School uniform

Poppy9

Our primary school has a compulsory uniform policy. However loads of kids flout this by wearing black instead of grey trousers. Letters come out to parents every term reminding them of what the uniform is but they still buy the black trousers. Same with shirts a few kids wear Polo shirts instead of proper shirts/blouses. The head doesn't exclude children for non uniform but why do parents do it? There isn't a difference in price. Asda sell basic grey school trousers from £4 and a pack of 3 school shirts for £8.

If the parents didn't like the uniform policy why did they decide to send their kids to the school? There are 3 excellent state schools in the same area which they would have had their pick of which do not have compulsory school uniform. Yet they opted for a church school with a compulsory uniform policy. I feel this is poor parenting setting a bad example to their children. They are basically telling their kids its ok to ignore rules and regulations. Its no coincidence that the non uniform kids are the disruptive, loud mouth ones.

Queenie

I agree totally!

But then, I've lost count of the times newsletters have needed to remind PARENTS to:

A) not smoke in school grounds
not bring their dogs into the school grounds
C) to park considerately!!!!! (It's truly amazing how some of these parents decide they are the only ones who have a child needing to be picked up which justifies blocking others in, double parking, parking on pavements and even .... stopping in the middle of the road honking their horns so the child knows they are there and their child then runs across to climb into the vehicle!!!)

Mine also attend a church school, but the amount of *French* these kids use could even shame an army parade Sgt!

Poppy9

Oh Queenie don't get me started on parking. I didn't realise that Zig Zags and the bus lane don't apply to 4x4's or prats. I must have missed that page of the highway code.:rolleyes:

Can't say I have ever seen parents smoking in the school though. Thats just gross.

Dog sh*t. Someone locally takes great delight of an evening letting their dog do the business on the pavement outside the school where the buses stop.

jellyhead

i hate seeing parents smoking! up to them if they smoke around their own children but how dare they smoke near mine! my nephews are asthmatic for heavens sake, as are lots of kids at the school. i don't see why smokers can't abstain for the few minutes they're in a playground. grrrrr!

as for uniform, school actually changed the policy because so many girls insisted on wearing red dresses and cardigans, there were more red dresses than blue!

Becles

Most of the children at my sons school live within 20 mins walk of school. However, the road outside school and the small car park for the football field opposite is always jam packed with cars. They often cause hazards by parking on the zig zags, junction or in the bus stop so the bus has nowhere to stop.

I came home from work today at 3.05pm and went past the usual people sitting in cars reading newspapers just so they could bag the spaces nearest school. School doesn't finish till 3.30pm. I can't understand why anyone would sit and wait for that length of time when they could be walking instead.

Wet weather is the worst and there have been a few near misses as parents sweep into the school driveway risking the lives of other children, just so their 'little darlings' don't get few less rain drops on them.

A mother of a child in my sons class is extremely obese and the children are following in her footsteps. She said she was advised by the GP to take more exercise and diet for health reasons. She lives 15 mins walk away, and I suggested 2 x 30 min walks a day would be a good start to lose weight. I got my head bitten off at the suggestion of walking

Personally I'm in favour of banning all cars on school runs of less than a mile. I think it's beneficial for the children to walk to school, makes the road outside school safer for children and stops the congestion in the streets next to school where inconsiderate parents block others driveways.

Poppy9

Beceles

In an ideal world parents would be able to walk their kids to school. The problem isn't always laziness though. If you are a working parent and have just a 10 minute walk to school you would then have to walk back home again. Assuming you spend 5 minutes passing the time of day that means you a 10 minute school run takes 25 minutes. This might not leave you enough time to get to work. I am lucky as I live over 2 miles away from my primary so we get free school bus. Picks up at 8.20am and drops back at 3.35pm. This means on the days I work I can be in work by 8.45am and I finish about 3.15pm. If I had to take to school, even driving I wouldn't get in until 9.10am (if we walked I might would make lunch hour LOL) as school in opposite direction to work and traffic at its peak. To get to the school to collect and I would have to finish work at 3pm. From experience when I get to the school just at 3.20pm (our finish time) there is nowhere to park within 5 mins walking distance so then I am late collecting.

