School uniform and clothing: Guidance for schools and education authorities

Ministerial Foreword

The Scottish Government is committed to making sure that our children and young people have the best possible start in life. The clear ambition of this Government is to achieve excellence and equity for all our children and young people, ensuring that they are happy, safe, respected, and included at school. To do this, it is vital that we create inclusive, welcoming, and equitable learning environments that support pupils to participate fully in their education and achieve their full potential.

Decisions about school uniform and clothing policy play a key part in this. Those decisions must put pupils’ health, wellbeing and happiness at their heart and address disadvantage by removing barriers to school education. This will help to ensure that every pupil, regardless of their background or circumstances can go to school feeling comfortable, confident, and ready to learn.

This guidance seeks to support schools to achieve these aims. It aligns to wider measures to support inclusion and equality in education, tackle child poverty and take action to address the climate emergency. The guidance is designed to support schools to work with their school community to implement inclusive and equitable uniform and clothing policies that recognise and meet the needs of pupils, minimise costs for families and support actions to protect the environment.

I am very grateful to all those who responded to our consultation, to the pupils who shared their views and to those on the working group. Your experience and input has been invaluable in shaping this guidance.

Jenny Gilruth MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills