[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by _Tom_

I disagree. If there was no school uniform at all and everyone came in with their own clothes everyday, bullies would have so much more ammunition. Sure, bullies will always find reasons to bully someone - but someone coming in wearing cheaper brands, or coming into class with the same outfit more than once a week for example would make them a much bigger target than their peers.

I can see what you mean but I still think bullies would only use fashion as an excuse to bully someone the way they would use any other reason.

I have seen lads bullied for actually having more costly items than others, just as the other way round as well as for cheaper.

Bullies don't really care for the reasons they do it, they just want to make someone's life hell if they can get away with it and will hide behind any excuse to do so too.

This issue is not about cheaper brands however, we have no idea what the offending type of shoes cost anyway.
I doubt the shoes would make for any bullying since they were black ones anyway, in line with the colour code of the school.

However this headteacher,could well have made these pupils open to some abuse in the future for singling them out like this on this issue.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Livia

Why do we never see parents who've paid for their kids to go to a good school, moaning in the press about the uniform, when it's almost always a much stricter uniform code than state schools. The whole thing about getting the press in to make a fuss detracts much more from the kids' learning than actually following the rules in the first place.

I'd much rather have a strict uniform code, which reinforces the idea that there is discipline in schools, than have the kids in designer wear ripping the piss out of the kids wearing Primark. I remember secondary school... I remember kids emerging, dripping, from the fish pond because they didn't have the right bag.

Personally if I could afford to send my kids to private school..I would easily be able to afford the overpriced school crap. As it stands, I cannot afford to pay 100+ per outfit (3 full sets sets would be near 300 quid, plus PE bag, school bag and such that they recommend is coming up to 400 per child)..so have to make do with tescos stuff in the same colours. The school could piss and moan about it if they wanted to be dickheads, and I would be in the same situation as the parents in this story :S And being judged for 'not following rules'. Though I wouldn't go moaning to the press

[Jamie89]

I got bullied in school for being a geek... so maybe if we didn't have a uniform the bullies would have targeted other people instead as my fashion sense was flawless #DownWithUniforms

In all seriousness though I do agree that as far as bullying is concerned they'll find any reason. I think that particular argument is one that's usually tacked on when the real reasons we have uniforms have nothing to do with bullying. I also think the argument that it's to do with preparation for real world uniformity isn't really why schools have uniforms either. I think it's all to do with presentation and how the school wants to be perceived, rather than being for any reason that's particularly beneficial to the child (although I do appreciate there might be some benefits to the child, I don't think that's necessarily the intention of them).

[Vicky.]

I like uniforms as it means my kids don't mess up their nice clothes If the school started being strict about it though like the school in this story, I would be ****ed as I wouldn't want them to be wearing stuff everyday that cost me a hundred quid+

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

The school published its rules, the vast majority of parent and children complied. The media attention came from the disruptive element that didn't want to comply, and wanted to undermine the schools efforts for improvement.

And that doesn't change the fact that the original disruption came from the fact that the headtwat decided to go on a power trip that contradicted the very nature of his job. The shoes in the pictures were all black shoes that were perfectly acceptable, the parents have a right to be mad that a headteacher is impeding their children's education just to be a pedantic prick. People like him shouldn't be in charge of schools, actions like this only goes to show that education is secondary to his ego.

Originally Posted by _Tom_

I disagree. If there was no school uniform at all and everyone came in with their own clothes everyday, bullies would have so much more ammunition. Sure, bullies will always find reasons to bully someone - but someone coming in wearing cheaper brands, or coming into class with the same outfit more than once a week for example would make them a much bigger target than their peers.

Must we conform in the naive hopes of preventing bullying although we know that it doesn't work anyway? Everyone could go to school looking exactly the same and bullying would still be a factor. To limit individuality out of fear of bullying is a true tragedy and is ultimately cowardly.

Originally Posted by Livia

I'm not in agreement with calling this man the "headtwat". He hasn'tmade this decision alone, there would have been a whole host of people in on it, including the Board of Governors, many of whom will be parents.

