Introduction
Drapers: tie compulsory £4.50 ~ Drapers’ Academy – Smarty Pants Schoolwear
Harris Academy, Rainham: tie compulsory for boys (not girls) £7:95 ~ Harris Academy Rainham – Khalsa Schoolwear
Sacred Heart Of Mary: tie compulsory £10 ~ Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ School – SchoolSports4U
Discussion
Making school ties compulsory emphasises their necessity. ‘Compulsory’ school ties, implies there are no circumstances when they stop being essential.
Two of Havering’s academies don’t understand this. Harris Academy Rainham has a school tie policy, which makes them compulsory for male students.1 Obviously this means female students, in the same classrooms and following the same learning activities, are treated significantly differently. The benefits bestowed by a school tie are non-essential for females because they’re females.
At Sacred Heart of Mary’s Academy, which is all female, ties are compulsory but only for six months of the year. During the hotter months ties are not worn. How the Academy discovered that weather decides when a tie is essential to education, or discipline, or the school ethos is fascinating. Just how did they do it? What scientific experiment was followed? Will they publish the data?
Does it matter? It matters a great deal because compulsory school uniform is a tax/entry fee.2 Ties must be bought yet the policies underpinning that tax/entry fee is arbitrary and inconsistent. These two schools have policies which are absurd and indefensible. Students can, and are, excluded from classrooms for ‘improper’ school uniform. The policy is ridiculous. Ridiculing it by students is a disciplinary breach and is fiercely punished. Academies are trapped in an historic time-warp.
School attendance is compulsory and wearing school uniform is a necessary part of attendance. Obeying the law obliges parents/guardians to buy the designated uniform. Many items have to be bought from a specified shop (see Introduction). The cost of school uniforms is controversial.2 As can be seen from the introduction, there are considerable differences in cost on even basic items like the school tie. The Drapers’ Academy tie is less than half that of the Sacred Heart of Mary3 with the Harris Academy Rainham at a sort-of midpoint.
Conclusion
Harris Academy Rainham relies on gender to make sense of its school tie policy. On the other hand, Sacred Heart of Mary relies on the weather. Both are indefensible. And parents/guardians have to pay. Given that Academies are places of learning you might think that policies would be intelligently reviewed. An immediate outcome would be to reduce the tax/entry fee for compulsory education.
Britain’s new Prime Minister routinely wears T-shirts in public. Andy Burnham is a vivid illustration that the world has changed and schools should ‘catch-up’. And the House of Lords have just announced that ties are no longer compulsory for male peers.5
Addendum: An overview of appropriate clothing
This is a 3-minute YouTube video I did sometime ago School ties are a tax on learning – YouTube
Notes
1 Our Uniform – Harris Academy Rainham
2 It might not be a tax as not everyone pays e.g. girls at Harris Academy Rainham
3 According to information provided by parents, the new uniform includes a £34 blazer, a £24 branded skirt, purple check shirts costing £30 for two, plain purple shirts at £28 for two and an £8.25 tie. Frances Bardsley Parents Question Rising Uniform Costs as School Defends New Uniform Under 2026 Government Rules. – The Havering Daily
4 120 students entered this school in September 2026. Parents/guardians therefore spent £1200 on ties, which are used for six months pf the years.
