Dear Parent / Carers,

Uniform is incredibly important to us at Newdale and underpins our ethos, values, and emphasis on how children should approach life at school.  We understand there are differing opinions on the need for school uniform, but through my personal experience in many different educational settings, uniform does set the tone for expectations around conduct, behaviour, and attitudes; this in turn impacts on the smooth running of lessons and the atmosphere within the school.  We will continue to place a high emphasis on children wearing it correctly and well and your continued support in this respect is very much appreciated.

At Newdale our school colours are navy blue, black and grey.

We request children wear a navy jumper or cardigan and grey or black skirts / pinafores or trousers along with a light blue collared shirt. If you would like to order uniform with our school logo on, please do so via Baker and Sons Schoolwear in New Street, Wellington 01952 641897.  This is not compulsory: uniform without a logo is acceptable as long as it matches our chosen colours. In warmer months, blue gingham dresses / black or grey smart shorts can be worn.

All children need to wear sensible shoes (no heels or trainers please). In the colder weather, girls are permitted to wear black, navy or grey tights.

During the last 18 months we have been allowing children to come to school in PE kits on their allocated PE days. This has meant that children have not had to waste time getting changed and also means we do not have the added complication of finding spaces to do this from Year 3 upwards as we usually need to separate the boys and girls at this age. We are going to continue allowing children to come in PE kits on their PE days. If they have an after-school sports club, they will need to bring a separate kit to get changed into.

For P.E. children need plain black or navy shorts or jogging bottoms or plain black or navy leggings (no logos) and a plain, white t-shirt. They also need trainers and a navy blue / black jumper / fleece for outside P.E.

If children forget to wear kit or have incorrect kit on PE days, we will ask them to get changed into one of our clean spare kits. The expectation would be that they bring this home and return the clean kit to school as soon as possible.

Please note we only allow stud earrings and ask that all other jewellery is left at home. Earrings will be taped up just before PE, to ensure safety at all times.

Nail varnish is not permitted in school and the school does not permit children to have extreme haircuts that could serve as a distraction to other children and are not in keeping with the ethos of the school. This includes patterns shaved into the hair, excessive use of hair products and false hair. The definition of an extreme hairstyle is at the discretion of the Headteacher.

School kit

We do not have cloakrooms outside of the classrooms and hence the space available for children to store coats and bags is limited. Please refrain from buying them huge school bags. School supplies everything they need in lessons, so there is no need for pencil cases, notebooks and they certainly will not have time for toys please.

Thank you for your support in this area. We are a ‘SMART’ school and we want all children to feel part of our team whilst wearing our ‘SMART’ uniforms.

Miss Cook

Headteacher