Guest Posted August 22, 2006 Posted August 22, 2006 Does anybody know where I can buy some kind of overalls/coveralls for my Reception class to keep them cleaner when they play outside. The parents all complained last year that the children came home covered in mud, that their clothes and coats needed cleaning daily and the children were not fit to be seen with the parents after school. I've now had hot water installed in the classroom so we can clean them up a bit better. Is there any kind of all covering plastic apron, maybe babygro shaped that would help? Thank you very much and enjoy the rest of the holiday, Ruthanne
Susan Posted August 22, 2006 Posted August 22, 2006 oh dear, what a tough one! A company called "Three bears" used to do protective clothing, I think. Cheap kagoules from somewhere?? Bring their own wellies.
Guest Posted August 22, 2006 Posted August 22, 2006 We applied for a grant for our garden from Alan Titchmarsh and including outdoor clothing. As a result we now have wellies (a variety of sizes), waterproof trousers and cagoules (cheap off a market - my head teacher loves to track down a bargain). We plan to use the wellies mainly for accessing our garden area, which is muddy in winter. We plan to use the waterproofs to increase the number of days we can play outside. The total size of our grant was £350 by the way, so we got plants, planters and tools as well.
Guest Posted August 22, 2006 Posted August 22, 2006 We got protective leg wear and cagoules from Hope catalogue
Guest Posted August 22, 2006 Posted August 22, 2006 Thank you so much for the quick replies and helpful advice. I was but now I'm I'll try the catalogues now. Ruthanne
Guest Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 dont some parents just drive you nuts. if kids dont go home mucky they have not played
Marion Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 We have it written into our parent's handbook and policy that children are likely to get dirty and point this out to parents in the event of complaints. We have large bins of wellies in the porch for the children to use on wet/muddy days but this is all. We had one parent complain last year that her child went home covered in...........wait for it..................shaving foam!
Guest Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 The Head was very supportive - most complaints went to him! I explained about the learning environment and it is in our handbook. I referred them to the LEA and the inspectors too. This year I plan on sending a letter out on the first day of term explaining that our first topic will be the park, which can be muddy at this time of the year.............. We do ask them all to bring in boots. We have a wonderful outside area with a garden that they love digging and last year they had a terrific time turning it into a builder's yard, adding water to the earth to make cement etc. Best was when one little boy jumped in and we couldn't get him out - it was like quicksand. The guard managed to pull him out - minus his boots! Ruthanne
Susan Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 Tchaibo have some in this current weeks catalogue---wet weather gear all round! The trousers look reasonable but the coats are a little pricey.
Guest Posted August 23, 2006 Posted August 23, 2006 Thank you very much. I'll go and look now, Ruthanne
Marion Posted August 24, 2006 Posted August 24, 2006 The Head was very supportive - most complaints went to him! I explained about the learning environment and it is in our handbook. I referred them to the LEA and the inspectors too. This year I plan on sending a letter out on the first day of term explaining that our first topic will be the park, which can be muddy at this time of the year.............. We do ask them all to bring in boots. We have a wonderful outside area with a garden that they love digging and last year they had a terrific time turning it into a builder's yard, adding water to the earth to make cement etc. Best was when one little boy jumped in and we couldn't get him out - it was like quicksand. The guard managed to pull him out - minus his boots!Ruthanne Last year we had a child with ASD who loved to take off his shoes and lie in the mud luckily mum didnt mind as long as he was happy and learning
Guest Posted August 24, 2006 Posted August 24, 2006 Featherstone Education sell these clothes for outdoor- i think they are quite babygrowy. As a complete side issue where did you apply for this grant from and how do you find out about these types of things.
Guest Posted September 9, 2006 Posted September 9, 2006 Thank you everybody for all of your help and I hope you are all enjoying a good term. Thought you may be interested to know that Lidl stores currently have an offer on lightweight, waterproof trousers, hooded raincoats and babygro type outfits and they are far cheaper than any in the catalogues. I sent out a letter to parents explaining that children could become very muddy and dirty whilst learning in our outside classroom and that we make frequent visits to the park in all weathers. Suggested that they consider uniform as 'learning clothes'. Maybe this will be the year I get them to accept that grey school trousers, black school shoes, blue shirts and ties are not the most suitable uniform for Reception!!!!! Hope I get a complaint free year! Ruthanne
becsltd Posted September 9, 2006 Posted September 9, 2006 Out of interest Ruthanne - how much are the 'babygro' style waterproofs in Lidl?? We don't have one particularly near so need to know whether it would be worth going the distance for!!!
Guest Posted September 9, 2006 Posted September 9, 2006 The special offer price is £4.99. Try telephoning first to make sure they have stocks because these are special offer things. They are, I think for up to 4 years old. otherwise a lightweight hooded jacket and trousers comes to £9.99. Ruthanne
Guest Posted September 10, 2006 Posted September 10, 2006 Hi I don't know if you have links with Surestart but they have just given us 12 sets of waterproofs for the FSU. Definately worth asking.......
Guest Posted September 22, 2006 Posted September 22, 2006 We have bought 30 pairs of waterproofs from Muddy Puddles (they have a website) they are not the cheapest but are very hard wearing and 100% waterproof. If you can afford to try to go for the originals trousers and jackets rather than the lightweight ones, we learnt early on they couldn't stand up to the daily use in nursery (prob fine for one child at home!) Anyway we were very lucky and the PTA have helped us buy them over the past three years... good luck, they certainly make a difference to outdoor play, I can't imagine not having them now.
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