Stop everything. Put down that coffee. Walk out of that meeting. Abandon that buggy. A massively disturbing event is taking place…
Right now, at this very moment, a school in Kent is IMPOSING RULES ON ITS PUPILS.
A headteacher, whose only qualifications are a 1st class BA degree, a PGCE in Secondary Education, an NPQH in School Leadership and a National Professional Qualification of Headship, and whose only experience is as a Head of Department, a Deputy Head, an Assistant Head and then a Headteacher for the last four years, is somehow of the belief that HE knows how to run a school.
Lunatic!
Thankfully, a really well-behaved, measured group of parents have spent the last two days informing him via social media and the national press, that THEY are the ones who know how to run a successful school and letting their kids wear £100 Nike Air Max 95 trainers is the first step.
They have perfectly accurately compared the Headteacher’s methods to those of the Nazi Secret Police and in so doing, entirely inoffensively imply that he is basically Himmler, which is bang-on actually because that Nazi General was totally messed-up about footwear.
Have you seen a pic of this Neo-Nazi Headteacher, Matthew Tate? He looks like an RE teacher (because he is) and on the radio he sounds like an RE teacher (because he is). But these parents aren’t fooled by that lovely outward demeanour. They know he is personally out to destroy their children’s education.
Some kids became ‘hysterical’ at the school gates when they were refused entry due to wearing a track-suit instead of school uniform. HYSTERICAL. One young girl was so distressed at being told what to wear, her equally distressed mother says she may have to home-school her from now on as neither can bear the prospect of her daughter wearing the correct shoes.
When I was at school the Deputy Head, Miss Parry (a permanently furious, inhuman character) would spend the first ten minutes of the school day sneaking up behind us in the playground and violently wrenching any non-regulation scarves from around our necks, confiscating them indefinitely. When snoods became the thing, her wrenching technique carried the added bonus of dragging us to the floor in a scene of public strangulation.
Did it stop us wearing non-regulation scarves? Course not – uniform ones were bottle green and white stripes for chrissake. Did it cause our parents to march in to school and demand we be allowed to wear that pink neon scarf because it was our human right not to be chilly and anyway it cost them twenty-quid? Oh my GOD no. We’d have been MORTIFIED. No matter how liberal our parents were (and mine were exceptionally so) they were still adults and therefore AGAINST us and out to RUIN OUR LIVES.
Once when I came home with a really nasty Parry-induced neck burn, my beloved black snood with gold speckles stolen from my life forever, Dad told me I was an arsehole and to either wear the uniform or freeze and no he wouldn’t be buying me a new snood.
In the picture, it’s 1989, my 5th yr (yr 11 today). Look at that sloppy collar. No M&S starch for me, I’d have bought that in Tammy Girl telling Dad it was totally allowed in 5th yr. And look at the slap on my face. And the two-tone hair. And the skinny tie. If I was really pushing it, I’d have had black tights on instead of grey. I was acing it on this occasion; getting away with all that on photo-day? Miss Parry must have been off that day, tending to her pet lion.
Hating school uniform and dicking about with it is what kids are supposed to do. Deciding which rules to enforce are what schools are supposed to do. Some days you’d get away with black tights and some days you’d get sent home, but you never gave up pushing, experimenting with ways to buck or maybe even change the system (we campaigned hard – and failed – for girls to be allowed to wear trousers). Pushing against the unfair school regime was our main occupation and purpose in life.
But our parents? They did no pushing. If they were doing the pushing for us, what pushing would we be left with? Carrying knives? Toting guns? Smoking crack? And didn’t the parents get to do their pushing when they were at school? I mean, whose school-days are they anyway?
And where have all the adult parents gone?
OMG! Just think about the fact that those people will be employees in the future… I don’t envy the employer- his main job will be to please and not to upset them! …
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No wonder children don’t respect teachers. If the parents think that can dictate what there children can wear. When they sign on to go to a school that means they agree with the school uniform policy of that school. If they don’t then don’t choose that school …
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Kids are losing respect for teachers as teachers are treating respect as one way ! This blog is just an attempt for frustrated teacher’s to get their whinges across.
