The end
is in sight
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons For some,
in Scotland, it has already arrived but the rest of the United Kingdom must
wait until the beginning of September for the end of the looooonnnnng summer
holidays and the start of the new academic year. Quite why Scotland has to be
out of step with everyone else is anyone’s guess. Maybe it has something to do
with being much further north, with shorter daylight hours in winter, though that
seems illogical on a warm day in the middle of August before the clocks have gone
back.
Regardless of start of term dates, small
children about to begin the 14-year journey called ‘school’ will have been hauled
or are still being dragged from shoe shop to hair dresser to uniform suppliers
to stationers to set them up with everything they could possibly ever need and
may not necessarily ever use. Hereafter, thrift shops or PTA organisations do a
roaring trade in good quality, second-hand uniform.
Thus,
tiny girls and boys are thrust into unfamiliar clothes which are too long and
too broad, but which leave plenty of room ‘for growth’. This is particularly
noticeable if the child is about to enter an ‘independent’ school – that is,
not a state school.
Independent schools often require garments
that are not easily available online or in the chain stores. Indeed, some
schools insist that all uniform must be bought from the official uniform
suppliers, at official uniform prices, of course. The colours are sometimes
startling, and the cut can be unique. I have seen small girls drowning in
ankle-length plaid kilts, which will last them until they are 16. Uniform
manufacturers don’t realise that most small humans don’t have much in the way
of hips and waists, so skirts and trousers are constantly slipping down and
shirts and blouses are always untucked.
I remember
one very small, very young boy appearing at school, an independent one, on his
first day, in the entirety of his winter uniform. This comprised knee-length
socks, long trousers, long-sleeved shirt, tie, jumper, blazer and duffel coat. I
don’t think he was wearing his school scarf, but cannot be sure. He could
hardly move and was extremely warm. Older, wiser children with greater
experience, were wearing summer uniform. The duffel coat was cut in such a way and
made of material so stiff that a child could move around inside it
independently, like a hamster in its skin.
I don’t
know which committee of people decides what a school uniform should be, but
there is not much thought given to practicality. The youngest children in
school are at different stages of development. In the Reception class, to which children are
admitted in the September following their 4th birthday, there will
be a range of ages, abilities and experience. The oldest child in the class may
be 5 soon after the beginning of term in September, while the youngest may only
just have had their 4th birthday at the end of August or even the
beginning of September. Some may even still be wanting an afternoon nap and
will find a full school day very tiring, notwithstanding a new routine, new children,
big adults with scary voices. They are
still very tender.
Changing
for P.E. can take an entire lesson, even with a teaching assistant to help.
Stiff button-holes defeat little fingers, some may be reluctant to remove their
socks, others may get completely carried away and strip off as if ready for a
bath. Getting changed back is challenging. Arms can’t find armholes, jumpers go
on back to front, shoes, often someone else’s, are forced onto the wrong feet,
and all this alongside sometimes uncertain bladder control or worse in the very
youngest and least mature.
Somehow,
the children survive unsettling activities – lining up for lunch is very
different to sitting down quietly at home with mummy, the toilets are often
less than appealing, choice of partner is limited and sometimes non-existent
and the child may have to hold hands with another who made faces earlier. Going
to the hall for assembly is worrying – it’s a large, echoing room with lots of
big children! The playground is noisy and everyone has to go outside, even if
they don’t want to, especially if they don’t want to.
Eventually,
‘home time’ arrives and the children rush to their relieved parents (relieved because
the child survived the day without mishap) and who bombard them with questions.
‘What did you do today? Who did you play with? Did you eat all your lunch? What’s
your teacher like? Did you have a nice day?’
A school
day is a work day and, just like adults, children often do not wish to discuss
their day. They have had no choice in their activities or their companions. They
have had to sit when told, stand when told, go to the toilet, wash their hands,
queue up for lunch, go out to play, line up to come in again, join one group
for one activity, go to another for something different.
Children
will speak about their day when they are ready, but it may not be anything to
do with what they may or may not have learnt. It will be something random, like
‘I want to wear glasses’.
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