>If we allowed non-uniform coats, we believe strongly that it would erode the great relationships we have with the students day to day as inevitably students would push the boundaries and wear hoodies and other coats (inc. styles and colours) that undermines the high standards we have.
This is true. I wore a hoody once and punched a granny.
Quickly went back to my besuited look and I only robbed a pension fund
Just mention:
For those who want their kids to comply but not die – there be some great thermal underwear out there, silk, merino wool, etc, etc…
I’ve been pretty desperate and done some shitty jobs in my time, but not sure how stuck I would have to be to confiscate kids coats in winter. I suppose its still better than being the person telling other people to confiscate coats, but then I’m not qualified enough to be a head teacher.
Wearing uniforms is already a process of indoctrination which needs to end however this level of enforcement is uniform terrorism.
As an old bloke whose school uniform was essentially a maroon sweatshirt, I still can’t get my head around the resurgence in school uniforms over the last twenty years or so. Now the kids seem to have to pass parade ground inspections; there are loads of Carpetright schools in my area and the amount of ribbon on blazers denoting year and ‘rank’ is actually quasi-military, and even sixth formers aren’t exempt.
When did schools become military establishments?
Schools are getting crazy, maybe they should concentrate on lessons not if someone had a brand name on a shoe, a coat was a different shade of blue or someone forgot a tie once and got treated like they killed a baby unicorn.
I get need for some uniform but coukd be simple as a dark school coat. Thats pretty open and flexible.
Also from a security stand point, kids wearing all branded uniformd and coats etc, its obvious as hell where are going etc, what school they at.
Where as a plain darkncoat of various styles thats practical and comfortable is far more abiguous. You can least not tell exactly what school someone attends by sight.
Would not want my kid wearing a blatnent advert to world exactly what route they going to walk to school.
We celebrate all childrens individuality, except when it comes to coats. Schools little racket and monopolies with local clothing retailers is looking less and less legitimate every year.
What annoys me here is that it’s the parents that need speaking too, not the kid who needs punishing.
I’ve always told mine if they have a problem with something I’ve sent them in with then to tell the teacher to call me to discuss.
FYI: I’m not saying the coat was right or wrong just that the kid shouldn’t of been punished.
>”If we allowed non-uniform coats, we believe strongly that it would erode the great relationships we have with the students day to day as inevitably students would push the boundaries and wear hoodies and other coats (inc. styles and colours) that undermines the high standards we have.
Never have I read such a pile of unmitigated bollocks.
Forcing children to conform rather than encouraging self expression is so archaic. There’s no logical reason for arbitrary dress codes, all they have is ‘that’s just the way it is.’ Nothing should be because it’s just the way it is.
I had a brief glance at exam results when picking my kids’ high school, but in the end I went with one *that was fucking normal*. No banning half the kids for having hair on their heads. No £30 socks. No mental coat rules.
Academies are an utter joke, nothing but profit-making businesses determined to squeeze every penny they can, and it’s ridiculous that I consider myself *lucky* to have a non-Academy school to send mine to.
Mad this is a thing at School while my work allows me to wear a bape hoody and Jordans.
Why do we focus on unimportant stuff like this when the actual educational curriculum has massive issues in itself? This school goes mad because the kids don’t wear their shitty branded coats but apparently the fact that schools barely teach kids any actual essential adult skills isn’t a problem?
Let’s not stir away attention from the actual issues. Let the poor kids be warm, it’s a school not military
reminds me of when i had my coat confiscated in winter at lunch because it was navy blue instead of black… i was like 13
Isn’t there a law passing through stopping this shit?
My secondary (90’s) used to be plain trousers, shirt, school tie and a dark pull over (scratchy bastard irritated my psoriasis to no end) dark shoes and no certain brand jackets (spiffy!)
Stuff like gym wear you could just go joggers/shorts and a shirt/vest and trunks
Now its like 90% branded shit from “school outfitter” and that is bearing in mind you’d want multiples of some of it (the shirts) you are looking at well over £100 at worst £200
Its a racket.. and no fucking way its making them behave better.
Its the teachers I feel for because they aren’t in the job for the money to begin with, they have a hard enough job as is without all the added bureaucracy
Also calling bollocks on not being able to tell the wealthy ones from poor ones, those whose parents have clout could fuck off the fines/threats for unauthorised absences (or have a word with the hm), I wasn’t even able to go on a respite break (not the same thing at all) with my family as a young carer.