Parents hold the rights over their children… Teachers are just the part-time, holiday grabbing, pension grabbing, early retirement grabbing, ‘I hate it when someone dares argue with me’ social mis-fits in our society… I do remember a time when we had proper teachers that had personality but I think this has been ironed out and the gestapo driven youthful bunch we have now are dredging kids personalities!!
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Trust me, that’s happening already. As a team leader, I have to choose my words extremely carefully in order to keep happy the member of staff who has just flouted 3 different rules in as many minutes. He is allowed to talk to me however he wants then walk out, only to be sympathetically escorted back in by his agency rep. Me? I get the time to wipe my tears away, dust myself down and pull myself together before I go and apologise to the poor guy for trying to make him follow rules. How unreasonable of me. I should get the sack and he should be in charge. Let’s burn all the rule books.
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I had that. Took redundancy after having to go off with stress. They left me off for a year and offered me a £10,000 pay decrease to go back to deal with the exact same person. Rubbish redundancy pay was better than that option and got to say was the best thing I did so much happier and healthier than I was while I was there.
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Oh come on!!! They will think themselves far too good to work…get up early and arrive on time? Dream on!
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Are you suggesting that what children learn from school will make them better employees? As na employer the first thing you need to do with a school leaver is teach them not to be a dead behind the eyes student. Sorry but knowing the date of spinning jenny invention and such bears no reality to a working environment. I guess many commenters here are teachers…. How on Earth can teachers have any understanding of what employers need in the workplace, in the REAL world???? The first thing that is needed is character…. Something that is knocked out of them in the current Academy system. Then they need to have confidence and an ability to think for themselves….. The problem is many kids are being taught by teachers and headmasters that have none of the attributes above.
Teachers can carry on dictating to people that don’t want to hear their spiel as much as they like as most people just aren’t listening because it is becoming rather dull.
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Its not the teachers fault they have to teach the curriculum or follow so many of rules. I have run my own business, worked as a teaching assistant PA’d to a cabinet minister and now run my own business again. This time I employ predominately under 25s (I’m 50). They are like any other age group..some work hard, some don’t, done are messed up by the parents, others by peers, some by teachers and some by the political system. As a society we all have a responsibility and too much is left to chance because people are to wrapped up in their own world. Mindfulness, compassion and tough love – teach young people to be independent! Stop pointing fingers and start making a difference – please?!
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‘And where have all the adult parents gone?’
This sums up so much of what I feel as a teacher today.
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Poor teaching leads to teenage pregnancy there for you only have yourselves to blame
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Poor teaching leads to pregnancy?? Last time I attended school sex education taught us sex is what gets you pregnant!
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Therefore
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That’s a very silly term to use after all they are not the teachers children … Indeed where have all the parents gone…..?
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I think not….. teenage pregnancy is a choice believe me as I was a teenage mum shock horror….. my 4 children grew up with respect for teachers and all adults who treat them fairly, they all attained 11 A-C grades and went onto college etc. All work and have given my 4 beautiful grandchildren, none have ever smoked or been in trouble with the police. So before you believe everything you watch on Jeremy Kyle or read please do your research and find tbat teenage pregnancy is a tiny fraction of all pregnancies and not the end of the world, oh and I worked for 30 yrs before retiring
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….. and poor spelling and punctuation, in your case.
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“Poor teaching leads to teenage pregnancy”
Really? When was the last time you were watching 16 and pregnant UK and someone said, “I went to school… And the teacher didn’t have a lesson plan, and when I got out of class I was up the duff”
No.
Sex leads to pregnancy and poor parenting, the normalisation of sex on TV shows, films and Vide games, the easy access to online porn and the shops selling “fashonably” cloths that make 14 year old girls look 21 leads to children not knowing that it’s not write for them to act like adults and have sex. There is no one cause and there is no single finger to point for the cause of the problem. To suggest there is, is moronic.
