Surrey Homes | SH29 | March 2017 | Fashion supplement inside

Education
Orderly lines
In light of the recent news story that shone the media spotlight on the uniform policy at
a Kentish academy, Susan Elkin debates the pros and cons of school uniform rules
I
sympathise with Alison Colwell, principal of Ebbsfleet
Academy, Swanscombe in Kent. She sent around 10% of
her students home on the first day of this term because
their skirts were too short. She wants her students to look
smart and business like and be prepared for work. But is a
very strict list of uniform rules, and the time it must take
to enforce them, really the best way forward? Wouldn’t
sensible guidelines and advice be a better way of working?
The British seem to be obsessed with school uniforms. Surely
black trousers and fancy badges foster better behaviour and a
sense of pride? Possibly in some cases. But if a uniform is to be,
well, uniform, then you need detailed rules and that’s a minefield.
As soon as a school creates a rigid uniform policy, it has to
enforce it. As Head of Upper School in a Kent school I had
to deal with a queue of uniform infringers every morning.
Boots instead of shoes was a common ‘problem’. Our no-boots
Head had decided that a shoe becomes a boot when it covers
the anklebone so I quite often ended up on hands and knees
on my office floor ascertaining where the student’s footwear
ended. And I worked in another school where the rule was
that ear studs must be no more than 5mm in diameter – you
can imagine the arguments that caused. Get your ruler out.
Of course I also worry about the surreal unsuitability for
21st century education of many school uniforms. Is it really
a good idea to send three-year-olds to school in a dry-clean
only cloth blazer and a cap? Should we persist in making
girls wear flappy, arguably dangerous, ties at a time when
ever fewer adult males wear them, let alone females?
I would include in my guidelines an observation that
expensive designer items are not suitable for school and work
discreetly with families who found this hard to deal with.
Some very successful schools – Hampton Court House
in London, Frensham Heights in Surrey, for example –
operate without school uniforms and everything is fine.
Discipline doesn’t collapse and anarchy doesn’t take over.
It’s the quality that counts and not the wrappings, as my
father used to say. And good behaviour is far deeper than
clothing. It is based on respect which has to be earned.
Susan Elkin is the author of Encouraging Reading (Continuum,
2008) and Unlocking the Reader in Every Child (Ransom, 2011).
Cranmore School
Independent Preparatory School
for girls and boys 2 ½ - 13
APR 17
28
OPEN MORNING
09.30 -11.30
Friday 28 April 2017
Assisted Places available
01483 280340 www.cranmoreprep.co.uk
admissions@cranmoreprep.co.uk West Horsley, Surrey KT24 6AT
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