I live very close to a primary school and it upsets me enough to see the little kids running about with no coats as it is, and that’s (presumably) their choice.
To take a coat OFF of a child who wants to wear it… shocking.
“Buy from our prescribed supplier or freeze”
-Principal working the racket
I had to wear a shirt and tie with a jumper on primary school, and then a blazer with shirt and tie in secondary, and then a different bloody blazer in sixth form (at the same school). It’s all bullshit, they say it’s to prepare us for work life, but I’ve done work at a big 4 audit firm and I never had to wear anything smarter than jeans and a jumper.
I agree with school uniform to an extent, but it should just be comfortable like a jumper and some form of trousers. No point in forcing kids to wear Ill fitting, uncomfortable clothes.
Sue the school. I bet the head of that school, has shares in that brand of clothing. Which would probably make it a conflict of interest. Check it out, I’m not saying I’m right, but it could be?.
If you were an office worker and your office was as cold as these classrooms you would be legally entitled to walk out the door.
If a kid doesn’t have appropriate PPE for the temperature in a classroom they ***legally*** ***have*** to attend then the school should supply it.
Many schools out there still have a no coats policy for both students and teachers when they have to keep the windows open. I expect the Headteachers and Academy chain bureaucrats who enforce this bullshit sit in nice warm offices.
If you are going to make someone wear something to be somewhere then you pay for it. Otherwise you can fuck off: it’s not reasonable and society shouldn’t be letting this on.
When I went to school we had a blazer (any one you wanted) with an iron on patch, a specific tie and a branded PE polo shirt were the only requirements, everything else we could source from wherever we wanted.
Sure the blazer, trousers and shoes had to be black but we were not being forced to get it all from one expensive uniform shop.
It is ridiculous the amount of stuff parents have to shell out for now from one specific shop.
Acadamies only just started to be a thing when I left school and I think things got stricter after that.
Pretty upsetting these people are responsible for educating children.
I thought Labour proposed a new law, which was sorely needed by the way, that kids could wear cheaper off-brand school uniforms and just buy the badge of the school or put on it?
I swear I read a headline last year saying that was the case. It might not have come into effect yet.
School uniforms are a good idea, but the rackets that schools have set up with certain shops is absolutely deplorable.
School uniforms shouldn’t be about punishing less fortunate families. It should be standardising everyone so that clothing isn’t a source or ridicule for children while at school. They should be as cheap, and as basic as possible.
When I went to school in London, the uniform was expensive, but easy to come by.
I don’t get why you can’t buy uniform clothes DIRECTLY from the school. That’s what my school did.
It was actually fine, only needing a PE Polo shirt, a standard Polo shirt and the option for a blazer/jumper. Everything else had to be trousers/skirt and not trainers.
I do prefer limited uniform (basically just preventing partial nudity) in schools.
Its a sad time that schools are having to market their own products to pay for education
I’m 99% sure school uniforms are a scam to force families to buy clothes at a high markup. I’m 99% sure someone either in the school system or with links to the school system are making money out of it.
I mean they could be all “here are a list of things that are easily and cheaply available we want you to get for uniform” but no, instead they’ll all “we want you to buy the uniform with the logo of the school from this specific supplier through the school for this marked up price. You can’t get it cheaper anywhere else and if you don’t get this we’ll punish your child”. The fuck are you meant to do? You’re forced into buying this for your kid. What if you cannot afford it? You have to rely on uniform banks but what if you can’t access that? You’re basically fucked if you are poor. I remember my primary school posting up school uniform order sheets right after christmas. Fuck that shit. Also you can only buy them at a specific part of the year, not year round because fuck you if you cannot afford shit at the specific period the overlords of the education system want you to buy shit.
The more I hear about the school uniform system the more I think it’s a scam.
I absolutely love teaching, but this type of stupid shit is the worst thing about teaching in the UK.
Had something similar happen to my son. He is autistic and can only wear a zip up jacket that has the same lining as a hoody. I call it a zip up hoodless hoody. I purchase plain black and have the school logo embroidered onto it. It is a school jacket only. I obtained permission from the school every year that this would be acceptable.
He will not wear a coat.
One year he went to the school in his jacket and the temp was -2. One of his teachers made him remove the jacket at the gate and enter school in a polo shirt. I went absolutely crazy with them. He was more dressed for school than his fellow students who wore coats with various branded logos on them. But as she decided it was a ‘hoody’ he had to remove it. The school governors were involved etc. what a farce it was
If you assign anything except the most simple uniform, supply the uniform free of charge.