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No actually it’s sexual intercourse that leads to pregnancy…… did you learn nothing???
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therefore
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Shel…. I would need to be REALLY BAD TEACHING that leads to teenage pregnancy!!!
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I may have missed the correct context of this comment butI am commenting on how I read it. I am 33, I have a 16yr old daughter and 12 yr old son.
Both are well behaved, sensible and caring children with massive of respect for others and their elders.
I was 17 when my daughter was born and my partner was 20. It’s not impossible for pre-18 year olds to be mature enough to be good parents and bring their kids up right.
My daughter is an amazing musician and studying at college. My son, a keen artist and drama lover.
So if the context of the comment, “Where have all the adult parents gone?” , some kind of jibe at young parents being part of the problem of these children being disrespectful of rules and authority then I wish you to stand corrected!
It’s not a factor of age that causes bad parenting. It’s a parents own lack of respect for authority that allows their child to follow the same path and a state of mind of the parent to not teach their child right for wrong, regardless of how old that parent may be.
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dont think that was the gist of the comment…especially when it seems to be largely 30-40 year old parents who have yet to learn either adulting or how to work as a team for the benefit of their child’s future. Great parents (and crap ones) come at all ages – you are clearly in the great category. 😊
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I must say that I read the references to “adult parents” rather differently from you. In my mind it was about parents who don’t think and behave as adults, rather than their chronological age. An awful lot of parents now are so determined to be their offsprings’ friend that they forget there needs to be an adult in the parent/child relationship. Also, congratulations on raising 2 delightful-sounding youngsters!
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I think that ‘adult’ in this sense means a state of mind and attitude, not an age, you therefore are and were indeed adult. Congratulations on bringing up well adjusted children in this day and age. Peer pressure makes it an extremely hard job!! X
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Exactly– that’s the whole point. The ‘blog’ is talking about ‘grown up and wise parenting’ NOT the actual age of the parent.
So good for you and your obviously successful parenting 🙂
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I think ‘responsible parent letting those that know, and are specialized in how to run a school, run a school. Is what is implied. Congratulations to you as a family though. Be happy, healthy, loving and bonded.
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Teacher with feelings? Join Outwood, they have none!
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well said, they should conform to the school rules
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Exactly! – ‘YOU WILL CONFORM’! How about the parents being in charge of their kids upbringing? The teachers are paid to teach – Bloody well do so and stop making excuses for sending under-performing kids out of school so you don’t have to bother teaching them.
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idiot
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First class, funny and brought back fond memories of horrendous school uniforms I have survived. I am a school uniform survivor, shall I set up a support group, a fb page, develop a new form of therapy for the condition, campaign to get it recognised by the NHS?! Ssshess, what are these parents like? Actually wearing a stupid uniform has helped me in my job as a Vicar, I have to wear a multitude of strange, brightly coloured clothes as a priest, and sometimes I have not just one Miss Parry, but many in the congregation only too eager and happy to point out my ecclesiastical clothing faux par.
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Brilliant!
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When I was at school we had uniform,bottle green gym slips to year 3then skirts,not above the knee!We even had regulation shoes ,brown laces for outdoors and bar shoes for indoors!One specific shop we were supposed to buy from,and we had to wear horrible green felt hats and straw boaters in summer(and watch out if you were caught without hats,humiliation,made to wear it all day next day!!
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Me too – sounds like the same school, Greenschool, Dorchester, AKA Dorchester Grammar School for Girls!
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I think teachers need to remember there there to provide a service.
How many petrol station attendants send you home because your not wearing the gloves they provide.
Does it really matter what a child wears providing they get the education they need.
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That garage attendant has to wear a uniform though. Wearing correct uniform not only gets children in the right frame of mind for a day of learning but gets them used to wearing things they may not like as when ‘the real world ‘ hits that is often the case when it comes to jobs. Someone else decides what you wear. Parents who argue the case for their children worry me. Then next generation worries me. Children arguing and pushing boundaries isn’t new especially with school uniform but parents getting involved is.
