Tracksuits To Become Standard School Uniform?

Lilyflower

Fantastic idea. It is a blazing sign for where not to send your children.

Wow. A statement like that says more about the person making it than anything else.

The main advantage of school uniforms is that they prevent children realising that some parents are better off than others.

They may also teach children that work clothes are necessarily different from what you wear at home, or when going out, but I doubt this. The school uniforms I wore were so hideous that we could not wait to leave school and not have to wear them.

But as an adult, and a teacher, in a country that does not have school uniforms, I have often felt that it would be a good thing to have them, rather than the fashion parade that children's school clothes become when there are no uniforms.

I haved taught girls in crop tops, boys with their trousers so far down their backsides that we could, pupils and teachers alike ,see the colour of their boxer shorts, mini-skirted girls whom women staff had to pull aside and tell to close their legs when sitting down, and 16 + girls in scoop necklines that left as little to the imagination as the lads' tight trousers that clearly showed us all which side they dressed!

Some standards do need to be maintained, but if uniforms are to be used, they should be cheap, washable and not impoverish parents who are not well-to-do.

I just don't see the problem. Clothing neither equals good manners, nor is it correlated with good learning. The only thing going for any sort of uniform is to make children easily identifiable when out in a group. One of my local secondary schools used their clothing freedoms in their pastoral care sessions to talk about logos and what was and was not acceptable. Great learning, and I love WOKE learning.

Won't be so bad if the tracksuit is standardised eg colour, style. If not it will just be another keep up with the trainers problem. Goodness knows what the children will be like when going to work and discover they have to actually dress in clothing rather than sports gear. Or, perhaps they will all want the working from home jobs.

Definitely in favour of the change. Having GC in all key stages I think it is much more practical and comfortable. My DD fights regularly with DGD about school skirt length! I also have a friend who works as a teacher in high school and he said he spends too much time policing the strict uniform code, students get sent home or isolation and miss out on valuable learning. A one for all track suit would be easier for all concerned.

Grandmotherto8* I completely agree. Our son went to private secondary school run by Benedictine monks, who had a relaxed attitude to uniform. The school had a uniform, but of the kind available at every chain store.

They had the sae attitude to discipline. They had rules, but not many but, anyone that trangressed them would be disciplined. the result was a school of (generally) obedient and self -disciplined pupils. The educational standards were very high and DS did very well there and has ahad a happy and successful career

DD went to a local grammar school of the strictest kind. The uniform list was extensive and the limited number of suppliers expensive. Discipline was also very strict.

I am afraid, adult that I was, I reacted to it just as I did to my own strict school. DD and I spent a lot of time subverting the rules. To begin with I was able to source fabric identical in colour and texture to the uniform school, sso instead of buying the official school skirt for over £15 (1985), DD and I made them for under £5.00 each. She had very wide feet and none of the approved Clarkes shoes came in her width, so she had Clarkes shoes, but a different model.

DD also did very well academically at this rigid schoo and has had a happy and successful career.

All that matters is the standard of teaching the rest is airy persiflage.

White trainers?
White? 😲

theworriedwell

Chestnut

I think at the age of 16-17 I wanted to look good and would have been mortified having to go out in a baggy old tracksuit. So just wondering what the girls think about this.

At my school in sixth form you could wear a twin set in your house colours with a school skirt. Might have been trendy when introduced jn the 50s but by the mid 60s no one wanted to wear a twin set with or without pearls.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that students will be able to turn up in a ‘baggy old tracksuit’.
Have you not seen the winter Olympic teams in their incredibly smart national tracksuits?
I think some posters need to take a look at smart sportswear. This is nothing like £4.99 tracksuit bottoms from Asda. The proposed dress is a suit comprising quality trousers, zipped jacket top and matching polo shirt with plain white trainers. I would have loved the chance to wear that when I was at school.

When we relocated from the north back to the south 40 years ago we had to choose new schools for our children. The secondary school that most impressed us was a radical one where no uniform was worn and the teachers were addressed by their first names. My 4 children loved the school and absolutely thrived there, it catered so well for my two academics and two technologists. Having said there was no uniform, actually the students chose their own, trackie bottoms or jeans and sweatshirts or hoodies. There was no lack of respect from the students to the staff because of the informal relationship with them. Even though a teacher myself I never agreed with uniform being the great leveller. The wealthy students had several changes of skirt/trousers, shirts etc while the poorer students could be seen in their school uniform at weekends because they had nothing else.