Bossyboots

Its a while since my children were at primary school but it was actually a fact then that primary schools cannot demand children wear school uniform. Therefore, they are pretty toothless if someone decides to ignore the dress code.

As for parking, I have to drive home somewhat out of my way because the quickest route is always clogged with cars parked collecting children from the local school. After two scary incidents squeezing through and one day when I was stuck for 20 minutes, I now drive around the problem area, adding distance and time on my journey home. The only good thing about the school holidays is that at least I can take the shortest route home from work.

Becles

I'm a single working mother who walks her children to school, walks home and drives to work, and manages to get home in time to walk there and back on an afternoon.

If I'm in a hurry, I don't 'pass the time of day' as work is more important.

However I think my childrens health more important and make the effort to walk twice a day.

Spendless

I should imagine that that totally depends on what your work hours are and how far away from the school you live.

Last week a child got knocked over on the street outside our school- cars parked just as described previously. What makes me annoyed is that our parish councillors have given permission to use a car park down my street and hardly anyone bothers preferring to park bang outside instead!

It would take a maximum of 4 minutes to walk from car-park to nearest schoolgate. I know because i timed it the same day the child was knocked over as i wanted to fetch up the matter in a village meeting.

I timed myself walking with my 5 year old and the 2 year old in her pushchair.

4 MINUTES to ensure children are safe but people can't be bothered!!

But on the subject of school uniforms - no i haven't seen anyone flouting the rules.

jellyhead

the streets around our school are pretty empty too because everyone prefers to park on the 2 streets the school gates are on (school is on a corner). the lolly lady can't see over cars if they park on the traffic calming humps and the school newsletter mentions kids almost being run over pretty much every week or two but nobody seems to take any notice. i understand that some people have to drive but it really wouldn't do them any harm to park 2 streets away then walk for a couple of minutes. i've been hit by a car on the 'don't park' road markings we can't get to school gates without crossing, not hard, just a bump but it hurt (i'm pregnant, lots of aches and pains lol!) - this is a side street and there's no need for cars to be in it at all but parents who drive are always the laziest and insist on getting their fat lazy kids as close to the school gates as possible. thank god it was me who was hit (in the hip) rather than a shorter kid weighing less than i do, they would have been hurt much more than i was, i fell to the floor but a lighter kid might have been thrown some distance.

my sis lives almost 2 miles from the school but she parks 2 or 3 streets away and walks the rest of the way, i don't see why other people can't.

Poppy9

Spendless you are quite right I was trying to make the point that if you have fixed work hours you don't have the flexibility to start and finish to fit in with walking to school. There have been experiments locally with a walking bus. Parents volunteer on a rota basis to walk a group of children to school collecting on route. They all wear reflective bibs to be safe and seen. A brill idea as this enables kids to walk and parents to get off to work if need be. One of the problem has been lack of volunteers. Parents who don't work or work part time are fed up of full time workers not taking a turn ever.

We have the added misery of having two schools on the same street next door to each other. 1 is a state school the other a church school. Many of the church school kids can travel by bus if they live over 2 miles away and there is a bus lane for the 3 school buses. There are only about 10 car parking spaces on the road as opposite the school every house has turned their front garden - full width, into a drive. At the end of the school road is a doctors surgery with a tiny 6 space car park and all the roads leading to the school are all full length double yellow lines. You can imagine the chaos especially if cars are parked in the bus lane. The buses just stop in the middle of the road and the kids are escorted on or off very slowly . This means the cars in the bus lane are boxed in and stuck for a good 10 minutes. Sadly it causes a back up of traffic for a mile or two. We used to have a traffic warden who would turn up but he seems to have disappeared.
A couple of the residents are really nice though and two of them have said to me if their car is in their drive I can block it for 5 mins if necessary. I really appreciate this if I have to pick up from school cos a friend is coming home for tea and normally travels on a different route bus (therefore not allowed on my childs bus) and its one of my work days. I do try to arrange tea visits on my non work days. They are well fed up after scaling the hills to get to the car if its hot and sunny. Funny the love walking in the rain though.