I Had Or Have To Wear A School Uniform

@Lynda70 That's about average according to the figures I've seen.

@Sharon yet even when I agreed with you about that you still carried on

@Wendy Maybe I misunderstood but it appeared to me that you had overlooked bullying by teachers when parents couldn't afford the overpriced uniforms.

@Sharon no, I simply see it that there could be bullying on both sides, neither of which is good.

@suzie1960 At my local primary school, last year the uniform set parents back about £300 a time. It expected to be a lot more this year.

@rob19 It cost a friend about £1100 just for uniforms for her two last year - about £400 for the younger at primary school and about £700 for the older at secondary. She said it was a struggle and they had to cut back on food to afford it.

@Sharon That sounds about average. I know families who have to fork out £700 - £800 for secondary school uniforms. They could buy similar but better quality clothing from the local supermarket for less than £200 but schools won't allow them to. The higher prices at the school approved suppliers are to cover the cost of the commission paid to the school. Even £200 is excessive because they could clothe their children in mufti for less than £100. It's all one big rip-off

@Ironicman Perhaps we should learn from those countries rather than doing the opposite of what they do. It's obvious our system isn't working with children leaving school barely able to read and write one language, never mind 2 or 3, despite wearing full school uniform. Maybe other countries have more competent teachers, interested in teachers rather than strutting around their little empires.

The idea of teachers standing sentry at the school gate checking children's uniforms is ridiculous. It's like a comedy sketch from Monty Python. You say is takes secods. Soory, I don't believe that at all. There is no way a teacher can completely check a single child's uniform, including the shade of socks; length of skirts; jewellery; make-up; and all the other petty uniform requirements. Even then, I'm sure some unapproved items will get through. No doubt the girls have great fun putting one over the teachers by wearing their skirts a millimetre or two shorter than permitted.

The teachers are just setting themselves up as a laughing stock.

When my children were at school, the uniform rules were actually unfawful. The headmaster was forced to back down when I took legal action against the school after he told me he didn't care what the law said. Do you think he was a good role model for his students?

@Ironicman [quote]Rules are rules I suppose. They're in the work place so the sooner we learn the importance the less of culture shock we get if we choose that kind of career.[/quote]

There's a big difference. In the workplace, the victims of unreasonable or unlawful rules are adults who are able to fight back by taking legal action if necessary. Like typical bullies, schools pick on children who are not so able to fight back. Parents are reluctant to take legal action for fear of making things even worse for their children.

Headteachers know damn well they would never get away with bullying adult employees the way they bully students. They'd quickly find themselves in court, if not hospital!

Cheers Rob; The work place can be just as bad, trust me. I've been there for the past 30 or so years. You're obviously extremely passionate about education rights for children and I wish you all the best in fighting their corner. I think I've said all I can on this one so will have the final word by saying I'm working from home today in a scruffy T shirt and joggers and feel liberated from my stuffy suit. Have a good week buddy

@NakedExperiment Uniforms could be cheap but too many schools use them as cash cows by forcing parents to buy them from "approved" suppliers and forcing suppliers to pay large bribes to be approved. It one gigantic scam.

Boys and girls will go over the top on mufti days simply because they rarely get that freedom. It doesn't happen in schools that don't have uniform and, incidentally, provide a much better standard of education.

@Sharon The limiting of suppliers should be outlawed. That's obviously wrong.

It's been proved repeatedly that uniform has no impact whatsoever on quality of education (parents are the biggest factor there), but kids that don't wear uniforms don't perform as well in early careers (probably because so many businesses have some sort of dress code or uniform and compliance with that (and all the other rules) is required to keep your job).

@NakedExperiment Children who are forced to wear uniforms have difficultly with dress codes because they have no experience of thinking for themselves.

No. 1911. Just over a 100 years ago. The King sent in the soldiers to kill the people. Memories take a long time to die out. We were talking about it in class this week. There is a plaque on Union Bridge to remind us what the English did. @dunpender

You are misinformed, the King himself gave the order. You just don’t want to belive the English can be so cruel. @dunpender

@Hepsie How is that even relevant to what I wrote? Which schools are you comparing yours with? Standards of education in the UK are way lower than in the rest of Europe For example, are you at least bilingual like a significant proportion of European schoolchildren? I've met primary school age children in Scandinavia who speak better English than a lot of UK children of their age. Like I said, school uniform just tries to hide the poor standards in the UK - they can't read or write but don't they look smart?

Aren't you a little old to be wearing school uniform?

@dunpender I know exactly what I'm talking about. What are you having difficulty understanding?

@dunpender I don't know what the legal situation is in England but I doubt it would make any difference. English headteachers seem to think they're above the law. The unlawful sexist and, in some cases, racist policies of many schools make that abundently clear. Another poster here reported how the head of her children's school actually told her he didn't care what the law said when she pointed out the school was breaking it.

The problem is that, if parents don't go along with whatever the headteacher says, however stupid, unlawful and unreasonable it be, their children are left open to reprisals. There are numerous reports of that happening.

@dunpender The Scots have the right idea when dealing with officious little twerps. ;)

@SW-User I hate uniforms.

@dunpender Yes, in the armed forces.

@dunpender Whether or not it can be legally enforced is a moot point. The fact is, children whose parents cannot afford the uniform are victimized by bullying teachers by being put in isolation or sent home.

@davidstorm Carry on please, you're just showing everyone the type of person you are.

@suzie1960 Looks like you've beaten the twat. Cheers! :)