Uniforms

[Guest]

can i just ask what others do... a year ago staff decided they didn't want a uniform so it was agreed that everyone would wear the same colour, committee agreed to give all staff £65 each to buy some tops in that colour, now a year on staff are complaining that they need more money to replace the clothes.... there are 9 staff so this works out quite expensive.. i have never had this problem before because where i used to work we all wore our own clothes with a badge saying who we were... it worked well... my staff at this setting don't want to wear there own clothes because they say they get ruined.... i just feel like i'm banging my head against a brick wall with this....not sure what to do.....just wondered how other committee run pre-schools work....

[fizzy]

£65 pounds each does seem rather a lot. I brought all staff 2 polo shirts each last year (there still ok and will replace when necessary) and they supply there own black trouses to wear.

 

I like uniforms.

[Inge]

65.00 is a good budget.. we buy Polo shirts and a fleece for staff and just kitted out a new staff member out and it cost £35.00 ..

 

We are committee run etc and always buy the tops and replace each year if needed..

 

If they chose to wear own clothes (none do ) we would expect them to buy their own and we have tabards with our logo on which they would have to wear over them, I would not expect to give money for staff to buy clothes to wear for work.

 

Staff are happy to wear the uniform, and as it has the logo on is a good advert when they are out and about ..

 

I too like uniforms.. as do the children who often say "look I'm wearing the same as you today!" and the parents like them too..

 

 

Inge

Edited October 16, 2008 by Inge

[Guest]

hmmm I wonder if the staff are aware that these items of clothing are the 'property' of the preschool, and therefore should return said items if they are to be replaced with somethig else.

 

I agree £65 each per year for uniform is quite high.

 

I had embroidered, with logo, polo shirts for my staff and this was less expensive.

 

Mind you I have lived the 'uniform' issues during the 7 yrs I had my preschool. The balance between cost, staff wishes and trying to be just that bit more individual (from other settings) plus the wear and tear considerations was always difficult so I can empathise.

 

If money is an issue, which a majority of preschools are facing now I'd say staff wear own clothes which are protected by preschool supplied tabards. (these can be in any design of material)

 

 

I've done the following in the past;

Tabards (plain my choice of colour)

Sweatshirts for winter / polo shirts for summer

Tabards ( staff choice of design)

T-shirts bought for £3 each from Matalan, a choice of pink or light blue. (laundered by me and kept on preschool premises to change into)

 

funnily enough staff expected me to supply tops but not trousers, although I stipulated any trousers (or skirt at reasonable length) but no jeans.

 

Sorry, haven't answered your question but I'm not sure there is an answer unless the preschool is one of the following;

completely lassai faire (wear what you want), or completely dictatorial (where what we say).

 

 

 

Peggy

[aliamch]

We're supplied with our choice of polo-shirts, t-shirts and sweatshirts, using the same logo as the children have, (which means we're often recognised by children years after they've left!). These are replaced when necessary and we wear our own trousers or jeans. Like fizzy I like uniforms.

Karrie

[dublinbay]

I have 3 polo tops, a sweatshirt and a fleece with our preschool logo. We wear our own black trousers or skirt. I've had 2 tops for 3 years....they're a little faded but still very wearable and had another new one last year. I doubt that the cost for each member of staff was as much as £65 though....seems rather a lot.

 

Sorry this probably doesn't answer your question!!

[Shiny]

We have a uniform at work. Polo shirts, sweatshirts and a fleece all with preschool logo on them. To make us more individual the uniform (shirts and sweatshirts) are in our key group colours. I have attached a photo unfortunately it is quite bad quality.

I'm the one in the green.

[Cait]

I provide staff with 4 polo shirts and 3 sweatshirts embroidered with the logo. Tgis year we have decided not to wear the sweatshirts as not all keen on the colour and we can't agree on what colour to have, so I have bought fleece jackets from Next (£25) and said if they want another then they can buy it themself. They still have the sweatshirts to wear if need be. I'm thinking of going into tunics next ear as they look a bit more professional I think.

[Deb]

We don't have a uniform, we just don't wear our best clothes.

 

I wouldn't mind wearing a uniform, other staff not so keen, some staff wanted to protect their clothing from snail trails etc so are happy to wear a tabbard, in our setting's colour, that we have paid for.

 

Would seem easier to provide a uniform at a set cost, and reasonable quality. £65 seems a bit high.

[Guest]

we are all given 3 polos, sweatshirt and a fleece. We offer trousers but they are horrible so staff wear their own black ones at their expense. We get our uniform from a corporate supplier but in the past I have used a company called Bananamoon, they are excellent nd reasonably priced and very helpful

[narnia]

£65 is a fortune!! I'd say they should wear uniform, and actually i like it because it imediately identifies us as staff, and it's smart. I think your lot are having a laugh really............£65 and we'd like another £65 each year?No, sorry, if they want to wear their own stuff, fair enough, but they do so at their own expense, and you can provide disposable aprons to keep them clean

[Guest]

at the nursery i work at we all wear black trousers, white, black or red tops, black shoes which we all pay for ourselves and then we are provided with a red tabbard. We use to hate them at first but now we cant live without them as they have pockets to put pens, tissues etc. would be much cheaper for you.

