I was a kid in the 90s everywhere sold uniforms- Littlewoods, BHS, Mothercare, Woolies, random lower budget shops- seems with most of the high street gone, the few shops that do stock it can charge silly prices.

I dunno, every major supermarket sells uniform now at such a cheap price and decent quality. Would the likes of mothercare and bhs be so cheap? I’ve never felt like my options are limited unless I leave it too late to buy new uniform and everything in the sizes I need is out of stock!

 

[DanaScully]

It's ludicrous how expensive some school uniforms are, especially for parents with multiple children.

I went to a comprehensive so we had a pretty bog standard uniform, but some of the other local Catholic schools had very specific uniforms that had different colours for each year group and wool blazers with the school logo embroidered that cost a fortune.

I do think uniform is important at school and I think there should also be rules to stop children wearing designer bags, coats and shoes/trainers at school as for me this defeats the purpose of the uniform. Where I live people are really into designer clothing so I imagine it must be so hard for children whose families can't afford it.

The only thing I disagree with regarding uniform is that when I was in school we had to keep our blazers on at all times which I still think was a stupid rule. It could be 30°C at the height of summer and some teachers wouldn't let us take them off!

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

I think uniform is a good idea but the way schools are now is overzealous. Excluding children for wearing the wrong black shoes just goes too far. I worked in a high end solicitor's office and our clothes weren't scrutinised to anywhere near the degree school children are now. The main reason for uniform was to ensure that children from low income families didn't feel excluded, however, when uniforms cost far more than is reasonable it is no longer serving its purpose. When I was at secondary school, our uniform had to be purchased at a particular shop and our jumper cost £38 in 1990 which was absolutely ridiculous, I no longer remember the full cost of the uniform but we had to have the whole shebang, skirt, shirt, tie and PE kit from that shop. My mum bought my uniform big so I got a few years out of it, when I finally needed a new jumper the school had started selling them and the replacement cost £20 so the shop must have been making some profit.

 

[the_moonins]

My eldest’s school uniform and school shoes, PE kit and trainers cost me around £400.
I agree that they should have a uniform... but I think it needs to just be a school tie and be able to get everything else from supermarkets. My eldest has to wear a school issued blazer, tie and school issued jumper, and all of his PE kit is branded too. I don’t know why they can’t just wear black joggers/shorts and white T-shirt at least for PE. His PE kit cost £120... and as we all know, they grow out of everything or lose things

 

[Pinkii]

I think its a terrible idea!!

school uniform is great as it creates equality, there is no rich/poor divide and kids don’t have to worry about that, but do agree it should be a basic uniform that you can get anywhere.

i remember non uniform day for me was a nightmare, Not wearing the right thing or whatever and people would be taking the mickey. It would always make me so anxious and if I could I would have skipped school on non uniform Days

I can’t even imagine what it would be like in this day and age without uniforms, kids already have so much peer pressure as it is from
Social media etc, they don’t need it from another source.

 

[StormSolitaire]

Just realised how limited options must be for parents nowadays. When I was a kid in the 90s everywhere sold uniforms- Littlewoods, BHS, Mothercare, Woolies, random lower budget shops- seems with most of the high street gone, the few shops that do stock it can charge silly prices.

 

[threeSMEGfridges]

I think uniforms are good in general however the "everything must be school branded at 3x the price" insistence is ridiculous. School logo jumper or blazer and tie, fine, but let parents buy generic shirts trousers and skirts for goodness sakes.