Jump to content

School uniform row


Gary

Recommended Posts

[quote name="LymmParent

 

 

Yes' date=' and the uniform needs to be cheap because the fees are not. MGS takes the top 5% of boys only, and there's a fee to apply for admission..... [/quote]

 

My grandson was at MGS, on a bursary as were quite a few of his contemporaries, so his fees were not extraordinary. The uniform was secondary to the education and the boys felt comfortable, showing the school badge as their MGS identity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 158
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

[quote name="LymmParent

 

 

Yes' date=' and the uniform needs to be cheap because the fees are not. MGS takes the top 5% of boys only, and there's a fee to apply for admission..... [/quote]

 

My grandson was at MGS, on a bursary as were quite a few of his contemporaries, so his fees were not extraordinary. The uniform was secondary to the education and the boys felt comfortable, showing the school badge as their MGS identity.

 

OK, factually, according to their own web page, MGS is currently educating 1395 boys aged 11-19. 200 receive bursary awards for some part of their fees and the remaining 1195 pay over ?9000 a year each for seven years. ?63000 per pupil.

 

By all means suggest to the parents of LHS that they can remove the uniform requirements for ?63000 per child, paid over seven years, with the option of drawing straws for an allocation of free places. I am sure they will bite your hand off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do they get a free year? :?

 

If they follow the MGS model, the bursary can only be claimed at the time of application for admission and is reviewable yearly.

 

At the moment, they get seven free years and are carping over the price of a skirt. I suspect there's no urgency over sorting out the details for them to pay fees!! :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Education isn't 'free' Lymmparent. It's paid for out of public funds.

Which means not only pupils parents but also the wider public have an interest in ensuring that the money isn't wasted.

There appears to be a few concerns regarding Lymm High not merely the choice of uniform but the manner in which the Head and Governors have acted over this and other issues mentioned on this forum.

Perhaps other Lymm parents are less concerned with superficial issues such as uniform and more concerned with maintaining high educational standards.

Would a new uniform or even a new school building ensure standards are maintained?

Is it wise for Heads/Governors to direct their energies on superficial change for changes sake?

Stockton Heath Primary after many years of having an excellent reputation got a new head, a new building and went into special measures, it is now just satisfactory, could that be called public money well spent?.

Padgate High also at present seems to be suffering low morale due to undemocratically forced changes.

Lymm High has a good reputation let's hope it stays that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not quite sure what your point is there. Parents at fee paying schools also pay their share of state education costs - they just get nothing for it. I was making a jokey remark to Paul in response to his jokey question, not a political statement.

 

I have no strong views on the new uniforms - as I said in the other Uniform thread. The mishmash of grey skirts isn't the best, something a bit smarter would be nice, but I'd not have banged on the door and asked for a change. If straw boaters had been suggested, or girls stopped from wearing trousers, I'd have politely opposed the suggestions.

 

My objection is that the wrong impression gets into minds when things get nasty in public. People are already saying LHS "used to be" a good school but they wouldn't send their kids there now. My kids are there now and it's exactly the same place it was this time last year in terms of educational quality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lymmparent, you said in a previous post...

"At the moment they get seven free years"

 

I was pointing out to you that education is not free it is paid for out of public funds.

I gave some examples of schools whose management, in pursuit of the superficial, have enforced changes which have not in effect improved education, and thus have been a waste of public funds.

The changes in these examples, are similar to those at Lymm High, in that they were not only merely superficial but were enforced undemocratically.

With managements with similar objectives there is the possibility of similar results. Which would mean more public money wasted.

 

I think this issue is more about the management than the uniform.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems several teachers have resigned since the autocratic new Head began to make sweeping changes.

 

Good, she will be well shut of the wimps, they will be the ones who allow pupils to do anything they want as long as it doesn't affect their salaries or holidays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldn't they also be the ones whose attitudes and hard work have for many years maintained Lymm High's good reputation and high academic success?

