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Speaker 1: Now we've got the hardy annual of the school uniform

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Speaker 1: cost coming up again. Increasingly the suggestion is not to

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Speaker 1: scrap school uniforms all together, but to go with generic

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Speaker 1: labelless uniforms, and one commentators popped up today saying we

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Speaker 1: should go follow the lead of Puerto Rico. Basically they've

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Speaker 1: done that with pieces that cost between six dollars and

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Speaker 1: seventeen dollars a piece. Claire Amos is the Albany Senior

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Speaker 1: High principle and with us High. Claire, what do you

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Speaker 1: make of this idea?

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Speaker 2: I think it's an interesting idea. I think it's interesting

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Speaker 2: that New Zealand has become so accepting of uniforms being

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Speaker 2: the norm that we actually sometimes forget that around the world,

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Speaker 2: there's many countries that don't have uniforms at all at school.

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Speaker 2: So it's a really interesting discussion. I agree that if

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Speaker 2: you are going to have a uniform, that we need

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Speaker 2: to be responsive to communities and you know, and think

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Speaker 2: about making it more cost effective if you are going

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Speaker 2: to have one.

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Speaker 1: Now, somebody text me through earlier. Barb text me and said, actually,

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Speaker 1: already in Papakata and in Takanini, the primary schools have

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Speaker 1: their colors for uniforms at the warehouse and it's not

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Speaker 1: a broiler, so you could just go and get it

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Speaker 1: for like five bucks at.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's becoming it's becoming an approach already in

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Speaker 2: many communities absolutely.

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Speaker 1: And so what are they doing do they just do

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Speaker 1: they already have a uniform, scrap the uniform and just

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Speaker 1: go for a basic block colors from the warehouse?

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, And they're often pretty much the same as

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Speaker 2: what was their uniform. It's just no longer logoed. It's

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Speaker 2: a simple colot skirt or a skirt or pants and

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Speaker 2: a top. Some schools also have the option for track

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Speaker 2: pants if they want their students to be sort of

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Speaker 2: more comfortable and cut the cost. Again, so there are

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Speaker 2: already schools being responsive to this and offering different different

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Speaker 2: ways in But it's also really important to know that actually,

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Speaker 2: right across the spectrum, it is important to schools to

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Speaker 2: still have a uniform. We actually don't have one as

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Speaker 2: a school, and that's because it aligns with our values

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Speaker 2: and what we focus on in terms of our young people.

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Speaker 2: But I also have worked in a wide range of

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Speaker 2: schools and know that it can be really important to

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Speaker 2: a dessole one community as it can be to a

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Speaker 2: Deso ten community in terms of repping the school and

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Speaker 2: giving them a sense of sort of togetherness.

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Speaker 1: I mean sometimes the uniform sometimes is in and of

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Speaker 1: itself a way of saving money, isn't it, Because if

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Speaker 1: you just have to buy the kids like two blue

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Speaker 1: T shirts, two Blue Pears shorts or whatever, then you

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Speaker 1: don't have to buy the y's label gear to take

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Speaker 1: the skol.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think people do argue that. I mean there

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Speaker 2: is a sense of I think there is a bit

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Speaker 2: of a split out there in the community where there

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Speaker 2: are a few uniform companies that are a bit of

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Speaker 2: a rought that they're really expensive blazers, really expensive shirts

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Speaker 2: with a whole lot of detailing, and and I agree

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Speaker 2: with the op ed in that sense that there needs

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Speaker 2: to be some options and some range so it isn't

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Speaker 2: a pain point. We also need to stop kidding ourselves.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people say that uniform is really important

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Speaker 2: because it takes away status in schools and it's a

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Speaker 2: real leveler. I have been in schools where the uniform

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Speaker 2: it's really clear about the kids who are struggling to

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Speaker 2: get by and the kids that have the money to

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Speaker 2: have the different versions. So I think we've got to

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Speaker 2: be really careful to load too much onto uniforms in

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Speaker 2: terms of it being an economic leveler, in terms of

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Speaker 2: it being a proxy for school spirit. I mean, we're

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Speaker 2: a school where midly we're a senior school, and we

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Speaker 2: pride ourselves on readying our young people for the world

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Speaker 2: of work in university, where they have to learn about

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Speaker 2: code switching and they have to learn about what appropriate

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Speaker 2: dress looks like in different situations. And there can also

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Speaker 2: be value in our young people not wearing uniform I'd

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Speaker 2: love us to have more of a conversation around that

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Speaker 2: than rather just saying, actually the only option is uniform.

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Speaker 2: Let's look at cheap versions, or let's look at really

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Speaker 2: high end versions. Maybe it's time to step back, Like

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Speaker 2: Finland has banned uniforms because they actually see them as damaging.

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Speaker 2: They want young people to be able to express themselves.

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Speaker 2: So I sometimes think we need to take top stock

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Speaker 2: step back and say, actually, are we just valuing uniforms

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Speaker 2: because it's the way we've always done it, And if

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Speaker 2: we do value it in our community wants it, We've

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Speaker 2: got to make sure that we're responsive to what they

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Speaker 2: can afford and what is actually realistic, and that we're

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Speaker 2: not just going to the shiniest uniform provider that has

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Speaker 2: a two hundred, three hundred dollars blazer, which is absolutely

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Speaker 2: crippling for families.

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Speaker 1: Claire, it's good to talk to you. Thanks for your perspective.

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Speaker 1: That's Claire iMOS, Albany Senior, Higher Principles. For more from

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Speaker 1: Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd

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Speaker 1: be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on

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