Rowville Institute of the Arts is an extremely unique and passionate learning environment for young artists to develop their skills. Clearly our school is like no other. However that statement is proving hard to justify as we appear exactly the same as every other school by wearing the Rowville Secondary College uniform. Many students are active almost all day participating in performing and visual arts subjects which includes specialism, in a very similar manner to sports academy and their training periods. However unlike sports academy we are denied a RIA uniform which would be not only practical for us to wear in those active classes, but help promote the program outside of the school and give us an identity. Countless points can be made in this argument, and the school is yet to provide me with a solid answer as to why we are refused difference from General Excellence as Sports Academy are.

I recently submitted the below letter to the head of RIA, which upon review and a discussion the outcome was to buy the correct uniform or face conducts, no conclusion was reached. I took the issue higher and gave a presentation to School Council where I tabled my letter and discussed it with the board. The "resolution" that came about was a letter in response which explained school councils decision a few years ago to rebrand Rowville as one school which then divides into the four streams. To strengthen this, every stream is to wear the RSC uniform. However the fatal flaw remained... Sports Aademy? Oh... they're exempt from wearing the RSC uniform because, well... Because they're Sports Academy... 

From here I see no where to go but to petition in an effort prove to the school that this is a real issue that needs to be fixed. Please sign and share so that we can show beyond a doubt that this isn't just an point of some students rebelling against the school and bending the uniform policy, but a real need for change.

 

 

Here is the informed letter which was submitted to the Head of RIA and School Council explaining the need for a uniform review in detail:

There has been a lot of discussion about uniform throughout the year, yet it has lacked a formal address from the people who are actually effected by it; the students. As the body of Rowville Institute of the Arts I think it’s only fitting that students have a say in what policies are enforced so that they are appropriate for us as both students, and artists. Sitting parallel Rowville Sports Academy situated on the same campus, it’s inevitable that comparisons will be drawn between the two programs and the ways in which they are treated in regard to uniform, with clear bias towards one whether it be intentional or not. Couple this with discrepancies in formal documentation on what can and cannot be worn in regards to RIA Blacks, it is time that we acknowledged the RIA program for what it is and allow us to stand out to the greater community, instead of trying to mask our uniqueness with a regular school.

What is and isn’t acceptable in terms of uniform remains unclear. I’ve had conflicting information from different teachers who reference formal school documents which conflict upon themselves, creating no clear answer as to when we are allowed to wear our RIA Blacks in relation to school policy. The current uniform policy posted on the Rowville Secondary College website (Updated for 2015) states that RIA Blacks can be worn “Tuesday and Fridays: Yr 10-12”. However I have been told by many teachers that I am required to come to school in the general school uniform, change into my RIA Blacks for Specialism, and then back, some saying I'm not allowed to wear the blacks at all. In retaliation to the schools realisation that this major inconsistency was present, on Monday the 4th of May the policy was changed through means of an email which stated “My apologies that the website was not updated (last year) due to some technical difficulties”. This is completely untrue as the policy I referenced earlier, and have saved copies of, was in fact updated at the very end of last year for 2015. Implementing a new policy in the middle of a school year without a transition period is something that I am very confident Rowville would not undertake, as we've seen with the two year transition for the new general excellence uniform. How is it expected that we are to follow a new RIA Uniform policy with absolutely no notice, making items which many parents have paid for redundant? It’s an extremely unjustified viewpoint for the school to have and it seems as though it’s believed that policies can be changed freely, without consultation, as soon as conflict arrises instead of actually dealing with the issues.

