School Bans Expensive Coats – Including Christmas Gifts – to Avoid ‘Poverty Shaming’

By The Blaze. . .Parents of students at Woodchurch High School [in England] were reportedly given a letter from the school that stated, “Pupils will not be permitted to bring in Canadian [sic] Goose and Monclair [sic] coats after the Christmas break.” . . .

About 46 percent of the school’s students are considered low-income, according to reports. For example, the school provides free sanitary products and limits backpacks to a certain type, so parents aren’t pressured to buy ones that are more expensive. . .

Woodchurch is an open-admission co-ed secondary school serving 11-to 16-year-olds, the Washington Post reported. It’s also a Church of England academy and cites a ‘Christian Ethos’ as a part of its learning environment. The school also strives to celebrate diversity and make everyone feel welcome. . .

“Canada Goose opened its first flagship stores in Toronto and New York in 2016. And its coats are hardly the preserve of iconoclast explorers,” according to the Washington Post. “They’re ubiquitous in well-heeled circles, prompting backlash and making the coats a potent symbol of vexed class dynamics.”

The coats could cause problems for students whose parents can’t afford the $1,000 Canada Goose jackets, which feature an inverted North Pole and maple leaves. (Read more from “School Bans Expensive Coats – Including Christmas Gifts – to Avoid ‘Poverty Shaming’” HERE)

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School Bans Designer Coats to Stop ‘Poverty Shaming’

. . .Headteacher Rebekah Phillips told The Independent parents had asked the school introduce the ban.

“We are very concerned about the fact that our children put a lot of pressure on parents to buy them expensive coats,” she said. . .

Those pupils who did not have expensive outerwear were upset, she continued. “They feel stigmatised, they feel left out, they feel inadequate,” she said.

Parents had previously had the problem with children requesting designer rucksacks, which increased the price of attending school, the headteacher said. (Read more from “School Bans Designer Coats to Stop ‘Poverty Shaming’” HERE)

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