New teachers will likely be chosen for their willingness to support the objectives of the new head.

Whether they will be able to maintain the academic standards of their predecessors remains to be seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are being asked to kit their children out in a new uniform by September, regardless of how long ago they bought the last one, and informed that it can only be sourced through the school at a considerable price. Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone in Lymm is by any means wealthy and the additional cost is, for some, a real difficulty.

 

 

Excuse me? That's as wrong as you can be. The uniform is being phased in over three years and nobody except the brand new Year 7 joiners needs any new kit before September 2010. The uniform review was under discussion YEARS before Miss Walsh ever came near Lymm - it's not her idea at all. Read the online article here if you don't believe me.

 

The bone of contention is not the cost - it is the rude and thoughtless way the board of Governors went about handling communications with parents. That is what angered people.

 

I have kids there and the new changes will not cost me a bean until September 2010. If I do not wish to buy a plaid skirt, I do not ever have to - trousers are OK and can be bought anywhere, as can blouses and shirts. If I do not wish to buy the new black jumper that has a red line at neck and cuffs, I do not have to, it is not compulsory. There are grants and discretionary funds for those who need help - always have been.

 

And whilst I'm here, there are a few teachers leaving, but with a teaching staff list of just about 150, it would be an odd year if there weren't changes. Let's consider the fact that some 145 teaching staff members have worked for Miss Walsh a year now and aren't leaving. If two or three individuals who worked for Mr Lounds a long time are struggling with a new leader, then that's life. They're not wimps and she's not a villain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lymm Parent,

You seem to be well informed on this matter.

I am also a parent of a child at the high school who happens to be of an age that the uniform wont have an impact by the time he leaves school.

I happen to believe Kate is partially right in her statement, the plaid skirts, black jumpers red piping and blazers with red piping I believe are only available from the school shop, please enlighten me if I am wrong.

With regards to trousers, blouses and shirts. Have specific colours been defined, you mention black for trousers, I presume white for blouses and shirts but have the exact shade of these colours been defined, as was this not the problem with policing the original uniform.

I dont have any ill wishes towards the head and do wish her every sucess in the role but hope both her management skills and diplomacy improve greatly before she tackles abolishing the halls and changing the school hours.

 

ps. Does the uniform policy address the colour of socks and shoes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FIVE jobs being advertised at the school this week! :roll:

 

I suspect one of these would be for a head of hall, as the previous head of hall resigned very recently. Not a position I believe you would resign from without serious consideration.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excuse me? That's as wrong as you can be. The uniform is being phased in over three years and nobody except the brand new Year 7 joiners needs any new kit before September 2010.

Lymmparent - In defence of kateoflymm the post you commented on was made on Jun 13 - before the new statement on 25 Jun regarding phasing the uniform in.

Has anyone heard when new uniform will be available to purchase as the current uniform is the only one on the Lymm High website. :?:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FIVE jobs being advertised at the school this week! :roll:

 

I suspect one of these would be for a head of hall, as the previous head of hall resigned very recently. Not a position I believe you would resign from without serious consideration.

 

Six jobs actually. A Gym Coach, a Food Technologist and three lab Technicians (DT, Chem and Art), plus a vacancy for "Cover Supervisors" - dunno what they are. It doesn't say whether these are vacancies arising from people leaving or additional staff. I would imagine Head of Halls would be filled by promotion, as he is also Head of a Key Stage. That will leave a vacancy for one subject teacher somewhere lower down in the relevant department. He's a loss and it's a real shame if it is a personality clash, but as I said, even if it is, that's just life. As far as I know, the other three Heads of Hall are staying.

 

I'm no fan of Miss Walsh - she's certainly upset a fair few people. But there's no more truth in the tale of teachers leaping like lemmings than there was in the tale that 2000 blazers were on order before the consultation period even started and there'd be havoc because we'd all need one for September.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excuse me? That's as wrong as you can be. The uniform is being phased in over three years and nobody except the brand new Year 7 joiners needs any new kit before September 2010.

