Is this not the key here? School uniforms can run to several hundred pounds worth in 2022 by the time you figure in blazers, jumpers with emblems, PE kits etc etc, all of which have to be bought from the specific supplier the school has done a deal with. I’m not against uniforms at all, but given the costs of them, and the speed that kids grow I suspect at the very least being able to buy generic stuff from supermarkets or the like (something that is less and less acceptable to schools) would be considerably cheaper, and depending on where the kids stand on designer brands, wearing their own clothes could work out considerably cheaper, than buying the full uniform the school insists, from the place they insist, with no ability to shop around as is often the case these days.
It should not be allowed for school to profit. The old US system was better - items and colours specified and only a few other specs where needed eg skirt length and (non-)transparency of material.
Schools (or consortiums of schools) should maybe help by arranging deals with a supplier or two but these should be optonal.
Anything else in the public school system smacks of corruption
Any comment I would make about uniform could be seen as anti semitic. Our headmaster enforced rules that meant uniforms were purchased from his families clothing shops.
I lusted after a school uniform when I was dispatched to a boys’ boarding school at 16. 700 boys in standard black uniform, 12 girls wearing anything they liked (as long as it was not tight!). Guess how easy it was to spot a girl misbehaving at 500metres?
I had soooo many fines for smoking, running away from lessons, being in the wrong part of the school at the wrong time, etc. My male conspirators got away with it all completely!
Quite right too 
is that an inside or outside view?
My wife was the school shop manager in a public school for 11 years from which all the school uniform had to be bought. Public schools are not only an educational establishment but also a business.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th years had to wear uniform but the lower and upper 6th were allowed to wear suits, both the young ladies and men.
Ok, not all could afford such an education but that is the world of choice. My wife and I attended a comprehensive school and our childen went through public school. We did ok and so have our children. What I would say is that our girls would have blossomed in either school but our boys would not be where they are today had it not been for private education.
That’s crazy JohnBoy - parents buy day-to-day clothes whether schools have uniform or not!
Our kids wore uniform in the UK, then when we came to France wore their normal clothes to school, so we have direct experience of both systems - the French is better - and far cheaper.
We also have direct experience of other countries that don’t have school uniform - my wife lived in Finland with her daughter from her first marriage, and I had a Swedish partner (with her own children) before we got together. None of the arguments habitually used in the UK in favour of school uniform are actually supported by the experience of schools, parents or children in these countries.
Yet many other countries clearly do see benefits, in the US more and more schools are adopting a uniform.
outside.
By ‘public’ schools I mean public ones, not what the UK calls public schools (which are private).
As you say, private schools are businesses and can do what they like.
The public education sector needs to stay away from this sort of - IMV - corruption as they have public responsibilities and many families can’t walk away from them.
I think they are called State Schools
Give me a break!
You know what I mean.
Ours was certainly in a state.
I thought that this sort of enforced tie in to specific suppliers had been ruled illegal some time ago.
Not at all, as far as I can see. There seems to be some government guidance coming in from this September, but having just looked at this, and the wording involved, it seems to me more about having a policy and showing you’ve considered matters such as cost, and keeping branded items to a minimum, not actually anything practical. As with most things in life I imagine as long as you can show you’ve done the work and decided what you’ve decided for valid reasons, you’re all good.
I have just read through the articles you posted. Your comment above is correct. The first is only guidance:- basically we can do what the hell we like. and the second one is:- Well we tried but we will still do what the hell we like. Nowhere is stated “must” always “should”. So nothing more than a bunch of codswallop in both documents.
The second document says schools “Should” try not to, but if they do then “should” only do so for a period of 5 years then look at the matter. Basically a load of codswallop as usual.
Ours was a good school till the metal and woodwork shops went and then the car and bike workshop went followed by the Domestic science and the sewing classes , the science and chemistry classes curtailed all because the kiddy winkies might hurt themselves. Give me a break.
Now the school is visited by the local SWAT team more than the pupils.
Well you dont need any of those skills when you work in a call centre.
I would love to have gone to a school like that - much more useful than Latin or Divinity - and much more fun. Especially now, living in an old ruin in France. I’d have added plumbing and electrics to the above.
I went to Stanley technical high school, founded by the Stanley tools family. There was a lot of metal and wood bashing, but I’m not convinced I learned much about either discipline (Woodwork was more informative than metalwork). OTOH the science was good, and that definitely made a difference.