School Uniform !

Carmen_Queasy

Loads of kids wear clothes from cheap shops all the time not just in school. Plus if you go in places like Primark at the weekend you can see it is full of teenagers buying their own stuff voluntarily £2 plimsolls etc there as just isn't the same stigma to buying cheap clothes there was a few years ago.

Oldernotwiser

Carmen_Queasy wrote: »

Loads of kids wear clothes from cheap shops all the time not just in school. Plus if you go in places like Primark at the weekend you can see it is full of teenagers buying their own stuff voluntarily £2 plimsolls etc there as just isn't the same stigma to buying cheap clothes there was a few years ago.

Primark may be different but try putting most teenagers into Tesco and Asda clothes and I don't think you'll get very far.

AsknAnswer

poet123 wrote: »

The Head has probably given up and earmarked you (quite rightly imo) as a difficult parent.

I assume you read and digested the school prospectus before you accepted the offer of a place at that school for your child? If so, I would expect the details and expectations of the uniform to have been spelled out in that document. By accepting the place you signed up to adhering to that standard, yet you blithely disregard it because it doesn't suit.

Remove your child, and seek a place at a school more akin with your needs, don't let the education of your child have a bearing on the decision, make it purely on the basis of whether the uniform policy fits your ethos.:rolleyes:

I didn't have a choice which school my child attends, thank you very much. Which school a child attends around here is determined by the catchment area that they reside within, there are no exceptions unless the child has a special need.

Again, I reiterate: The role of the education authority is to educate my child in the three "r's" as it is known. Not to dictate to me what I should spend for a picture. My daughter is dressed exactly as the uniform policy specifies, with the exception of having a logo'd top because I flat out refuse to pay those prices, simply because they are ridiculous. I may not have a problem affording it, but that is not the issue, and many parents do have a problem financially affording it. The issue is how ridiculously priced they are, and the school don't know what the incomes of the parents are. I would have no issue in paying for it if it was more reasonably priced, in the same manner that I won't pay a hairdresser £30 to have my hair cut when my local hairdresser does it for £9. The majority of the time the children have their tops off in school anyway as the heating is very hot inside the school, and the kids are running about in their shirts/blouses or polo's which DON'T have a logo on. Outside in the cold weather, they have their coats on. The only time the logos are actually seen are on school outings or school photos. So, nope I won't pay for it.

Oldernotwiser

AsknAnswer wrote: »

I didn't have a choice which school my child attends, thank you very much. Which school a child attends around here is determined by the catchment area that they reside within.

Even if that's the case, parents should support their child's school and not pick fights about minor matters. What message does this send out to your children?

mumps

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But everyone on here talks about buying cheap shirts/skirts from Asda and Woolworths when it comes to school uniform. No teenager I know would be prepared to be seen dead in this sort of thing out of school so I can't see how it can be cheaper not to wear it.

I think many of the people who complain about uniform spend far more on clothes for out of school and therefore begrudge the uniform prices. Perhaps if they got their priorities right and spent more money on uniform (which their children wear most of the week) and bought the cheap stuff for weekends then they'd find they could manage better.

But why make uniform dearer than it needs to be? My older sons with a smart black blazer from BHS and a school badge looked smarter than the younger ones did in overpriced sweatshirts with embroidered logo. Girls in "old fashioned" white blouses with a tie look just as smart as my daughter did in an open neck three quarter sleeved white blouse that cost three times the price. Most parents I know support school uniform but there is a need for a little common sense. All my children went to grammar schools, both schools are good schools with great results and good ofsted reports. I liked both schools but the first school had a reasonable school uniform policy which looked very smart, the second had an over complicated, over priced uniform which was less smart.

By the way I know loads of kids who love Tesco clothes, especially the boys. Perhaps the kids here in the sticks are less into labels than kids in big cities but lots of teenagers wear tesco clothes.

mumps

Minxy_Bella wrote: »

This is true - after my A levels, I got a job in our Civic Centre, processing the free school uniform vouchers. 1983, it must have been.

Oh and I've never worked in a school that profited from the sale of uniform!

The school my youngest child goes to does, it is actually shown in school accounts, can't find the figures for last year, I know I had them at a parents meeting, but I think it was a significant sum.

Carmen_Queasy

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Even if that's the case, parents should support their child's school and not pick fights about minor matters. What message does this send out to your children?

Question rules if they don't make sense? Pretty good message to teach the younger generation if I do say so myself!

Coupon-mad

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Primark may be different but try putting most teenagers into Tesco and Asda clothes and I don't think you'll get very far.

I'd say you are incorrect with this assumption, and I am not just saying that because I am a Tesco voucher-vulture!

My teenage daughter likes to get a few key items from the most sought-after shops in town (usually using a voucher she's received for her birthday), then mixes and matches them with cheap (but pretty good quality) clothes bought in Tesco, Asda, Primark and the sales.

All her friends are the same and they look absolutely lovely. IMHO I wouldn't say my experience is unusual either, friends with kids at other schools say their children are the same, there are only a few designer items but lots of cheap items in their wardrobes.

The very worst quality clothes my 4 children have, in terms of the rubbishy man-made materials used, and the cost compared with how badly they last after a few washes - are their school uniforms!:rolleyes: Like other posters, we also have to buy items with the logo on (primary and secondary, state schools).

Oldernotwiser

mumps wrote: »

By the way I know loads of kids who love Tesco clothes, especially the boys. Perhaps the kids here in the sticks are less into labels than kids in big cities but lots of teenagers wear tesco clothes.

I wonder whether you're talking about younger kids than I am; I certainly don't live in a big city.

The trouble with schools using chain stores for anything other than the most basic items is that the kids all look the same and that doesn't help either identification or school identity. You need something that stands out more than a small blazer badge.

(Your daughter's shirt does sound horrendous, by the way.)

mumps

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Seeing we're all getting into the nostalgia act:

At my school we weren't allowed to wear "nylons" until the fifth form (or tights when they came in). You had to wear long socks!

I think we were allowed to wear them in third year, it could have been fourth but definitely before fifth year. I hadn't thought just how expensive those tights were, two thirds of my wages for a days work. My daughter was getting £30+ for a similar job when she was in six form so that would be £20 for a pair of tights :eek: She goes to primark and expects a bag full for that.