Lymmparent - In defence of kateoflymm the post you commented on was made on Jun 13 - before the new statement on 25 Jun regarding phasing the uniform in.

Has anyone heard when new uniform will be available to purchase as the current uniform is the only one on the Lymm High website. :?:

 

I've no objection to anyone having an opinion that's different to mine, but that was guesswork presented as informed comment. Kate had ample time to go back and edit it. I'm sure she has no objection to a polite correction.

 

I haven't heard about supply, and I don't think anyone knows the prices either. I think there may be some noise when they're announced though...... the web page is Cormorant, not LHS per se.

 

And to save me making a separate post, can I just say to Ian that blazers with the crest have only been available from school for years now. Ditto some PE kit items. Before there was a school shop, there was a nominated supplier. Lymm Grammar ties came only from Fletcher's Menswear in the village. Delightful bottle green gym knickers you could camp in came only from Warrington Co-op. All I meant was that whilst it will indeed be less likely that the more distinctive and possibly more expensive skirts and sweaters can be had from elsewhere, they aren't compulsory purchases at all, so we have control over costs via choices we are free to make.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excuse me? That's as wrong as you can be. The uniform is being phased in over three years and nobody except the brand new Year 7 joiners needs any new kit before September 2010.

Lymmparent - In defence of kateoflymm the post you commented on was made on Jun 13 - before the new statement on 25 Jun regarding phasing the uniform in.

Has anyone heard when new uniform will be available to purchase as the current uniform is the only one on the Lymm High website. :?:

 

I've no objection to anyone having an opinion that's different to mine, but that was guesswork presented as informed comment. Kate had ample time to go back and edit it. I'm sure she has no objection to a polite correction.

 

I haven't heard about supply, and I don't think anyone knows the prices either. I think there may be some noise when they're announced though...... the web page is Cormorant, not LHS per se.

 

And to save me making a separate post, can I just say to Ian that blazers with the crest have only been available from school for years now. Ditto some PE kit items. Before there was a school shop, there was a nominated supplier. Lymm Grammar ties came only from Fletcher's Menswear in the village. Delightful bottle green gym knickers you could camp in came only from Warrington Co-op. All I meant was that whilst it will indeed be less likely that the more distinctive and possibly more expensive skirts and sweaters can be had from elsewhere, they aren't compulsory purchases at all, so we have control over costs via choices we are free to make.

 

 

 

Excuse me, please don't make assumptions about "guesswork" where any statement of mine is concerned, whether or not you consider your "correction" is polite. I was happy to learn that the situation had changed, as was stated before your quoted post, but a statement which was, in essence, pertinent at the time does not need your correction.

 

Incidentally, I would not, subsequently, go back and "edit" a post when further information is received. That would make a nonsense of the whole thread. I give the majority of posters the credit for enough intelligence to follow the various posts on a subject.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you go back and edit a post you have made weeks before and anyone else has 'quoted' you... your original post changes but the 'quoted' ones don't...... just as other comments and chat would no longer make sense.

 

It would make very difficult reading and would cause even more confusion than often happens on here anyway :lol:

 

PS Kate and LymmP... you seem to agree on a lot of things :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah. Clearly Kate does object. To my assumption that her assumptions were "guesswork" as opposed to "incorrect assumptions". I stand corrected this time. :)

 

Kate, I apologise for offending you, that was not my intention. My choice of word was not a personal attack, it was simply informal usage in replying to another poster. I'm not going to say anything else about it, because you're clearly angry with me and there's no point in arguing over semantics when we have a whole world to set to rights....

 

If I post something incorrect, I go back and add a header to that effect, leaving the post for context. Quite a lot of posters do - but obviously not in this Forum. Now I know.

 

I never said I was perfect though - I don't even iron my teatowels!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...