Legal action against School due to the cost of School uniforms, Please advise

Person_one

Do girls still wear those gingham summer dresses with white collars? Or have they bitten the dust because they aren't 'official'? I used to love my school dresses!

jellyhead

Person_one wrote: »

Waste of water and energy washing all those extra clothes, think of the environment! Also, kids go out to play in their uniform three times a day at school, bit daft to stop them playing in at at home.

The uniform was optional at my primary school, some kids wore it all the time, some never, most somewhere in between. No bullying that I recall as a result. It was nice to have a choice.

My kids would be happy to wear the same clothes (not socks or underwear though) for a few days running if they were only worn for a few hours and were still clean, so they get changed after school sometimes. They're such grubby children though, they rarely finish the school day in a fit state for the uniform to be worn a second time so they may as well leave it on unless they're doing something that's likely to tear the uniform, or are getting changed for sports classes. They climb trees and roll in the woodland or field. I'm glad they're allowed to do that during school time, and am happy to wash their uniform each day.

jellyhead

Person_one wrote: »

Do girls still wear those gingham summer dresses with white collars? Or have they bitten the dust because they aren't 'official'? I used to love my school dresses!

Yes, they wear them at primary here. It's optional - they can wear shorts, or their usual uniform. They're so pretty, I wish boys would wear them because it would be a lot cooler in this heat

balletshoes

Person_one wrote: »

Do girls still wear those gingham summer dresses with white collars? Or have they bitten the dust because they aren't 'official'? I used to love my school dresses!

yes, they wear them here in primary school - saw lots of girls in them today.

poet123

Uniforms should be affordable and schools should run uniform swaps/lost property sales/end of year donation appeals.

I always loved school uniform, it meant no choice, sense of community, a shared sense of belonging. September will be the first time in 25 years that I have not been queuing for new uniform as my youngest will be off to college.

I don't think the prices in the OP were too bad at all, and certainly no cause for action....not even to exercise newly learned legal skills. One of which should be - pick your battles!!

Janepig

Bella73 wrote: »

As for shoes it helps if you clean them every week, we used to do ours on a Sunday.

I've got to say I never understand when people talk about how their children's school shoes don't last long (other than for growth reasons). DH polishes the kids Clarks school shoes afew times a week and they last and last, even with the hammering DS gives them with his non-stop football playing, climbing, etc... Never had a problem with them "wearing out".

Person_one wrote: »

Do girls still wear those gingham summer dresses with white collars? Or have they bitten the dust because they aren't 'official'? I used to love my school dresses!

DD still wears gingham dresses, even though now she's in year five she's in the minority. She loves hers. I found that Asda have started doing a new style this summer where the skirt bit is ginham, but the top is like a plain white polo shirt. It's more like a tennis dress. I got one for DD and it's really nice.

Jx

Bella73

Person_one wrote: »

Waste of water and energy washing all those extra clothes, think of the environment! Also, kids go out to play in their uniform three times a day at school, bit daft to stop them playing in at at home.

The uniform was optional at my primary school, some kids wore it all the time, some never, most somewhere in between. No bullying that I recall as a result. It was nice to have a choice.

Yes but the poster was complaining about the cost of the uniform. If you want it to last then it needs to be worn less and lots of children where we live seem to live in it, so obviously the more you wear it the more it will wear out and need replacing.

Even with uniform children at the school I went to were bullied for not having the "right" skirt or whatever and the primary school used to have no uniform and the bullying was rife. When the school introduced an optional uniform the other children who didn't wear it were the ones moving up to secondary school at the end of the year.

jellyhead

Janepig wrote: »

I've got to say I never understand when people talk about how their children's school shoes don't last long (other than for growth reasons). DH polishes the kids Clarks school shoes afew times a week and they last and last, even with the hammering DS gives them with his non-stop football playing, climbing, etc... Never had a problem with them "wearing out".



DD still wears gingham dresses, even though now she's in year five she's in the minority. She loves hers. I found that Asda have started doing a new style this summer where the skirt bit is ginham, but the top is like a plain white polo shirt. It's more like a tennis dress. I got one for DD and it's really nice.

Jx

I saw those polo dresses last week - they're really nice

My boys have both had Clarks school shoes and only once has a pair worn out (it was on the strap, and Clarks replaced them for a pair with a wider strap). They're easy to polish. I'm not sure how they can wear out. My eldest kept the same pair for 12 months or more and they were fine. Youngest needs a bigger size every 6 months so he's never worn his out.

My friend is forever moaning about her daughter ruining shoes within a week or two, but she doesn't buy Clarks because the girl thinks they're not pretty enough.

MarilynMonroe_2

poet123 wrote: »

Uniforms should be affordable and schools should run uniform swaps/lost property sales/end of year donation appeals.

I always loved school uniform, it meant no choice, sense of community, a shared sense of belonging. September will be the first time in 25 years that I have not been queuing for new uniform as my youngest will be off to college.

I don't think the prices in the OP were too bad at all, and certainly no cause for action....not even to exercise newly learned legal skills. One of which should be - pick your battles!!

See, for me, I liked being original and being myself not part of the crowd and fitting in. Sense of community at school age just doesn't register with me, I am/was a free spirit, like most people were. Even when we wore uniform it wasn't even a set uniform, it was just a colour guide and you could please yourself how you made it into a uniform. None of us dressed the same.
I read that denim jackets are now banned, whereas I loved my denim jacket covered in patches at school!I was a cool kid for a while thanks to my denim jacket :cool:

As for bullying, clothes were never a thing to be bullied about at infant/primary age. Infact in the 80's it would be hard to bully people over their clothes cos anything went for a while!

Hm my spellcheck is highlighting colour as being wrong! Not impressed , just started using it:eek:

jellyhead

Bella73 wrote: »

Yes but the poster was complaining about the cost of the uniform. If you want it to last then it needs to be worn less and lots of children where we live seem to live in it, so obviously the more you wear it the more it will wear out and need replacing.

Even with uniform children at the school I went to were bullied for not having the "right" skirt or whatever and the primary school used to have no uniform and the bullying was rife. When the school introduced an optional uniform the other children who didn't wear it were the ones moving up to secondary school at the end of the year.

I've never complained that it doesn't last. It doesn't wash well, but I'd be washing it anyway regardless of whether he took it off at 4pm or 7pm. He's a giant so he outgrows his uniform while there's still plenty of wear in it, then I pass it on to another family.