If you want to contact the school you can email them: office@downlands.w-sussex.sch.uk or use their contact form 

Downlands Community School has a very strict school uniform code, which is making our children hot, sweaty and uncomfortable.

We were shocked to receive the email on Friday stating children must be back in 'normal' school uniform from Monday, when we're in the height of summer and 'normal' uniform means long, hot, dark polyester trousers for anyone who doesn't want to wear a skirt. (There is not a shorts uniform option at Downlands, only trousers or skirt.) Our children have a right to be comfortable at school and treated equally. Downlands’s school uniform rules are not in the children's best interest. Being too hot in a hot school with very bad ventilation is completely unnecessary for the children to have to suffer through. It seems cruel to be honest. And will of course affect their behaviour and school work.

The current uniform parents are required to buy is expensive and unethical - made in synthetic materials which are harmful to the environment and made in developing countries by cheap labour. It doesn’t follow the government guidelines on being affordable for everyone.

We want to see changes to the uniform rules in order for Downlands to become a modern, forward thinking school that values equality, the welfare of their students and reflects the modern workplace better. 

Any deviation from the uniform code is ‘punished’ (school’s own words, see their Discipline and Student Behaviour Policy) with C1 detention - 20 min after school. Persistent C1 detentions result in a C2 (40min). 

We want our children to be comfortable at school without fear of detention! Please sign our petition to ask Downlands to modernise their uniform codes.

Our requests to Downlands:

• Introduce a ‘shorts’ uniform, and be allowed to wear it at any time of the year. Currently there is no ‘shorts’ option for the children. Anyone who doesn’t want to wear a skirt has to wear long trousers, all year round. This is incredibly hot for big parts of the year. Cotton and other breathable fabrics are not allowed, they have to be school uniform trousers, i.e unbreathable, hot, black polyester
• The children should be allowed to take off their knitted school jumper at any time when they’re hot, without having to ask for permission. The school building is a very warm building with bad ventilation, and the school jumper is also made out of clammy polyester
• No or optional tie. Wearing a tie - in particular with long trousers and long sleeved school jumper - is uncomfortable and warm. A tie does not have any function and does not ‘promote equality’. (It is also incredibly old fashioned. Does anyone apart from the PM wear one these days?)
• Offer/allow sustainable, breathable and ethical materials for the compulsory clothes items. The current uniform parents are required to buy is expensive as well as unethical - made in synthetic materials which are harmful to the environment and made in developing countries by cheap labour. It doesn’t follow the government guidelines on being affordable for everyone.

Thank you for your time and please pass this petition on to other Downlands parents so we can try to improve our children’s school experience!