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Exactly
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Education is not a service. We are not consumers. If we were the crap teachers have to put up with would result In law suits and permanent bans from the pre misuse. And yes, there is a body of evidence that suggests uniform and adherence to wearing it correctly does have a positive bearing on a child’s behaviour and the behaviour of the student body as a group.
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*premises
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Being a teacher clearly is a service…. Are you lost in reality?
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The latest ‘trends’ costs so much more than a uniform and what parents can afford that? They wouldn’t want to be seen wearing the same outfit twice either. I think in any job there are expectations in dress code. In my job the code is ‘ if you can’t see up it, down it or through it’ it’s ok to wear.
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Realist you dont see to grasp the logic behind a uniform. It is to make children feel they belong to a bigger family ie school, which makes them ambassadors for the school. To aviod bullying for children whose parents cannot afford the new expensive trainers. This avoids children feeling less worthy than their friends whose parents feed their endless need to be the forrunner for fashion no matter what the cost.
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He doesn’t get sent home he gets a verbal warning, and then a written warning and then when failing to follow the rules he gets a P45. Because that is the real world.
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Did you have an education?
“…they’re there…” not “…there there…”
“…you’re not wearing…” not “…your not wearing”
Questions end in question marks.
Your inability to use the English language explains how you can equate a petrol station attendant with a teacher. Teachers aren’t the hired help. Teachers are trained professionals, so get the Hell out of their way and let them do their job. That job, by the way, is not raising your child.
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Pedantic and extremely rude from Shesaiddarkly!
A petrol pump attendant probably does more hours work than a teacher so I guess the petrol pump attendant trumps it in my view! How pompous & obnoxious to think a teacher is above a petrol pump attendant – ‘He makes them high & lowly’. I would argue about the professionalism of the teaching profession when one writes clearly to the world that their 6 hours a day at 40 weeks per year is a higher job that a petrol pump attendant.
Let me point out that teachers do not hold all the cards! People that have dropped out of the education system before graduation are very often high achievers. How can teachers actually teach students to be high achievers when all the teachers have managed to achieve is being a teacher?
Be aware that the builder / tradesman who comes to school meetings straight from his work, is probably earning three times your salary!
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You know the uniform rules when you apply for a place for your child. If you dont like the rules apply elsewhere ( or home school) for your child. School uniform rules are to make the children just that; uniform; to avoid children trying to better everyone. The parents who are buyong the very ecpensive shoes are the problem; they are just showing off; saying, “i’ve got more money than you. Schools should br making the uniforms as affordable as possible for the people who cant afford too much; I agree thry should be sending children who openly flout the rules home; as most of them are only doing it to gain their 15 min of fame. BTW; I was ancient when I had my oldest child and it doesnt make any difference how old parents are; some of the older parents act like 3 year olds. Its not just actual age its the age they act. For some parents dont care about any child but their own; they are selfish.
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Spelling mistakes….don’t
Buying
Expensive
Be
They
I think you need to spell check your predictive text.😉
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Thank you firstly for your gorgeously written blog. Just found you! This sounds so much like Dorchester Grammar School for Gals. I remember being forced to kneel down on the floor, and woe betide if my pleated skirt ( rolled over several times at the waist, and held up by the webbing green pursed belt also necessary uniform) was not touching the floor! We had to walk on the left at all times. We had to wear our hats – felt berets in winter, straw boater in summer – at all times when in uniform outside of the building. No eating anything in the street. No makeup. There were carefully chosen and trained prefects to guard those rules. The Head Prefect was as respected as the Headmistress; she even had an office! I was called in once for writing backwards on the misted up school bus windows. But that’s another story! A revolution happened in sixth form – early 70’s, so very progressive considering – we could wear our own choice of clothes. But Miss Parks the Headteacher – errr no, Headmistress – said loudly and clearly: “Please understand I do not want to see a daily fashion show. Come dressed appropriately for work!” We
stretched those rules to breaking point. I am looking forward to your next blog!
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Ah thank you Jane…lovely to have you along!
