School has recently
announced a change in the school uniform, and this has sparked many different
opinions within my friends.
Hannah Cottam, a Year
10 pupil, says “I have had the experience of attending schools with and without
uniforms, personally I always felt more comfortable in my own clothes. The
argument that people will judge people who cannot afford 'designer' clothes is silly;
people will always find a way to judge others. The thing that bothers me the
most about uniform is the shapeless designs that are made for both boys and
girls; what were they thinking? They are horrible and oversized so much so that
when I started school people thought I was massively overweight when I was not
because of my appearance in the uniform and this did not do much for my
confidence as you can imagine! Overall in my opinion I would always be happier
in my own clothes.”
Jade Fancourt,
another year 10 pupil thinks similarly: “The current uniform is great! It’s
comfy and easy for everyone but the new changed one is rubbish; why should we
all pay £33 to just wear a scabby blazer that makes girls look like lads? It's
not needed and what if some families can't afford it, what are they going to do?”
I think this a common
opinion within students; it’s a lot of money to spend on uniform if many students do not have high opinions of the new uniform.
However, there are students who think the new uniform is a good decision; Megan
Hine says “I think that the new uniform is a good thing as the current uniform
looks scruffy compared to other local schools, which have a smarter appearance.”
Arran Wylde thinks “the
new uniform is alright, but it would be better with a black blazer.” I think
this another problem among students; the colour scheme. With a somewhat rainbow
tie, and a green theme running through most items of clothing, some students
would like to see more black; black blazers and skirts. We know the blazers are
green but no one seems to be able to conclude which colour the possible skirts
will be; green or black.
My mum has her
opinions too: “I think the new uniform will look smart, but I have some reservations. I wore a v-neck jumper with shirt and tie to school. The blazer was optional, partly due to its cost, and partly due to it's lack of practicality as a coat. We could wear blazers in the summer but had proper coats to wear in the winter. Is the proposal that students will have to acquire rain jackets large enough to wear over blazers, or will blazers be optional? I have been glad that my daughters have had a smart, practical, comfortable uniform to wear, and have often wished that I had had something similar. We would suffer in the summer, waiting to hear if we could take our ties off when it was hot. I note that a skirt is being considered. I hope this is not introduced. Another consideration is cost; I have two daughters at school, and I would not have expected to buy more than one more set of new uniform to
see them through their school years. Now I have to buy two.”
This is another
difficulty; parents will not be happy about the cost of the uniform, especially
if they have to buy more than 1 set of it. It’s not compulsive for all students
to buy the uniform in September, but even for the new Year 7’s, if they have
older siblings in school, parents will have been hoping their uniform could be
passed onto the new Year 7’s.
It will take a few
years to filter through, but I think it’s going to be fairly controversial. I
have seen many different opinions in these past few days, and I can imagine
there are many more throughout the school.
In all honesty, I
think the new uniform sounds good in theory, but like a lot of things, it won’t
be as good as it sounds.
