PARENTS have slammed a school after their kids were left "frozen" outside when teachers confiscated their coats that don't have the school logo.
Pupils at Bishop Heber in Malpas, Cheshire, can only wear a branded school jacket on school grounds, which, along with various items of clothing, would cost a family up to £100 per child.
Photos taken by furious parents show staff walking around outside in warm overcoats while some children are just in jumpers, according to Cheshire Live.
The school says it believes if children were allowed to wear their own coats, it would "erode the great relationships we have with the students", because they would push the boundaries and start to wear hoodies.
One angry mum said her asthmatic son was put into isolation for retrieving his confiscated coat because he was cold.
"They confiscated his [my son's] coat yesterday – outside – which I thought was absolutely ludicrous. He has asthma, which he is on constant medication for, so getting cold does him no good whatsoever.
"Because he went and got his coat back because he was cold, he has been put into isolation, that was his punishment.
“Why would you take a coat off a child when you know they’ve got asthma?"
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Parents have also complained about the cost and quality of the £25 branded windcheater, with one mum saying it was not sufficient to keep her children warm.
She said: "They would literally have to have a branded polo, branded sweater, branded fleece and branded anorak in order to be warm and dry outside. That is extremely excessive branding."
One set of these four items would set parents back by £94.50.
Another mum said: “It was bitterly cold, freezing all day, and his hands were so cold that he couldn’t hold his pen in English. When he came out of school he was absolutely frozen.
“These children are freezing outside, then they’re going into a classroom with the windows all open – they have a right to be warm."
In an email to the parents of Year 9 students, head teacher David Curry explained that students are allowed to wear their own coats to and from school but must obey uniform rules when they are on school grounds.
Why would you take a coat off a child when you know they’ve got asthma?
The email reads: "Once they arrive at school after registration period, we expect that an undergarment (e.g. vest/t-shirt/base layer) along with a school polo shirt, jumper, fleece and optional jacket (windcheater) would be sufficient to keep them warm and conversely allow them to take layers off when in warmer classrooms.
"In essence, the four/five layers of clothing we suggest should be more than ample to ask them to go out at break to get a blast of fresh air and withstand almost all weathers.
"If we allowed non-uniform coats, we believe strongly that it would erode the great relationships we have with the students day to day as inevitably students would push the boundaries and wear hoodies and other coats (inc. styles and colours) that undermines the high standards we have.
"Many of the most expensive coats (e.g. North Face and Canada Goose are upward of £200-£300 even £1,000) and wearing/owning the ‘right’ coat could become the motive rather than its thermal properties which I feel, could undermine what we stand for as a comprehensive school and put pressure on students in school and families to conform to a set of norms/expectations that aren’t healthy, marginalising some students and putting at risk that sense of belonging which we work so hard to achieve at Heber."
An Act of Parliament designed to reduce extortionate school uniform costs was passed this year, and is set to come into force from this September.
Cheshire MP Mike Amesbury, who introduced the Bill said: “I agree with the principle of school uniform but would encourage Bishop Heber to get ahead of the game by adopting a more reasonable approach in its policy, with greater emphasis on affordability and less emphasis on insisting on every item must incorporate school branding.”
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