Rethinking uniform policy

By Tom Bowles

Schools that force their pupils to buy expensive uniforms will have to rethink their rules or face intervention by the Government.

New guidelines from the Department for Children, Schools and Families call for all schools to ensure their uniform policy is “affordable, non-discriminatory and sensitive to the needs of pupils”.

Schools that have exclusive contracts with suppliers which are overly expensive will be in violation of both the Competition Act and the School Admissions Code, which requires all governing bodies to ensure that their policies and practices do not disadvantage any children.

Schools Minister, Jim Knight, said: “I strongly support school uniforms and would like all schools to adopt them, but the cost of uniforms must never be a barrier for poorer families. We will take action where schools have a uniform policy that is needlessly and prohibitively expensive.”

The new guidelines also direct schools to:

consult the community, parents and pupils before setting or changing a uniform policy
use uniforms to prevent young people from wearing clothes that may encourage cliques or gangs
consider using lighter colours and reflective materials to increase the visibility of children when walking or cycling to school.

Rethinking uniform policy

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