An east Auckland school has postponed a planned change to its uniform policy that had led to a petition being launched in opposition to it.
Pakuranga College was intending to disallow its year 13 pupils to wear mufti to school from next year.
The move was opposed by some students, with a petition opposing the planned change being signed by almost 1000 people as of September 20.
The petition stated the right to wear mufti was being removed to “create a stronger sense of school pride and unity”.
Letting year 13 pupils wear their own clothes would let them express themselves and “let them take pride in their fashion choices”.
“On the note of ‘unity’, I don’t think there’s anything more unifying than letting us truly express ourselves in what we wear.
“Uniforms make us all look the same. If anything, they ‘un-unify’ us.
“While mufti embraces and promotes diversity, making us all look unique, and actually unify us through the means of self-expression, unlike uniforms.”
A Pakuranga College pupil contacted the Times to express opposition to the planned change.
The pupil said the change would put financial strain on low-income families who would struggle to afford to buy a uniform next year and being able to wear mufti in year 13 was a “key selling point” in attending the school.
“If they were going to implement this, I think it should have at least proper consultation with students who are the key stakeholders because it primarily affects us.
“It also should have been decided a year before if they were going to make this major change so parents could end up saving for new uniforms if needed.”
Pakuranga College principal Billy Merchant initially told the Times the planned change related to ensuring the safety of pupils and being able to quickly identity who shouldn’t be on the school’s grounds.
However, the school has since reversed course with Merchant now saying: “Recent consultation with our Pakuranga College community indicated campus security was of high importance to our respondents.
“One of several actions planned to address this topic was the removal of year 13 mufti.
“With over 400 year 13 students and an open campus, it’s imperative we can readily and easily identify non-students, as unfortunately we’ve had incidents with members of the public entering the campus.
“In an ambitious attempt to introduce the change ready for the start of 2025, we quickly communicated this to students and parents, wanting to give them as much notification as possible.
“However, feedback has shown the speed of the decision and its announcement have surprised some in our community.
“We’ve listened to feedback and after carefully considering the points raised, including financial implications for families, have decided to pause the decision on a year 13 uniform until next year.
“This will allow us the opportunity to plan and consult more comprehensively with our community and design new uniform options for our year 13 students in 2026.”