>They would literally have to have a branded polo, branded sweater, branded fleece and branded anorak in order to be warm and dry outside
The Head Teachers that introduce such nonsense need a severe kick in the baws.
I wonder how hard it will be to roll back this stupid academy experiment and get schools back under the control of local education authorities.
Privatising the bulk of primary and secondary schools across England has been a major win for the fucking Tories. I feel like no one’s batted an eyelid about it.
It makes me wonder why they’re taking the ‘boiling the frog’ approach to privatising the NHS and just doing it piecemeal instead of a big bang privatisation – I feel like they could get away with it.
Very fortunately both my kids are in schools where the uniforms are a jumper, polo shirt and trousers of a specific colour (or close enough) along with a coat that’s appropriate for the weather; we are dissuaded from sending them in designer gear (does George at Asda count) but other than that stick to the theme and you will be ok
They put a kid in “isolation”? What the fuck is that? Solitary confinement?
Can someone please explain to me the UK’s fetish with uniforms in schools? You don’t see them elsewhere in Europe or North America.
I used to go to a secondary school wherein the only skirt permitted for girls to wear was demeaningly short. Being relatively tall, these skirts placed me in several uncomfortable situations with other students and male members of staff. No matter how many people voiced concern about the skirts, nobody listened.
Blazers and coats were another issue! We had to ask for permission to take our blazers off, even in 30 degree weather in rooms without air con. We also had to take our coats off as we walked through the door into the classroom – even if it was a freezing winters day and the windows were open for ventilation!
Never thought I’d see my old school on Reddit but here we are…
It wasn’t so bad then but same principles applied. I remember you could only get the sports kit from one shop as well and if you didn’t get it you’d have to wear unwashed lost property kit soooo yeah not surprised
This stupid trend of dressing kids up like they’re going to Hogwarts needs to end. Been wondering what the fuck is going on, school uniform in the 90s seemed to be trending towards the more simple end of things but now they’re all branded up, blazers, coats etc. It looks ridiculous and must be so expensive to keep up with.
If they insist on uniform it should be as cheap as possible, I’d say get rid of them entirely but apparently UK schools are still clinging to the mistaken idea they’re an equaliser so lets at least get back to basics and ditch all this silly shit.
39 comments
>If we allowed non-uniform coats, we believe strongly that it would erode the great relationships we have with the students day to day as inevitably students would push the boundaries and wear hoodies and other coats (inc. styles and colours) that undermines the high standards we have.
This is true. I wore a hoody once and punched a granny.
Quickly went back to my besuited look and I only robbed a pension fund
Just mention:
For those who want their kids to comply but not die – there be some great thermal underwear out there, silk, merino wool, etc, etc…
I’ve been pretty desperate and done some shitty jobs in my time, but not sure how stuck I would have to be to confiscate kids coats in winter. I suppose its still better than being the person telling other people to confiscate coats, but then I’m not qualified enough to be a head teacher.
Wearing uniforms is already a process of indoctrination which needs to end however this level of enforcement is uniform terrorism.
As an old bloke whose school uniform was essentially a maroon sweatshirt, I still can’t get my head around the resurgence in school uniforms over the last twenty years or so. Now the kids seem to have to pass parade ground inspections; there are loads of Carpetright schools in my area and the amount of ribbon on blazers denoting year and ‘rank’ is actually quasi-military, and even sixth formers aren’t exempt.
When did schools become military establishments?
Schools are getting crazy, maybe they should concentrate on lessons not if someone had a brand name on a shoe, a coat was a different shade of blue or someone forgot a tie once and got treated like they killed a baby unicorn.
I get need for some uniform but coukd be simple as a dark school coat. Thats pretty open and flexible.
Also from a security stand point, kids wearing all branded uniformd and coats etc, its obvious as hell where are going etc, what school they at.
Where as a plain darkncoat of various styles thats practical and comfortable is far more abiguous. You can least not tell exactly what school someone attends by sight.
Would not want my kid wearing a blatnent advert to world exactly what route they going to walk to school.
We celebrate all childrens individuality, except when it comes to coats. Schools little racket and monopolies with local clothing retailers is looking less and less legitimate every year.
What annoys me here is that it’s the parents that need speaking too, not the kid who needs punishing.
I’ve always told mine if they have a problem with something I’ve sent them in with then to tell the teacher to call me to discuss.
FYI: I’m not saying the coat was right or wrong just that the kid shouldn’t of been punished.