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That sounds very like my old school and although I hated it with a passion (that’s the norm for goodness sake!) I still appreciated the programming to perform well in life.
Kids need (not want) stability, discipline and boundaries. \the tighter the boundaries the less extreme the rebellion 😉 ! I know because I used the same principles on my own sprogs – who ow use them on theirs!
People who bow to their offsprings’ demands are creating problems – not only for themselves and other people but for their own children too.
Keep up the good work 😉 !
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Absolutely right a uniform consistent throughout, creates a sence of belonging and pride. Its the basic principle which you build on to improve any situation. Sadly for some its beyond comprehension, they should be happy that the school is proactive and eager to raise standards.
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Not allowing someone in to the building to get their blazer and then sending them home because they weren’t wearing it does seem a bit excessive.
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It’s all down to the parents can’t be arsed to teach respect any thing there kids want they get and so it goes on this all came about when nanny know it all dogooders stopped schools giving unruly kids a good thrashing and that’s the same for perants
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I’ll tell you what Dennis Sanford, I’ll come round to yours and give you a good thrashing and please don’t complain to the nanny state afterwards just because your backside is sore! Yes you would be correct in considering it assault just like you are advtimer.ocating that’s what assault should be given to someone elses child…… Get back in your cript you old ####
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*crypt
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Fabulous article about school uniform, watched this story this week and the parents looked very foolish
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I started secondary school in 1971. Our headmistress was very strict. She used to measure our skirts and heels of our shoes. Jewellery had to be minimal. She’d have had a heart attack if we’d have turned up with multicoloured hair and multiple piercings. Yes we pushed our luck. But our mothers did not throw up their hands in horror, and March up to the school to complain. They accepted it. Cos that was the rules of the school. There have to be rules in a school other wise we’d end up with St Trinians where anything goes.
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Wouldn*t mind betting most of these comments are from Grammar and High schools and yes we did try to adjust our look but some rules were set in stone. Hats or berets always worn in town etc etc and really we were very proud inside to be seen as elite.Still remember the headmistress Miss Farrer but the one who we feared the most was Miss Simms-the Latin teacher. Think of her every time I see the colours purple and yellow together ,Happy days
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My wins were a round neck jumper from C&A ( I still hate V necks ) and colourful stripy socks ( I did have many pairs confiscated before assembly). Oh and the joy I felt when I got my first pair of hush puppies instead of the regulation clarks I had been wearing for the whole of my life.
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Thankfully my grandson who started senior school this week attends a very driven school who always insist on full uniform including blazers, ties, and black shoes and for girls below knee skirts. The blazers have to be worn at all times apart when in lessons. For parents we accept this is unquestionable and failure to wear the full uniform will result in your child being sent home and even exclusion for numerous failures to dress in full uniform
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Another example of the petty arrogance of people who have spent so long in the company of children they have begun to mimick their behaviour. There is absolutely no need to enforce what children wear at all. Good grief, get on and teach the curriculum. You’re not there to teach my children about “The real world” from your narrow point of view, they already exist in it thank you. I hate to break it to you but the majority of children, even the most academic, can’t wait for the bell at 3.30 to get back to the real world and not some petty minded fiefdom. Such a sorry state of affairs when the only form of power an adult feels the need to exercise is over a child’s clothing.
Parents are quite capable and really don’t need your moot life lessons – “One day they will be told what to wear by other people” – utter nonsense. Don’t presume that. I don’t need you to install a sense of “pride and belonging” in my child, they’ve already got that from home thank you. What would be nice is if you got on with the business of academic teaching, you know, what we pay our taxes for, what you are paid for.
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As an adult i can see exactly where you are coming from but as a child i was so very grateful that we had a strict school uniform (which we did manage to shorten with the use of safety pins in the shoulders of the pinafore dresses) because we didnt have enough money to buy fashionable clothes and i would never have been able to keep up with my school friends and the clothes they would have been able to wear. I was pleased that my children had to wear school uniform too because the same applied. As teenagers, my children did have a few designer items (trainers etc) but if they had been allowed to wear them to school they would have been worn out in no time at all and the impression they made out of school would have been wasted. Its a sad truth but children at school still get teased, and bullied, relentlessly for not looking the same as everyone else and uniforms are a great leveller.
