Should we bring back having a separate PE kit?
Parents 15% yes, 19% maybe, 66% no
Staff 12% yes, 17% maybe; 71% no
Interestingly children were divided roughly 50/50 and divided according to year groups (on the whole, Years 2, 3 & 4 said they didn’t want to change into separate kit but Years 1, 5 & 6 said yes, they did).
Is the current uniform suitable?
Parents 88% said yes
Staff 88% said yes
Children were asked if they liked the current uniform & 83% said yes.
Pros and cons - a summary of the points raised by parents and staff
Separate PE kit as we did before the pandemic - pros
If kits are in school all week then this allows for a flexible approach to timetabling PE.
In some circumstances this can be more hygienic.
We can support children with becoming independent dressers (useful for some parents).
Separate PE kit as we did before the pandemic - cons
Forgotten kits – we used to ask that kits remained in school all week so that we could be flexible with PE timings, however, many children regularly did not have kit in school.
Some parents did not provide the kit requested and we had children with inappropriate clothing e.g. strappy vest tops which increased the risk of sunburn.
Supervising and providing spaces for single sex changing for older children is challenging.
Reduced PE lesson time as children can take a long time to change.
Lost kit.
Storage required – PE kits kept in the cloakroom throughout the week. The downstairs cloakrooms are difficult to supervise as they are downstairs in the main building. The cloakroom nearest the junior boys’ toilets (previously used for Years 5 & 6) was somewhere children always used to identify as a place where bullying might take place. It was taken out of use during the pandemic and staff noticed a clear, positive impact as a result - staff would prefer not to return to using it. There is insufficient space in the classrooms for bags. A room currently used for breakout space / ALN support would need to be lost to create an upstairs cloakroom.
Wear PE kit to school on PE days as we did during the pandemic - pros
No changing:
Avoids the difficulties involved with providing single sex changing and supervising whilst children are changing
some children are happier avoiding changing in front of others
increased lesson time
no lost PE kit
In some circumstances this can be more hygienic.
No storage required
Wear PE kit to school on PE days as we did during the pandemic - cons
PE has to be timetabled – problematic, for example, when there is bad weather in the run up to sports days and sometimes inconvenient when implementing Curriculum for Wales
During the pandemic - PE days became fashion orientated among older classes and some parents complained that children were being bullied for not wearing branded sports clothes that they couldn't afford. We were concerned that this had the potential to impact on attendance on PE days. To address this we would need parents to support us by providing an agreed PE uniform (and this is something we have always struggled to get sufficient parental support for).
Slower development of independent dressing skills for a small minority of children.
Current solution – one uniform that is sufficiently practical for taking part in physical activity - pros
Allows for a flexible approach to timetabling PE, particularly if children wear trainers.
Curriculum for Wales places an emphasis on outdoors / hands on experiential learning. Children wearing the current uniform are best prepared to engage in the learning experiences planned for them.
No changing:
Avoids the difficulties involved with providing single sex changing and supervising whilst children are changing
some children are happier avoiding changing in front of others
increased lesson time
no lost PE kit
No storage required
Current solution – one uniform that is sufficiently practical for taking part in physical activity - cons
Less hygienic if children wear the same tops to school every day for the week, however, this is only a small minority of pupils.
Some want skirts to be included.
Some feel that it is less smart – particular concerns raised around the suitability of some styles of shorts worn in the summer.
Shirts & ties
Nearly all parents, staff & children voted against reintroducing shirts and ties
Smart trousers / skirts
There were a minority of parents who commented that they wanted skirts to be part of the uniform, reasons being largely related to personal preference, some to appearance and some gave other reasons e.g. practicality going to the toilet, child being more comfortable in a pinafore with no waistband.
A minority of staff commented that skirts looked smart whilst also noting that they were less practical for some activities. A parent also commented that this could be easily addressed by opting for shorts under a skirt.
Children were surveyed last and, having considered the responses from staff & parents, were directly asked if they preferred wearing smart trousers / skirts. Overall, the majority f children said no (60%) but it was interesting to note that this wasn't the picture across all ages: a lot of younger children said yes whilst the majority of older children said no.
Shoes
Parents and staff were asked: Would you like children to wear smart shoes rather than trainers (& bring trainers to school to change into for those activities where they are more suitable)?
Parents: 64% no, 29% yes, 7% maybe
Staff: 71% no, 0% yes; 29% maybe;
Children did not have the maybe option:
67% said no & 33% yes
Should we allow hoodies?
Parents: 12% yes, 67% no, 22% maybe
Staff: 15% yes, 66% no, 22% maybe
Children: 43% yes, 25% no, 32% maybe
A number of staff felt very strongly that hoodies should not be allowed - largely related to behaviour and the risk of hoods or the chords that run through the hoods being pulled.