From September, it will be obligatory for Welsh schools to have uniforms which are both gender neutral and more affordable.
The new ruling means schools will have to be more lenient in how specific their uniform requirements are. Items and colours can be stipulated – but not styles or additions like logos. Gender neutrality also means an end to any schools requiring girls to wear skirts.
The guidelines have been in place since 2011, but until now were non-statutory, so it was up to schools how much they adhered to them. However, when the new school year begins, parents will be able to formally complain if they feel their child’s school isn’t following the guidelines.
[Read More: ‘Gender neutral school uniforms codes are a simple way to make all children feel comfortable, confident and accepted’]
Welsh minister for education, Kirsty Williams, told the Guardian: “It gave us an opportunity to look at the rather outdated way we look at uniforms, with lists of items for girls and lists for boys, which was a very old fashioned way of looking at how children should dress for school.”
When the legislature was proposed, the head teacher of Crickhowell High School in Wales, Jackie Parker, told the BBC: “Our policy is that any student can wear a skirt or trousers. We have had one young man who came in in a skirt one day and we said he looked very smart and he carried on and the next day he came in in trousers. Generally the girls wear skirts and the boys wear trousers but I think gender neutral is sensible.”
“We have had one young man who came in in a skirt one day and we said he looked very smart.”
The cost of uniforms, including PE and sports kit, is estimated to reach as much as £300 for some families. A 2018 Children’s Society study found that part of the reason for this was schools requiring uniforms to come from specific shops – something which both adds to the price and, according to the Competition and Markets Authority, might breach competition law.
In the study, 13% of families said they went into debt buying uniforms; 10% of parents said they regularly sent their children to school in uniforms that didn’t fit properly; and 5% reported their children had been sent home for their uniforms not adhering to the rules.