MSE News: Schools urged to provide more affordable uniforms

Herzlos

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

I can't see the point of a school uniform full stop. Just wear normal every day clothes and then you get maximum wear out of each garment you buy.

The whole point is uniformity.

nwc389

I think schools should set a simple uniform that can be bought from chain stores / supermarkets. Anything like ties , or badges should be sold separately .
I had two boys and prefered to be able to shop around to get things that fitted them better or were better quality.
They went to different senior schools and the eldest son school sold the school sweatshirt , tie and badge . That was great as they were pretty reasonable and I stitched the badge onto his blazer when I got a new one .
The school the younger one attended had one supplier which was a tiny shop , the badge did not come on its own so you had to buy the overpriced crap quality blazer from them .

GwylimT

My sons school used to allow generic uniform apart from the tie and blazer, however a large proportion of parents were taking the pee with things like length of skirts, neckline on blouses and tightness of trousers.

balletshoes

GwylimT wrote: »

My sons school used to allow generic uniform apart from the tie and blazer, however a large proportion of parents were taking the pee with things like length of skirts, neckline on blouses and tightness of trousers.

our only compulsory branded items are blazer, tie, pe shorts and pe shirt. Colour of skirt/trousers and shirt/blouse are stipulated, as is length of skirt and to a certain extent, style of trousers (girls). Footwear has stipulations also.

Our compulsory branded items are only available through the school, ordered in advance online. They are not exhorbitantly priced either (probably because our school is classed as being in a deprived area). Everything else we can source where we like.

phillw

WestonDave wrote: »

I also feel that to a large extent parents have helped bring this on themselves.

So you think this is a justified punishment against human nature?

The only reason a school would appoint an exclusive supplier is because of money. They either have a financial incentive to appoint an exclusive supplier, or they don't want to spend resources approving multiple suppliers.

Any state school (*) who suggests exclusivity is anything to do with skirt length and shirt style is either deluded or lying. You have exactly the same problem in either circumstance, i.e. what to do if a child arrives in an unapproved uniform.

There are rules to prevent this and the schools response is to apply for trademark protection to protect their income stream:

https://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-challenge-decision-results/o17811.pdf

Deals are only supposed to be used to reduce the price, not to increase the price. But then there is no revenue sharing. Rather than the schools talking to suppliers and asking them to produce appropriate clothing, they instead do a deal with an exclusive provider.

Similar to how so many organisations "accidentally" made money from 0845 numbers, because "we only set them up because of customer demand for a national number" (if I need to call the DWP then I don't care if I have to phone a "real" telephone number and I can't imagine anybody else would either).

The major problem is the schools who are more interested in educating children, so they allow variations. If the "bad" super market uniforms weren't allowed in any schools they wouldn't be stocking them.

The only real way to solve it would be for the retailers to refuse to sell controversial uniforms (similar to how neither the government or parents were able to prevent children being burnt in flammable children's costumes). Then the schools would have no excuse. A british standard for school uniforms would seem to be the best way for the government to force the schools to allow anyone to manufacture and sell uniforms, but they couldn't do anything about the flammable costumes so I don't hold out much hope.

(*) If you choose to send your children to a fee paying school then I think it's fair game to have an exclusive supplier. They can be tailor made to measure for all I care.

RedDwarf82

Having gone to school in a different country where school uniforms are not common I also find them unnecessary.

I must admit that in my case we didn't have the class divide problem because we were all poor :-p But in general the arguments pro-uniform seem quite weak to me. I could also argue that having a guy dressing Elvis-style, and another one using a X-Files Mulder's coat, made me more tolerant to diversity. Not a great argument either, I know, but as good as the class divide one... which can't be so bad, and if it is it's actually probably just a _sympton_ of a bigger problem.

But most importantly, the fact is that in other countries (with different cultural characteristics, sure) the experiment has already been done... uniform-less schools work just fine.

Pincher

Easycare track suits, one piece or two piece.

Include in Universal Credit.

Former_MSE_Andrea

At my kids' school we can buy uniform with logos on if we want it and the quality is good for the price - the cardigans are thicker and warmer than any I've found in the supermarkets.

Generally I find supermarkets' school cardigans/jumpers are more geared towards summer uniform than winter.