The Eastern Campus is home to two extremely unique, specialist programs; Rowville Institute of the Arts and Rowville Sports Academy. While one is based on sport and the other on arts, they are extremely similar in terms of the vision and execution of the programs. Combine this with the fact that both are located at the same campus and interact on a daily basis, it is hard not to compare the two programs. RSA students have an almost identical number of “training” periods in relation to RIA “specialism” periods, However RSA students are allowed to wear their own uniform to regular classes whether physical or not. In maths class all RSA students wear their RSA uniform, yet I am expected to wear the regular general excellence school uniform. The programs are parallel to each other so you would expect uniform to be the same, yet RSA gains a clear advantage which is in no way justified and undermines us as a unique program.
Most RIA students don't only participate in their specialism class, but also have the VCE equivalent of that subject along with numerous other arts based subjects. One student whom has expressed a similar concern regarding uniform participates in four physical arts based subjects to which he is expected to wear regular school uniform to over half, were he to follow the policy the school is enforcing. The uniform policy allows younger years to wear RIA Blacks to their broad arts subjects like dance and drama. If this were to be translated to the VCE equivalent subjects, this student would be wearing RIA Blacks to every class bar four periods a week, meaning they would be required to spend hundreds of dollars on another school uniform to wear for just a fraction of the time they spend at school, unnecessary expenditure for such impractical attire.

RIA’s representation in the greater community is quintessential to the expanding of the program as we promote why our school is as unique as it is and how privileged we are to learn in such a rich, specialised environment every day. The RIA Blacks are a big part of this as it makes us stand out whilst in public, generating a point of interest which creates difference from other public and private schools. Jeopardising this would greatly impact on prospective students. When I was enrolling into Rowville RIA, a big thing that made it stand out from the countless others as an interesting and individual school was that I saw students wearing a uniform which reflected why they went here and what they were doing. To take this away removes that representation making us appear as although we are just another normal high school when we’re not. Why would you want to take that away when it’s a model which works so effectively for Sports Academy, who are seen by the public wearing their recognisable uniform, thus promoting the program.

In addition to the points I raise in this letter, the DEECD indicate in the Developing and reviewing dress codes policy, that it is the responsibility of the School Council to develop and review their dress codes in close consultation with their school community to ensure: the code reflects the values of the school community, there is a balance between the rights of individual students and the best interests of the whole school community and to decide annually if amendments or a full review of the dress code are required. Furthermore, the policy states that the purpose of a dress code is to: promote a sense of identity and pride and cohesion and good order in the school, allow all students to feel equal, prevent bullying and competition on the basis of clothing, ensure students’ appearance reflects the expectations of their school community, enhance the profile and identity of the school and its students within the wider community, strengthen the spirit of community within the school, ensure all students are dressed safely and appropriately for school activities, encourage students to develop pride in their appearance, prepare students for the expectations of workplaces, encourage students to present themselves appropriately for a particular role.

All of these above points add weight to our argument that we as students should have input into changes to our RIA Black uniform and highlight my points raised earlier in relation to equality between RIA and RSA, particularly in relation to feeling equal and valued as students of RIA.
Likewise the policy further states that consultation should take place in the form of the school council carefully considering the forms of consultation that will be undertaken in developing or reviewing a dress code. For example consultation could include: letters to parents and carers, surveys, information in newsletters, public meetings, student meetings, focus groups, information on the school website.

This consultation process should: explain the purposes of the dress code and the reason for any proposed changes, guarantee opportunity for the viewpoints of parents or carers, teachers and students to be expressed. The mechanism for consultation should be identified in the student dress code policy or, alternatively, be recorded in school council minutes, provide for careful consideration of any information and viewpoints collected in the consultation process before finalising the decision-making process, allow for careful consideration of the practicality of garment design, materials used in construction, and the cost implications of proposed items, provide a timeline for implementation of the dress code.

I don’t think its too far fetched to say that out of all of the steps and points I've outlined over the past few paragraphs, There are very few that have actually happened. So for these decisions to be made without any consultation or considerations is going against Department of Education policy.

I stand by the entire cohort in my arguments and we’re tired of the lack of empathy towards us as a RIA family in regards to the RIA Blacks. There’s no denying the points made and I challenge you to come up with one that opposes. While I am happy to hear feedback on the issue, I’m not interested in this being pushed aside when it is clearly something that a lot of students, parents and teachers believe in and has extremely valid reasoning behind the need for change. We feel this should be treated as a priority, whether that be designing a new dedicated RIA Uniform for future rollout, or the expanse of RIA Blacks into a full time uniform for RIA students and would love to be involved in further decisions that are made

Regards,

Nathan Smart