Dear Parents/Carers,
Change to School PE Kit
We are proposing a change to the School PE Kit from September 2024.
The current PE kit is: a house-coloured plain t-shirt and a house-coloured plain hoody/zipped jacket/sweatshirt in either Red, Green, Blue or Yellow or (Black/navy option if you don’t have house the colour).
This was brought in a few years ago, but there are many children who come to school wearing alternate clothes and so we have considered if this kit is still appropriate. At the time, it was felt that the coloured t-shirts/jumpers could be cheaply purchased on Amazon (or similar) but it is not until we try things that practicalities become more apparent. We always have high expectations for uniform: the children look very smart and take great pride in their Coleham School uniform, and we wish for them to feel the same about their PE Kit. Time spent policing uniform is never a good use of time, and feedback from children suggests that a better option for PE kit would reduce stress and the need for conversations around correct uniform.
What do we need for an effective solution?
- An affordable, accessible option that can be purchased locally.
- A practical garment for PE activity
- A PE Kit that gives the children a sense of pride in sporting activity, and also the House community that they represent.
Pupil Feedback
We have talked to KS2 children and invited 6 children from each class to be involved in a research panel to gain their thoughts. The general consensus is that they don’t always have the coloured jumper at home, the Darwin Yellow isn’t a popular choice and is hard to find in the shops and the children much prefer the Coleham School PE fixture kit that they wear to represent Coleham at sporting competitions. In fact, they say they love wearing this to represent Coleham!
When asked what they liked about the fixture kit they said they liked the sports material, which is lightweight/breathable, and it makes them feel more sporty and that everybody wearing the same makes them feel smart. They felt the coloured jumpers weren’t working as lots of children in school wear plain navy or black. They were also excited about the possibility of incorporating a House Crest.
Proposed Change
Therefore, considering the children’s views and comments from parents, our proposal for September is to offer:
- A Coleham School PE sports top with a house-coloured band and crest costing £10.99.
- Navy shorts or joggers
- A plain navy hoody/zipped jacket/sweatshirt.
Please see the visuals on the attachment.
PE Kit Visuals
We are very mindful of the cost to families and currently only have 1 item of school logo-branded uniform which needs to be procured from The School Shop. The addition of the PE top will take this to 2 items of school logo-branded uniform. With 5 school days across the week, this means you will need to purchase 3 school jumpers and two PE tops, where in previous years families had to purchase jumpers for 5 school days and extra PE kit to bring into school for PE sessions. As always, we will phase in the arrangements for the first year, so if anybody does not wish to purchase the sports top they may wear a plain navy t-shirt and we plan to help re-cycle uniform in school.
We hope that by considering the children’s views, and them expressing a desire to wear the PE Kit it will make your lives easier at home too. It was particularly interesting to hear their reasons: that it made them feel sporty and inspired to take part. Of course, we are keen to hear what the wider community of parents think of this. Therefore, before any final decision is made, we would like you to please complete this short survey which is open until Friday 24th May PE Kit Survey Link
We will only be asking for feedback on the PE kit proposal. We know that generally uniform is a controversial topic and that we all have our private views on this, but we won’t be making any changes to the full school uniform or be collecting feedback on it at this time.
Kind regards,
T. Larkham
Headteacher