Anger as parents claim students 'forced' to wear school-issue coats

Parents have expressed their anger after claiming a Brighton school said its students couldn't wear their own winter coat to school.
Patcham High School (Photograph: Paul Gillett/Creative Commons Licence)Patcham High School (Photograph: Paul Gillett/Creative Commons Licence)
Patcham High School (Photograph: Paul Gillett/Creative Commons Licence)

The mums claim Patcham High School students have been told to buy school-issue jackets for the winter, and any other coats worn on school grounds will be confiscated.

But the headteacher said students can wear different coats to school, but are asked to put them in their bag when inside the school grounds.Kerri Barnes-Dredge, 41, says her Year 11 daughter is being made to take her own coat off at the gates of the school. The mum-of-four, who works for a housing association, says her daughter already has two 'perfectly decent' winter coats, and is reluctant to pay £32 for something which will only be used for a couple of months. She said: "They're trying to make us buy these new coats but it's pointless - my daughter has two already and she's only there for a few more months. "The kids can wear other coats to the gates but if they're on show on school grounds, their coats are confiscated until the end of the day. "If there are fire alarms, they're not allowed to put a coat on unless it's the school one, and that has happened while it's been cold. "If her coat was confiscated, my daughter wouldn't have time to collect it until the end of the day, when she has to be at the bus stop on time - otherwise I'd have to drive and collect her. "This is leaving kids without coats and I don't know what to do about it really, it's ridiculous.

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"My daughter has a hacking cough and this will make it worse, it's freezing. "She already has a bag with all her school stuff, another one with her PE kit, and a third with her bulky coat in just isn't plausible. "One of her friends actually bought a blanket in and walked through the gates with three of them wrapped in it so they wouldn't get cold." A padded coat from the school's approved retailer costs £32, a mid-range waterproof coat with a fleece is £28 and and a 'lightweight' rain coat costs £14.90. But headteacher John McKee said the policy is a form of 'poverty proofing' which helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds. He claims the cost of uniform remains one of the cheapest in city, even with the added cost of a coat. The head, who has run the school since last year, said: "The reason we've done this is because we want all students to be equal. "It's part of our school values and we don't want any pupil to stand out because they're wearing a different type of coat. "It's an extension of our existing uniform policy, we want to support students so nobody feels isolated because they can't afford a designer jacket. "It's about poverty proofing - we don't want to exclude children from a disadvantaged background and we don't want any children to be singled out for that. "Children were never allowed to wear outside jackets within the school anyway, they always had to remove them inside buildings, and now they just have to take them off at the gate and put them in their bag. "Everything I do here is in the children's best interest - there are always going to be gaps in whatever inform we enforce, and we're trying to mitigate against anything that's going to make a child feel uncomfortable. "If a child is outside and they're cold, they need to wear a coat. "I haven't got any hard evidence, but there are many children who have chosen not to wear coats, whether school coats or not, for years and I do feel that some kids weren't wearing them because didn't have the 'right' coat. "We are trying to help and support the pupils and make a positive difference to their lives."

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