The languid days of summer holidays have been disrupted by an unseemly stoush - mostly played out on social media - around changes to the coat of arms for Canberra's historic boys-only school, St Edmund's College.

The changes have also meant school uniforms have to be updated, with all students expected to be in the new kit by January, 2018.

Those against the new coat of arms say it is cartoon-ish, child-like and wipes away years of history.

They have even started a change.org petition to restore the old coat of arms.

The college maintains it needs a more modern emblem that could reproduce better on everything from uniforms to its website to business cards.

The coat of arms had been updated at least eight times since the school opened in 1954. The version that had been recently revised had been around only since 2003, according to the school.

The school's coat of arms features a pelican - a "mystic emblem of Christ" - as well as the school motto, . "Christus Lux Mea" meaning "Christ is my light" as well as other embellishments.

The new coat of arms and a new school uniform featuring the updated emblem have been introduced for the 2017 school year following a review last year.

The school says the review stemmed "from difficulties in reproducing and using the current crest in modern media".

The design has been simplified, featuring a new pelican, a more streamlined shield and the removal of a rope embellishment "due to its intricacy and to make way for the Pelican which is now represented with its wings wide open". The main elements including the shield, pelican and motto remain.

A report in the December issue of the school magazine Pelican maintained that "when the 'crest refresh' project began, extensive research and community engagement was undertaken to ensure that careful consideration was given to all decisions that were made relating to the crest".

That has been pooh-poohed by correspondents on Facebook who say they weren't consulted about the changes.

"Not sure you guys could have stuffed this up any more," one outraged post read.

"It's bloody horrible and sitting next to Marist and Grammar, it's also embarrassing. Your reasoning for changing it is also rubbish and sets a bad example 'Too hard? Cut corners!' Bring the old logo back along with some dignity for yourselves and all current & former students."

Another asked: "Did the yr 4s make this in paint?".

Comments on change.org included "The design is cheap and nasty. Just like the revised school uniforms".

And: "I think the new symbol ditches too much of the history of the school. Yes, the symbol has changed in the past but not this significantly and not into a cartoon that looks like it was made on MS paint".

Eighteen-year-old Patrick Byrne, who graduated from Eddies last year, started the petition on change.org, calling for the original coat of arms to be restored, saying it held "more than 60 years of tradition".

"The main thing is they've gotten rid of a lot of detail," Patrick said.

"It looks like a cartoon and they've done it just to make it easier to put on the school uniform."

But some Facebook users were taking the changes in their stride.

"Everyone relax," one user wrote. "It could be worse - we could be going co-ed like Grammar!"

College board chair Michael Cooney was contacted on Wednesday but said it was not for him to comment on behalf of the school.

A spokeswoman for St Eddie's said the school wanted to be transparent about the changes and had sent out the first correspondence regarding them to existing students and parents last September.

"Our aim with the renewed crest was to keep it similar to the current, with cleaner lines, less detail, defined colours and a clearer representation of the pelican," she said.

The new coat of arms had been introduced into an updated school uniform, which would be gradually introduced, with the whole school expected to be kitted out with the new uniforms by January, 2018.

"There is a one-year transition where students may wear the old uniform," the spokeswoman said.

"Students who will be in Year 5 and 9 in 2017 may continue to wear the old uniform in 2018 until they finish Year 6 and 10 respectively.

"We have introduced interest-free payment options to assist families with the transition.

"We are excited about the launch of the renewed crest, it is a part of holistic changes that are being made across the college and a small part of the continuous improvements that are being made to educate boys for another 60 years and more."