The summer holidays have started for many schools and the government has potentially given parents a little more spending money by making a new rule over uniforms.
Schools are now limited to how many branded items they can require students to wear as a way of reducing the cost facing parents every year.
But while the news might be welcome to many, some headteachers have hit out at the ruling , stating that uniforms are a good place to start when clamping down on poor behaviour.
Katharine Birbalsingh, of Michaela School in north London, told LBC’s Nick Ferrari: “The uniform issue, the way you turn around a school with behaviour issues is to really clamp down on uniforms. If you only have three items of branded uniform, you just won’t be able to do that.”
Here are the rules around school uniforms in the UK.
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What are the rules around school uniforms in the UK?
There is no statutory government ruling around what schools can and cannot impose, but the government has set out guidelines as to how its policies can be developed.
Decisions over what school uniform measures are imposed are decided by schools and their governors, and these regulations will be given to parents on a case-by-case basis.
“We would, however, expect governing boards to consider this guidance, to ensure that they comply with their obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010,” the government states.
The Department for Education has recently stepped in to limit the number of branded items that schools can impose, to potentially reduce costs for up to £50 per child, per year.
Do all British schools wear uniforms?
Surprisingly, no. Around 90 per cent of all British schools do adhere to a uniform policy, according to government data .
But 10 per cent of schools do allow pupils to wear their home clothes all year round, although these will likely still need to adhere to some policy.
Schools do not have to require uniforms. A DIY probe on Mumsnet found that many schools that do not require one are primaries, although the list was not definitive.
Why do schools have uniforms?
Wearing a standardised uniform is not always popular, especially among students. Boys who feel their school should offer the option of wearing shorts have been known to wear skirts out of protest over rules when it has been hot.
Schools have argued that uniforms can promote good behaviour through a sense of unity and having a standardised model can also discourage bullying.
Jason Wing, head teacher at the Neale-Wade Academy in Cambridgeshire, told the Guardian : “Uniforms show that you are part of an organisation. Wearing it says we’re all in this together.
“Also, if you wear your uniform with pride, it means you are halfway there to being respectful, buying into what the organisation is all about.”