>”If we allowed non-uniform coats, we believe strongly that it would erode the great relationships we have with the students day to day as inevitably students would push the boundaries and wear hoodies and other coats (inc. styles and colours) that undermines the high standards we have.
Never have I read such a pile of unmitigated bollocks.
Forcing children to conform rather than encouraging self expression is so archaic. There’s no logical reason for arbitrary dress codes, all they have is ‘that’s just the way it is.’ Nothing should be because it’s just the way it is.
I had a brief glance at exam results when picking my kids’ high school, but in the end I went with one *that was fucking normal*. No banning half the kids for having hair on their heads. No £30 socks. No mental coat rules.
Academies are an utter joke, nothing but profit-making businesses determined to squeeze every penny they can, and it’s ridiculous that I consider myself *lucky* to have a non-Academy school to send mine to.
Mad this is a thing at School while my work allows me to wear a bape hoody and Jordans.
Why do we focus on unimportant stuff like this when the actual educational curriculum has massive issues in itself? This school goes mad because the kids don’t wear their shitty branded coats but apparently the fact that schools barely teach kids any actual essential adult skills isn’t a problem?
Let’s not stir away attention from the actual issues. Let the poor kids be warm, it’s a school not military
reminds me of when i had my coat confiscated in winter at lunch because it was navy blue instead of black… i was like 13
Isn’t there a law passing through stopping this shit?
My secondary (90’s) used to be plain trousers, shirt, school tie and a dark pull over (scratchy bastard irritated my psoriasis to no end) dark shoes and no certain brand jackets (spiffy!)
Stuff like gym wear you could just go joggers/shorts and a shirt/vest and trunks
Now its like 90% branded shit from “school outfitter” and that is bearing in mind you’d want multiples of some of it (the shirts) you are looking at well over £100 at worst £200
Its a racket.. and no fucking way its making them behave better.
Its the teachers I feel for because they aren’t in the job for the money to begin with, they have a hard enough job as is without all the added bureaucracy
Also calling bollocks on not being able to tell the wealthy ones from poor ones, those whose parents have clout could fuck off the fines/threats for unauthorised absences (or have a word with the hm), I wasn’t even able to go on a respite break (not the same thing at all) with my family as a young carer.
I live very close to a primary school and it upsets me enough to see the little kids running about with no coats as it is, and that’s (presumably) their choice.
To take a coat OFF of a child who wants to wear it… shocking.
“Buy from our prescribed supplier or freeze”
-Principal working the racket
I had to wear a shirt and tie with a jumper on primary school, and then a blazer with shirt and tie in secondary, and then a different bloody blazer in sixth form (at the same school). It’s all bullshit, they say it’s to prepare us for work life, but I’ve done work at a big 4 audit firm and I never had to wear anything smarter than jeans and a jumper.
I agree with school uniform to an extent, but it should just be comfortable like a jumper and some form of trousers. No point in forcing kids to wear Ill fitting, uncomfortable clothes.
Sue the school. I bet the head of that school, has shares in that brand of clothing. Which would probably make it a conflict of interest. Check it out, I’m not saying I’m right, but it could be?.
If you were an office worker and your office was as cold as these classrooms you would be legally entitled to walk out the door.
If a kid doesn’t have appropriate PPE for the temperature in a classroom they ***legally*** ***have*** to attend then the school should supply it.
Many schools out there still have a no coats policy for both students and teachers when they have to keep the windows open. I expect the Headteachers and Academy chain bureaucrats who enforce this bullshit sit in nice warm offices.
If you are going to make someone wear something to be somewhere then you pay for it. Otherwise you can fuck off: it’s not reasonable and society shouldn’t be letting this on.
When I went to school we had a blazer (any one you wanted) with an iron on patch, a specific tie and a branded PE polo shirt were the only requirements, everything else we could source from wherever we wanted.
Sure the blazer, trousers and shoes had to be black but we were not being forced to get it all from one expensive uniform shop.
It is ridiculous the amount of stuff parents have to shell out for now from one specific shop.
Acadamies only just started to be a thing when I left school and I think things got stricter after that.
Pretty upsetting these people are responsible for educating children.
I thought Labour proposed a new law, which was sorely needed by the way, that kids could wear cheaper off-brand school uniforms and just buy the badge of the school or put on it?
I swear I read a headline last year saying that was the case. It might not have come into effect yet.
School uniforms are a good idea, but the rackets that schools have set up with certain shops is absolutely deplorable.