Uniforms are not a distraction. If there is a uniform, there will be a summer version. And also, the school doesn't make a profit on uniforms unless they have a shop in the school or take a cut of profits from the suppliers. And the cost of them are considerably less than the designer stuff that was the chosen uniform by the kids my nieces' old school.

We're going to have to disagree on the rest of it Dezzy. But I can tell you that, as a person who was bullied mercilessly at school, my experience has shown me that what you're wearing is the A.No.1 trigger. It's the first thing the bullies see.

He is a man who places his own power trips over the needs of his students, I shall call him a headtwat as much as I please because it's an appropriate name for a mediocre person like him who shouldn't be in a position of authority. A school is a place of education, anyone that prioritises conformity over education i has lost sight of the purpose of a school in the first place.

I've never known a secondary school to offer a summer alternative, I don't think it's common practice outside of summer dresses for primary school girls. Schools can and do make a profit from uniforms, ours certainly did, especially when they changed from jumpers to blazers to squeeze more money out of the parents. If a school has an individual design for their uniform then chances are they profit from it, otherwise what is the point of having a specific uniform designed for the school if not to take generic and cheaper options out of the equation and force parents to either buy from the school or from a shop affiliated with them?

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I've never known a secondary school to offer a summer alternative, I don't think it's common practice outside of summer dresses for primary school girls. Schools can and do make a profit from uniforms, ours certainly did, especially when they changed from jumpers to blazers to squeeze more money out of the parents. If a school has an individual design for their uniform then chances are they profit from it, otherwise what is the point of having a specific uniform designed for the school if not to take generic and cheaper options out of the equation and force parents to either buy from the school or from a shop affiliated with them?

Actually, all you know about this man is what you've read in this one report. Kind of a thin reason to call him names.

Aaaaanyhoo..... we're never going to see eye to eye on this. I'm happy to agree to differ.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Livia

Actually, all you know about this man is what you've read in this one report. Kind of a thin reason to call him names.

Aaaaanyhoo..... we're never going to see eye to eye on this. I'm happy to agree to differ.

The incident is enough to tell me what kind of head he is. Any head that would send pupils home because he doesn't like their shoes when they match the criteria of the school's dress code tells me that they care more about pedantic bureaucracy and their own ego then providing an education. Anyone can step up when it counts but it's the small things that illuminate what a person is truly like.

[Livia]

Again... he did not make this decision alone and his hands were probably tied.

But like I said, we're never going to agree.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Livia

Again... he did not make this decision alone and his hands were probably tied.

But like I said, we're never going to agree.

Where does it say that? I just looked at the article again and it makes no such mention of it. Plenty of stories about how hypocritical he is though and how standards seem to change depending on how he feels that day. Sometimes shoes are fine, sometimes they aren't. Sometimes he feels like the official uniform is not official enough. It's fair to say that he seems quite mad with power and he isn't clearing up this messy policy and is instead making it more convoluted by the day.

I despise people like him, he isn't doing his job, he's willfully preventing kids from learning for no good reason and he's antagonistic just to prove a point. Someone like that should not be a headteacher.

I'm willing to bet the school will have lower scores then it did last year with a crazed bureaucrat like him in charge who obviously doesn't care about doing his job.

[Maru]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

I got bullied in school for being a geek... so maybe if we didn't have a uniform the bullies would have targeted other people instead as my fashion sense was flawless #DownWithUniform.

I got by by dressing more like a boy (wearing a hoodie and acting anti-social). It worked for a little while Step 2. Then I learned how to skip lunch. Ate my burger and disappeared into the school and eventually found my way into a computer lab... Step 3. then I ended up working in the computer lab... then they realized OMG THIS GIRL CAN FIX PC'S LIKE NO ****... spent most of eighth grade fixing every single computer in the school. It was actually how I got into webdesign. The lab tech gave me my first HTML book and then I was like oooh this is fun, went and bought my own...

This is also how I skipped gym. Another popular troll den. That's literally how I survived MS. If my trail ever got too hot, I had a lot of adults to confide in and they would let me hang out with them.. it was nice.