One problem we came across was that sweatshirts and tracksuits faded with washing, more quickly than jumpers and skirts/trousers, especially with the cheaper brands. e.g. Asda red, Sainsbury’s green.

Fantastic idea. It is a blazing sign for where not to send your children.

Practical, inexpensive and comfortable. I doubt your convent school uniform was any of these.

Yes, primaries seem more flexible but senior schools, even state schools, can be strict and uniform has to be purchased at a specific outfitters.

"I agree that the skirts are ridiculous, barely covering the arse!
In a school full of boys with raging hormones."

Maybe one of the functions of education could be to teach the boys to control their reactions to girls, rather than teaching girls that it is up to them not to challenge the boys' impulses.

Allira

ViceVersa

No idea where people get the notion that a tracksuit would be expensive. We're not talking about brand labels here - many schools don't allow those in any case. As someone else has pointed out, you can get tracksuit bottoms very cheaply in most supermarket clothing ranges.

No doubt, if this was adopted everywhere, they would have to be specific to each school, the correct colour, complete with logo, obtainable from the school uniform suppliers at three (or even four) times the price of M&S, Tu, George etc!

I think that there are rules about how much of the uniform needs to come from these expensive suppliers. Many schools are happy with supermarket clothing, perhaps they could sell the school logo/badge to be sewn on if necessary?
Many primary schools already have relatively inexpensive badged sweatshirts as a standard part of the uniform.
Private schools are another matter however.

Girls in our area can wear trousers as part of their uniform, it's very ethnically mixed here so they would not be forced to wear skirts.
Track suits sound like a really good idea to me: easy to wash, no ironing and no rolled up short skirts. I'm not sure whether they last as well as trousers though, the fabric is easily damaged in a fall or snagged.
Also the children in our primary school have PE twice a week and are expected to wear track suit bottoms all that day anyway, so we're almost half way there.

"Apparently this was to stop girls wearing hipsters that might show off their figures too much 🙄. I complained, but got nowhere with it."

Good for you, Doodledog If the girls want to 'show off their figures' that's up to them. How the boys react, that's not the girls' responsibility.

Chocolatelovinggran

As I said previously, this seems to be the choice of parents, who, presumably, know their children best.
I suspect that there might be a rather ..em.. robust response if the views of teenagers were sought on what they think that grandparents should be wearing.

That could be fun, I wonder what they'd put us in.

Many good reasons for tracksuits have been expressed. My only caveat is, what about hot weather? Shorts and a Tshirt I suppose.

As I said previously, this seems to be the choice of parents, who, presumably, know their children best.
I suspect that there might be a rather ..em.. robust response if the views of teenagers were sought on what they think that grandparents should be wearing.

I think tracksuits for school uniform is a terrific idea. Why do some schools still insist on ties? I think if a child is warm and comfortable they will be far more likely to learn. Not sure about summer though. Shorts and T shirts perhaps.

Indigo8

I am struggling to think of any jobs which require smart uniforms. Nurses don't dress like maids of all work anymore, they wear scrubs. Our local police wear loose trousers and flack jackets and fire and ambulance crews wear something similar. Maybe the armed forces wear smart uniforms still.

Maybe the armed forces wear smart uniforms still

Not always.

Army fatigues, RN Number Eights (now the RN Personal Clothing System), etc.

It would be difficult to wear suits, collar and tie when working in an engine room or out in the field.

Appalling use of the judgemental term ‘chavs’.

Some school are PE academies in which case I think a uniform tracksuit which displays the school logo is highly appropriate. As a headteacher was heard to say, “you can study history perfectly well wearing a tracksuit but cannot play hockey in a shirt and tie.
Most kids would consider the ‘traditional school uniform to be hopelessly old fashioned these days so are bound to kick against it causing all sorts of problems for the staff.

One of the benefits of a uniform is that all the children/young people look the same. There are no 'designer brand' uniforms. Allowing track suits to be worn is fine, as long as there are certain rules in place. e.g. Designer brands, Adidas, Nike or whatever is the current brand popular at the time should not be allowed.