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Quite the reverse – these are people who spend all their lives in the company of children and know how best to teach them. Uniform makes them feel part of the organisation and helps them to bond as a group. I wore uniform at school, so did my kids and now my grandkids. Most big employers now have uniforms for their staff – join the army or police, drive for Stobarts, stack shelves in Tescos, even flip burgers in McDonalds, and you’ll wear a uniform. There’s nothing wrong with wearing a uniform at work, and as kids are basically “at work” when they’re in school then they should stop moaning about it, wear the uniform, and get on with absorbing the education which we taxpayers provide for them.
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Well make the Teachers wear a uniform too & also don’t allow teachers to wear makeup either. Lead by example then find the respect.
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To a certain extent, you are right… Teachers do want to get on and teach, but the reality that we face is that the world.has rules and one of the things we have to teach is that failure to follow rules has consequences. When a parent does not teach that to their children, that is when teachers are prevented from doing their main job, because we have to step in where a parent should be guiding their child.
The results of failing to follow rules.in the wide world are painful and we do not wish for children to have to face those types of consequences. Does a good parent expect their child to listen when they say, “Don’t touch that it’s hot?” Well, how does a child know when they should obey? Should they check for themselves? Push those boundaries too? Rules are followed or they are not. I’d prefer the former.
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Spot on Anna…. Massively more articulate than the posts from the teacher brigade! Hell, most of their posts are un-intelligible!
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Should have attended my school. For girls no jewellery other than wristwatch. Definitely no makeup. Black leather shoes had to e well polished even the heels.All infringements resulted in detention. Head and Depute patrolled in morning to check all uniform conformed. I tell you I certainly made sure my uniform was clean and tidy and I still make sure heels on shoes are polished. No, my parents did not see to all of this I was expected to do this myself. My uniform, respecti for school and self. Parents need to stop pampering their children and get them to accept responsibility for themselves.
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So, Theresa May … It seems you’re into a sticky wicket … I will watch with interest to see where your Grammar School drive goes. I wonder if the old trappings will emerge in a ‘new’ way setting new ideals, trends and fashion that will cascade throughout the school system? I’m a survivor of school uniform and Clarks crepe soles …. Good luck! Great article by the way!
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Great post. I listened to the story on Radio 4 and knew I was a grown up as I was cheering for the head. Like you, I would have died if my parents had come to support my choice of attire.
Parents are at their best, when they are parents to their kids first and friends second. It breaks my hear to argue with my kid, but I would rather argue with her than let her screw up her life for doing something that I know has consequences that she cannot see.
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The writer of this nonsense really should “give their head a shake” what absolute tosh and a complete example of why some people should not have children as they believe that the duty of parenting and encouraging those to join society as reasonable adults are far for it themselves.
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Let’s face it,has any child been bullied for ever having a tassle,buckle or suede on there shoes !!! Kids get bullied because there fat,spotty,ginger,got big ears & generally ugly,a strict uniform,tassle or no tassle is gonna change that ! If a child turns up in smart shoes & there on time then for gods sake let them in,there clearly there to learn & yes I am a parent & no thank goodness my child doesn’t go to that school but I once did !
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Standards! Some people dont understand them. 1) your child should have breakfast every morning. 2) your child should have clean ironed clothes every day. 3) your child should know right from wrong. 4) your child should show respect to each adult it meets in they day to day life’s, whether a neighbour, shopkeeper, school teacher etc. 4) your child should be potty trained, be able to eat with a knife and fork, and say thank you and please by the age of 5.
6) it the adults cannot and do not understand the simple rules, then you should be made to take parenting classes at a cost to yourself regardless of income.
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Blue berry – couldn’t agree more. Not the teachers job to parent.
I know of children sent to school at 5 still with nappies and dummies! Mum turned up still in pj’s…..
