20 January 2016

Dear Parents/Carers

Change to School Uniform - September 2016

Prior to Christmas we wrote to all our parents/carers, spoke to all our staff and students in Year 9 and 10, regarding the change in uniform from the current sweatshirt to a school blazer for September 2016, to coincide with the opening of our new school. The rationalefor the proposal was as follows:

  • Our move into a new, clean, and fresh building is a real opportunity for us to smarten up at

all levels. We know that school uniform instills a sense of pride, identity and belonging and

we believe a change to our uniform will complement our transition.

  • Our new building will enable the vast majority of lessons to be taught ‘under one roof’, rather

than moving from block to block, thus reducing the need for coats/additional layers to be worn. The provision of locker space will enable many students to store any outdoor coats; wearing

their blazers around our new school during lessons.

  • We are in a competitive market place with many other local schools and want to ensure the

visual message our students give in our local community and wider area is an even smarter

and more positive one than our current sweatshirt allows.

We had a total of 11 responses to the consultation, 5 of which were postive. Here is a summary of the key questions raised and our responses:

The choice of colour / We viewed and carefully considered a range of colours and found the grey the best match to our existing school tie and black trousers/skirts.
Why a bespoke blazer and not an off the peg version with a sew on badge? / Undoubtedly an off the peg blazer would be a cheaper option but would also mean there would be a variety of styles and shades of grey which we felt would dilute the effect we were trying to achieve. Also we believe that parents/carers will be pleasantly surprised by the quality and durability of the blazer which should provide better value for money than an inferior product which may need to be replaced.
Durability / We sourced a 3 year old blazer of the same make and colour from another school to check its durability. The blazer had retained its colour and shape and looked as good as the brand new sample after 3 years wear and regular washing.
Comfort / The blazer was sourced from a manufacturer who supplies schools across the whole of the UK. Comfort is one of their key considerations.

Continued/......

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Our Governing Body met on Tuesday 12 January and after reading all the responses to the consultation decided to proceed with this change to our uniform. We shall be writing to you soon with details of how
you can source our new school blazer.

We thank you for your support to date on this matter.

Yours faithfully

Deborah ReemanRob Moore

HeadteacherChair of SGB

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