03 January 2024
Dear parents and families,
Happy New Year! It has been lovely to see all our students back in school today, after our festive break. I will send out a regular newsletter towards the end of the week. This letter is a ‘special edition’ with information about our recent discussions regarding our school uniform. I will attempt to explain our thinking around this issue fully, for those who like to understand the details. But in summary, the letter will explain:
· We propose to make no changes to the school’s uniform, which will remain:
o A black jumper bearing the school’s logo
o A white shirt
o A school tie, bearing your child’s house colour in the stripe
o Either black trousers, or a black skirt bearing the school’s logo
o Black socks
o Smart, black polishable school shoes.
· Our uniform manufacturers will commence manufacturing our branded uniform items with our new logo, going forward from now.
· There is no expectation for families to buy new uniform. Rather, the next time you need to buy a new jumper for your child, it will have the new logo on.
· We aim to have moved across to the new logos entirely by January 2026, but will review this date at regular intervals over the coming two years.
· Throughout the spring of 2024, we are going to review the quality and affordability of our branded uniform items, including all items of our PE kit.
A rationale for making no change to our uniform
During the Autumn term, we issued a survey to families to gauge whether there was an appetite to discuss making a change to our uniform, as Monkton Wood Academy. We were delighted that parents’ engagement with this was so positive; we had 265 responses, containing a huge amount of really insightful and helpful feedback. Overwhelmingly, the feeling of our families is that there is no need to make a significant change to the uniform at this time. Our existing uniform is smart, reflects dress expectations in the modern workplace, is age-appropriate and affordable. We are therefore proposing to keep the uniform unchanged.
We received a significant number of comments about blazers; those in favour and those against. We explored these themes in more detail at our Term 2 parent forum. Our decision not to pursue blazers as part of our uniform is particularly informed by concerns around affordability, but also practicality. Children in blazers are much less likely to wear an outdoor coat, yet Monkton Wood Academy has many different buildings and students cannot avoid being outdoors, whatever the weather conditions. Our conclusion is that a school jumper, with a suitable coat to be worn outdoors but removed in the
classroom, is most likely to ensure children are warm and comfortable for their lessons, even when the weather is poor.
Timescale for adopting the new logo
As our uniform suppliers begin to manufacture branded items with the new logo, we understand that there will be a period of time where there will be a mixture of logos in school. The logo is a relatively small feature of the uniform items, and we do not think this mix will undermine the overall smart and businesslike appearance of our students. Our initial hope is that we would be fully in the new branded uniform by January 2026, allowing two years for the natural renewal of uniform as children grow and wear out their clothing. We will review this date as the two years progress and let families know if we propose to extend the timeframe.
Issuing new, house ties
Our new house-colour ties have been delivered to school and will be issued in house assemblies in the coming weeks. As we only have space for one house at a time in our hall, it is likely that this process will be staggered over the course of a week. If your child is absent on the day of the assembly, we will ensure they receive their new tie via their tutor. We have not yet finalised our plans for prefects’ ties and what these might look like, and so Year 11 prefects will receive a regular house tie in the first instance.
It is our intention to collect all of the old black-and-gold Heathfield ties at the same time as issuing the new house ties. If you have spares at home, please do send them in with your children so that we can add them to the collection. We are hoping to incorporate many of the old ties into an artwork piece in celebration of the service that Heathfield Community School has made to this community over the many years since its establishment in 1978. The remaining ties will be recycled.
Quality and affordability
Following feedback from our parent survey before Christmas, we are planning to review the quality and affordability of all of our uniform items, including PE kit, through the Spring terms. If we are able to source better quality and/or lower cost items, these will be the items stocked by our uniform suppliers going forward. There would be no expectation that families would replace their existing items.
I hope this information has been helpful. As always, we greatly appreciate parents’ and carers’ support in ensuring your children are wearing full school uniform and upholding our high standards, every day.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs H. Jones
Principal
