We believe that it is not emotionally, economically or environmentally acceptable to change the school uniform of King Henry VIII School in Abergavenny.

The proposed new uniform is black trousers, light blue shirt and bottle green blazer. (Confirmed by KHS 23/5/2023)

We believe the colour combination is terrible (light blue shirt and bottle green blazer) we will be ridiculed by the other schools and be embarrassed rather than having pride in our uniform.

The fact that year 7’s are the only year to have to wear the uniform next year 2023/2024 means that they will stand out more.

A very basic new changed uniform based on 4 x shirts and a blazer costs £40 (1) (2) (second hand ones cost a fraction of this) and creates 56.4 Kg CO²-e (3), which is equal to flying 1/4 of the way to paris on a plane (4). There are approximately 1000 pupils in the school so the carbon generated by the change of uniform would be 56,400 Kg CO²-e which we feel is utterly unacceptable (please note this is not including sports kits).

We propose the shirts are kept as white and the blazers black (old logos can be taken off and the new ones added). This would mean that uniforms can be handed down between siblings or gained second hand though the Cwtch angels uniform sales, as a result costs and the carbon footprint would be minimised.

If you agree with us please sign the petition below which we will forward after half term (5th June) to the existing and new head. It is essential that we act quickly to ensure that there is time to prevent these changes.

1 - https://direct.asda.com/george/school-uniform/D10,default,sc.html

2 - https://www.reflexembroidery.co.uk/online-store

3 - Handbook of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Textiles and Clothing edited by Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu Roos et al. (2015)

4- https://curb6.com/footprint/flights/bristol-brs/paris-cdg