School’s keeping it casual in new term
Academy extends relaxation of school uniform
A Perthshire school will keep its ‘relaxed’ approach to school uniform until the start of the new school year in August.
Breadalbane Academy has told primary and secondary parents they can continue to send their children to the Aberfeldy through-school in jeans, hoodies and trainers for the foreseeable future.
The youngsters need extra layers of clothing with windows being kept wide open in class to ventilate against COVID-19 transmission.
Breadalbane Academy, Kinross High School and the Community School of Auchterarder are three county schools that have made dramatic adaptations to how pupils dress in the light of the pandemic.
Head teacher John Devine sent an update to parents at the weekend regarding the school uniform policy.
He said: “I wrote to you in September to update you on our approach to school uniform. At that time, I told you that we would continue with a relaxed approach until Christmas.
“We have now decided to extend this relaxed approach.
“In primary this will continue for the remainder of the session; in secondary it is also likely to continue until August 2021, though we are keeping open the option of perhaps reintroducing uniform at the time of timetable change.”
Mr Devine explained that the reason for not insisting on the standard white shirt, black trousers and matching black footwear uniform was due to classrooms being cold because windows are now kept open for COVID-19 ventilation efforts.
The continued closure of changing rooms so pupils could not change outfits if they had PE was another factor.
He added: “There has been a relaxation in the guidance on windows being open which has moved from all windows being open at all times, to 15 per cent of windows remaining open during class time with full opening at other times.
“Despite this, there remains a serious challenge in trying to ensure comfort for pupils and staff during class time. Normally as part of our uniform regulations we would ask pupils to remove outdoor clothing in classrooms.
“At the moment, it would not be appropriate to do this, nor to dictate to pupils or parents what clothing should be worn, when the priority must be trying to keep warm as we enter winter.
“Despite having managed to risk assess and open our changing rooms for a few weeks, we are now subject to a blanket ban across Perth and Kinross Council.
“This means that pupils who are getting PE will need to come to school dressed in their PE kit.
“In practice this will mean that about one quarter of our secondary pupils will require to be out of uniform on any given day.
“Under such circumstances it would be very difficult indeed to enforce compliance with uniform in secondary.
“It is our intention to reinstate uniform in August 2021.”
Mr Devine was also keen to reassure parents who might think the American campus-style dress code could damage grades.