OUR schools exist to teach our children, not to tell them and their parents how to dress.

The question of schools dictating to parents to use one particular supplier for the school uniform (Echo, Sept 7) should be examined by the government and local authorities.

Whether or not such practice conflicts with the laws relating to competition, it is immoral.

To save face, some parents will no doubt go into debt in order that their children comply. To exclude children or set them to one side for not having the correct uniform is to deprive that child from his or her education, yet parents are fined should they keep their children off school, say for a holiday.

This appears to be double standards.

All schools should set a uniform by which the main components are available at the likes of Marks & Spencer, Primark, Sainsbury’s and other retailers of children’s clothes. A distinctive tie, sweater or badge is all that is required to highlight the school concerned.

I welcome and support those parents who have defied the rules set by the school at Richmond and hope other parents around the country take a similar stance.

Alan Thompson, Middleton in Teesdale