Opinion - ‘£200 to replace my children’s uniforms is a significant amount for my family’

I was very disappointed to hear that The King’s School wishes to change its uniform.

I think the current uniform is excellent. It is smart and, in particular, does not resemble those uniforms worn by private and selective school students, and so does not offer any elitist

pretences.

As a former student of King’s myself, when it was a selective grammar school with compulsory blazers and white shirts, and where the local secondary modern schools wore grey, I was delighted when my children started this year in year seven that the uniform is much more suited to the daily activities of children in school, rather than to workers in a bank.

A cost of £200 to replace my children’s uniforms may not seem much to many middle-class parents or teachers at the school, but it is a significant amount for my family, especially when I feel that the school’s time would be better spent on improving the education provided, rather than changing the external appearance of the students.

I cannot agree that the proposed new uniforms depicted in the ‘consultation’ letter look anything other than rather scruffy. Changing the uniform to me seems completely pointless.

I sincerely hope that the idea is abandoned.

Barnaby McCabe

Higher Metcombe

Click here to read about The King’s School’s proposed uniform changes.