Made To Move – Why Primary School Uniforms Need Change
The Active Uniform Alliance
The Made to Move campaign from the Active Uniform Alliance is an important movement. I recently discovered it and immediately got on board. Supported by Play England, Opal and others, their campaign is aiming for every UK primary school to adopt a uniform that enables children to move, play and learn all day. With a focus on children’s health and wellbeing their aim is to get 1000 UK primary schools to implement an always-active uniform within 2 years of pledging.
Primary School Uniforms Need Change
Many primary school uniforms are not fit for the modern child. If we want children to move more then why not supply them with clothing that facilitates movement? To this day, primary schools adopt an outdated formal office workplace approach to uniforms. This limits and potentially discourages levels of physical activity for our children, especially for girls. Choosing activity over formality will help encourage children to move throughout the school day. Doing this will bring a whole host of benefits for the whole person and school community.
Proud To Support
Here at Among The Trees, we’re proud to support the Active Uniform Alliance. Working in education through Forest School, I see first hand how having the right clothing makes a difference to the way children move and participate (see image below). With the launch of the campaign, the call for all primary schools to introduce ‘always active uniforms’ is a timely one. Always active uniforms encourage full physical activity, are comfortable to wear and meet the needs of children. In summary, children built to move so should wear clothing that allows them to move with the most freedom!
You can find out more by visiting the Active Uniform alliance website.
Why don’t we reflect modern childhood with modern school uniforms? Continuing the model the outdated formal office approach limits the level of physical activity children can attain.
Additionally, one positive feature I noted watching one of the promotional videos shows the staff wearing the same uniform as the students. What a great idea! Not only does this create great buy in, it also encourages staff to actively model if for their pupils. A great win for the whole school community!
What steps can your school make towards adopting an always active uniform approach in your setting? Maybe speak with your SLT as a starting point. It might end up being transformational for your whole school community.