[hali]

ours are like shinys t shirts. polo and sweatshirts and fleeces in whatever colours we want

[Rea]

Playgroup buy T-shirts and fleeces for the staff, 3 T's and one fleece, I think there is a sweat too.

My agency prefer us to wear the T with their logo but at £10 each I prefer to buy black T's at £ for £10 from Mataln or somewhere. £65 is a heck of a lot of money, where do they shop??

[Beau]

Since they specifically didn't want a uniform as such, I think the responsibility should be theirs to buy their clothes to be honest. If they are worried about them getting ruined then they should make sure they don't get expensive clothes! Otherwise they should have some sort of top which is issued by your setting and is reserved solely for wearing to the setting. My daughter works in a shop and they have a dress code but all staff have to buy their own, in the correct colours. My husband is required to wear a shirt, suit and tie to work but I can just imagine what the reaction would be if he asked for this to be paid for!!

[Masha]

I'd agree with most people that £65 for uniform seems a lot of money.

 

We supply the usual logo'd t-shirts and sweatshirts and replace as necessary, staff wear their own trousers, shoes etc. Oh, and we supply waterproofs for out of school staff walking in the rain!

 

Another thing to consider is that if you give staff money to buy clothes for work they may be liable to be taxed on that money as part of their income (i think!)

[Guest MaryEMac]

We wear our own black trousers and white tops/jumpers and the playgroup supply us with 2 red tabards that have the pg logo on them. £65 seems a lot of money though, my treasurer would pass out if I asked for that

 

Mary

[Guest]

£65.00!!! Where I used to work all staff had to pay 50% towards the compulsary uniform!! Most of us only bought 1 polo and one sweatshirt because it was expensive!!!!

[Guest]

We have a uniform at work. Polo shirts, sweatshirts and a fleece all with preschool logo on them. To make us more individual the uniform (shirts and sweatshirts) are in our key group colours. I have attached a photo unfortunately it is quite bad quality.

I'm the one in the green.

 

I love your Mr Man display in the background. (the polo shirts look good too by the way!)

[Guest]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I wanted to ask if anyone knew of somewhere we could buy t-shirts for our uniform. I'm not worried about the logo being printed on too much as we wear tabards over them.

 

We used to have a white polo shirt uniform but I think I got rid of it because I couldn't stand wearing them any more . Now I would like to ask the staff if they would wear similar t shirts to bring the uniform back a little. I say similar as we are all different shapes and sizes and ages so I would ideally like somewhere where they could go in and choose the style of t-shirt which suits them best, but we all get the same colour. (I'm dreaming aren't I?) I would like to avoid Fruit of the Loom t-shirts as I had to have one of their's recently and it was an awkward fit! Thanks

[Panders]

Sorry Holly35, but if you want them to choose their own style, but they all need to be the same colour then the only choice is white or black and you could go anywhere for those couldn't you? If you wanted everyone to have turquoise or red, say then this would be much more difficult given how many shades there are. As you all wear tabards, and presumably these are all the same, I would just opt for black or white personally, make life a lot easier for you and everyone else

Edited August 3, 2009 by Panders

[Cait]

There's loads of companies out there who can help. Banana moon seems popular. We use a local guy who is happy to send samples for us all to try - we like to support local businesses as far as possible.

We're all shapes and sizes too, from a diminutive 4' 10" to a towering 5'10" and sizes 18 down to 8, and it's hard to find something that looks good as XL and child size!

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies. I had looked at M&S and Next thinking they would offer different basic t-shirts in the same colours but differing styles and it seems that would be too simple! The colours are all slightly different. Might go for the black/white option and let staff choose which they prefer as I feel they might like white but it does nothing for me!

 

I would really like to find a local supplier as we too like to support them, and it is good advertising for us both if appropriate.

[Cait]

We had white for the last few years, and I think it looked fresh and smart, but my Deputy wasn't keen. We've just changed to navy

[Guest]

We wear a uniform which is supplied by our setting - 3 polo shirts with setting logo and our names embroidered on and 1 fleece. We also get an allowance towards buying trousers of £10 which I think is fair.

I do like wearing a uniform. It makes us easily identifiable as staff and the logo is the same as the children wear. It also means that our own clothes dont get covered in paint, glue and who knows what else. Our supplier is local and they do a very reasonable rate for the childrens tops and drawstring bags.

Hate to stick my head over the parapet but I do personally think that a uniform looks more professional. I'm going to duck now quickly.

[Cait]

I agree with you, so shall we duck together?