Uniform

Our school uniform is important to us. It is one way in which we identify ourselves as a school family and it promotes a strong, cohesive school identity which supports high standards and expectations in all areas of school life. It promotes harmony between different groups represented in the school, and it enhances security, assisting the school in identifying individual pupils in order to maintain good order and spot intruders more easily. Smartness and high standards of appearance are expected at all times.

It is our policy that all children should wear school uniform when attending school, or when participating in a school-organised event outside normal school hours. We provide a complete list of the items needed for school uniform in this policy and on our website.

Please visit the Monkhouse website for branded school uniform: www.monkhouse.com

Non-branded uniform can be found at most supermarket and uniform clothing retailers.

Aims and Objectives

Our policy is based on the notion that a school uniform:

• promotes a sense of pride in the school;
• engenders a feeling of community and belonging;
• is practical and smart;
• identifies the children with the school;
• is not distracting in class (as fashion clothes might be);
• makes children feel equal to their peers in terms of appearance;
• is regarded as suitable, and good value for money, by most parents;
• has been designed with health and safety in mind.

The Role of Parents

We ask all parents who send their children to our school for their support of the school uniform policy. We believe that parents have a duty to send their children to school correctly dressed and ready for their daily schoolwork. Parents should ensure that their child has the correct uniform, and that it is clean and in good repair.

The Role of Staff

Staff support the uniform policy and will challenge children who do not arrive in full school uniform. They are also able to help with finding spare uniform for children who need to borrow and helping parents locate lost, named items (where possible).

Equality

This policy is to be considered in line with our Equality Duty (published separately) and we will ensure that at all times we will seek to promote equal opportunities and good race relations, avoiding discrimination against anyone for reasons of ethnicity, disability or gender or any other protected characteristic. Action will be taken in cases of harassment and discrimination.

The school welcomes children from all backgrounds and faith communities. If there are serious reasons, for example religious objections, why parents want their child to wear clothes that differ from the school uniform the school will look sympathetically at such requests. However, we will try to ensure this is only a minor adaptation and fits in with the main colour scheme. Similarly, should an item of school uniform prove problematic for a pupil with disabilities then parents are invited to draw this to the attention of the Principal.

Our School Uniform

• Green Jumper or cardigan with the school logo  –  available from named suppliers or without logo from other retailers;
• White polo shirt with the school logo– available from named suppliers or without logo from other retailers;
• Grey school trousers - available from named suppliers or other retailers;
• Grey skirt or pinafore dress - available from named suppliers or other retailers;
• Green check dress - available from named suppliers or other retailers;
• Sensible black shoes suitable for active play (please ensure your child can do laces up if they are to wear lace up shoes);
• Plain white or grey socks;
• Grey tights;
• Optional plain hijab in black, green, or white;
• Optional Fairlawn Primary School backpack – available from school office

Any jumper or cardigan that is not a school one must be totally plain and match the colour of the school one.

Outdoor Clothing

Warm, waterproof, jacket-style coats and must be named. Wellies are also useful to have in school for sand / water activities and Forest School.

P.E. and Games Kit

• Green drawstring bag with the school logo (to contain PE kit) – available from the school office;
• Green shorts;
• White t-shirt or polo shirt, school logo not necessary;
• Green sweatshirt with school logo / joggers for outdoor winter wear;
• Swimming costume / optional swimming cap

For health and safety reasons, it is essential that children are dressed appropriately for any physical activity. Appropriate footwear is essential: trainers or plimsolls should be worn or bare feet for gymnastics only. All items of PE clothing should be identified with the child’s name. Children who go swimming need a towel, swimming trunks / shorts or one-piece costume, carried in a waterproof bag.

Property

Parents should label all items of clothing clearly with their child’s name. If items are named the school will attempt to search for lost items.

Bags and Belongings

All children need a school bag for carrying their reading books, pencils and belongings. Excessively large bags should not be brought into school.

Jewellery and Fashion Items

On health and safety grounds we do not allow children to wear jewellery in our school. The exceptions to this rule are ear-ring studs in pierced ears. We expect the children to remove them during PE and games.

Children come to school to learn. We believe that fashion items are best kept for home, and for reasons such as health, safety and inclusion fashion accessories such as make-up, nail polish, hair gel and jewellery other than stud earrings should not be worn. Parents should also be aware that tattoos are not permitted.

Hair

The school does not permit children to have haircuts that could serve as a distraction to other children. Long hair on both girls and boys, should be tied back neatly. Extreme hairstyles or colours are not permitted.

Footwear

The school wants all children to grow into healthy adults. We believe that it is dangerous for children to wear shoes with platform soles or high heels in school, so we do not allow this. We do allow the children to wear smart trainers (in a plain black) as they spend a lot of time being active. No coloured or white flashes or rims must be visible on the shoes and laces must be black.

Non-Compliance with the School Uniform Policy

When joining our school we ask you to recognise that we are a 'school uniform' school and commit to providing a smart school uniform.

If children come in to school in inappropriate clothing (including non-uniform or variations of the uniform) they will be spoken to by staff and will be provided with a spare uniform. If non-wearing of the uniform is persistent then parents will be involved.