School uniforms shouldn’t be about punishing less fortunate families. It should be standardising everyone so that clothing isn’t a source or ridicule for children while at school. They should be as cheap, and as basic as possible.
When I went to school in London, the uniform was expensive, but easy to come by.
I don’t get why you can’t buy uniform clothes DIRECTLY from the school. That’s what my school did.
It was actually fine, only needing a PE Polo shirt, a standard Polo shirt and the option for a blazer/jumper. Everything else had to be trousers/skirt and not trainers.
I do prefer limited uniform (basically just preventing partial nudity) in schools.
Its a sad time that schools are having to market their own products to pay for education
I’m 99% sure school uniforms are a scam to force families to buy clothes at a high markup. I’m 99% sure someone either in the school system or with links to the school system are making money out of it.
I mean they could be all “here are a list of things that are easily and cheaply available we want you to get for uniform” but no, instead they’ll all “we want you to buy the uniform with the logo of the school from this specific supplier through the school for this marked up price. You can’t get it cheaper anywhere else and if you don’t get this we’ll punish your child”. The fuck are you meant to do? You’re forced into buying this for your kid. What if you cannot afford it? You have to rely on uniform banks but what if you can’t access that? You’re basically fucked if you are poor. I remember my primary school posting up school uniform order sheets right after christmas. Fuck that shit. Also you can only buy them at a specific part of the year, not year round because fuck you if you cannot afford shit at the specific period the overlords of the education system want you to buy shit.
The more I hear about the school uniform system the more I think it’s a scam.
I absolutely love teaching, but this type of stupid shit is the worst thing about teaching in the UK.
Had something similar happen to my son. He is autistic and can only wear a zip up jacket that has the same lining as a hoody. I call it a zip up hoodless hoody. I purchase plain black and have the school logo embroidered onto it. It is a school jacket only. I obtained permission from the school every year that this would be acceptable.
He will not wear a coat.
One year he went to the school in his jacket and the temp was -2. One of his teachers made him remove the jacket at the gate and enter school in a polo shirt. I went absolutely crazy with them. He was more dressed for school than his fellow students who wore coats with various branded logos on them. But as she decided it was a ‘hoody’ he had to remove it. The school governors were involved etc. what a farce it was
If you assign anything except the most simple uniform, supply the uniform free of charge.
>They would literally have to have a branded polo, branded sweater, branded fleece and branded anorak in order to be warm and dry outside
The Head Teachers that introduce such nonsense need a severe kick in the baws.
I wonder how hard it will be to roll back this stupid academy experiment and get schools back under the control of local education authorities.
Privatising the bulk of primary and secondary schools across England has been a major win for the fucking Tories. I feel like no one’s batted an eyelid about it.
It makes me wonder why they’re taking the ‘boiling the frog’ approach to privatising the NHS and just doing it piecemeal instead of a big bang privatisation – I feel like they could get away with it.
Very fortunately both my kids are in schools where the uniforms are a jumper, polo shirt and trousers of a specific colour (or close enough) along with a coat that’s appropriate for the weather; we are dissuaded from sending them in designer gear (does George at Asda count) but other than that stick to the theme and you will be ok
They put a kid in “isolation”? What the fuck is that? Solitary confinement?
Can someone please explain to me the UK’s fetish with uniforms in schools? You don’t see them elsewhere in Europe or North America.
I used to go to a secondary school wherein the only skirt permitted for girls to wear was demeaningly short. Being relatively tall, these skirts placed me in several uncomfortable situations with other students and male members of staff. No matter how many people voiced concern about the skirts, nobody listened.
Blazers and coats were another issue! We had to ask for permission to take our blazers off, even in 30 degree weather in rooms without air con. We also had to take our coats off as we walked through the door into the classroom – even if it was a freezing winters day and the windows were open for ventilation!
Never thought I’d see my old school on Reddit but here we are…
It wasn’t so bad then but same principles applied. I remember you could only get the sports kit from one shop as well and if you didn’t get it you’d have to wear unwashed lost property kit soooo yeah not surprised
This stupid trend of dressing kids up like they’re going to Hogwarts needs to end. Been wondering what the fuck is going on, school uniform in the 90s seemed to be trending towards the more simple end of things but now they’re all branded up, blazers, coats etc. It looks ridiculous and must be so expensive to keep up with.
If they insist on uniform it should be as cheap as possible, I’d say get rid of them entirely but apparently UK schools are still clinging to the mistaken idea they’re an equaliser so lets at least get back to basics and ditch all this silly shit.