Poor kids don’t stand a chance.
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Just some balancing points Blue berry could add…..
7) Your child should be treated with respect, dignity & fairly by their teachers – and not sent home and be rejected from a days learning for a technicality!
8) If the teachers cannot show respect to the child and it’s parents and parent rights (which is from a massively higher power than the academy that the teacher is involved with) then the teacher is to have respect lessons at their own costs and the academy shall pay financial losses to the parent and a fine to the education department for the neglect that they are showing to the child’s education.
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Good for the Headteacher, We need Rules in all our schools starting from Nursery, it CAN be done, I did it in 1975. Rules in school usually make more rounded people and able to behave properly in the outside world.
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Too many kids today suffer from CPS (Crap Parent Syndrome)
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More suffer from CTS (Crap Teacher Syndrome) if I have to spell it out too!
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Fantastic article!
I have zero understanding of these parents. My children know me as a rebel. I fight many things in my life and do so robustly, something they are proud of. If I felt the head teacher had treated my child unfairly or stepped out of line in some way? You bet I would have addressed it, in a letter or personally WITH AN APPOINTMENT. First, though, I would have insisted my child obey the rules AND apologise for not doing so the first time.
When my little darlings were in primary school my daughter came home at the start of the year telling me “People at school are being mean”. I immediately thought bullying, wrong! The new head was applying the uniform policy. So gone were trainers (this was a rural school so no one wasted designer trainers in the mud) in came polished shoes, no more black jeans and now shirts must be ironed and tucked in.
I expect my little darlings to do as an adult instructs first time, willingly and in good humour. I don’t care if they think the adult is wrong, they are not in a position in that moment to challenge. They know that I have to disagree pretty strongly to try to change a teacher’s decision and if I am going to do so, I am going to do it professionally and with respect.
Oh and to miss quote the author:
Where have all the adult commentors gone?
At the first instance I saw, on here, of someone correcting a spelling, I smirked; but it seems every grammatical error or typing error has to be pointed out to try to invalidate a person’s argument. How is that any more mature than the parents in the news at this school? So I think the real question is:
Where have all the adults gone?
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Brilliant Carol! Thank you so much!
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Haha, that’s what kids do, push boundaries, they always will, and who can blame them. What’s changed is some of the parents now, think they are still at school, the injustices that they faced all those years ago are now theirs to avenge. ” No-one will speak to my kids like that” etc. .. rules are in place for a reason but when we as parents teach our children that rules are to be challenged at every turn just because we ourselves do not understand them, we are not preparing them for the big bad world, we are not helping them get a job and be able to get on with people. No one should be a doormat, but respect for those who know what they are doing is very important, those are the people who ARE preparing our kids for that next stage in life, sorry rant over. Xx
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Good rant Tracey
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Gosh. What a joyful bunch of comments this blog has attracted! Just to clarify: I don’t believe school-uniform = a good school, but it can be a way to start. See Tom Bennet for more brilliance on this. Also: me ain’t a teacher and didn’t say I was. Me ain’t even married to one! But my kids go to school and frankly, I don’t know how teachers do it without killing the little darlings. Also: me blogs, often quickishly whilst cooking the dinner, hence occasional lapses in good grammar. Thank you friends. Lovely to have you along…
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If you read it this is what it was like in 1979 and not today with parents fighting at the schools. It was all about pushing school boundaries without parents being involved. You got sent home to change into uniform or the girls even marched to the toilets to get the much washed off there faces.
None of this human rights stuff like now that is what is killing schools. The belt did enough threats at the school for misbehaving.
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Beautiful erudite witty piece of writing… Should win an award,
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Be my agent Michael!
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This made me smile. I’m also a head and have recently had a lovely parent contact the service manager of social care, the police and my academy head quarters as I changed the routine of a morning task for their children. My goodness!
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My goodness indeed! Thanks so much for commenting!
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Brilliant blog. The writer is spot on with the antics ‘pushing the rules’. Tending to her lions – hysterical.
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