Bloody School Uniform

[gscrym]

I'm all for it. I think the kids look great in it. I've just got the form in for it and it costs a small fortune. I'm surprised and I've only got 1 to kit out. How do people do it with more than that? They're charging £7.50 for a polo shirt. I've seen them, they're not up to much. Do the school make money for their funds on this? I've just totted up what DS'll need and he's over £100 and I've still got to get trousers, shoes, gym shoes, bag, lunch box and other gubbins.

I'm sure once I see him in it, I'll feel better and forget about it until next year.

Also what size in inches does an age 5/6 need?

[Kelly1978]

not sure about sizing I'm afraid. But what I do is buy it all at the school uniform sales, for 50p per item! Might be worth seeing if the school does anything like that. Got dd some lovely m&S dresses for the summer, look immaculate. And there is no way I will pay £10 for a polyester school jumper. Ds has about 5 which cost 50p each.

[Sherbert37]

Is it a state school? If so, they can't insist on logo-ed uniform now (since govt investigation last year). You might want to go for the 'whole experience' for starting school but gradually introduce cheaper items. Schools have really got to be more relaxed about this as it all mounts up.

[Spidermama]

I despise school uniform and I think if the teachers think it's so great they should be forced to wear teflon coated trousers and polyester shirts.

My dd has BO again since being forced to don those nasty nylon dresses and my son's complaining of itching because of the horrible shirts and trousers.

This makes me fume. I'm at loss to understand why around 90% of otherwise decent, intelligent people actually like school uniform.

Why don't you all dress them in teflon during the holidays then?

[LIZS]

dd is a small 5yr old and would wear 22/24 if that helps. Do they have a 2nd hand sale ?

[TooTicky]

teflonpolyesteracrylic

[NuttyMuffins]

I buy the school sweatshirts but not the polo shirts of named pe t'shirt either.

The sweatshirts are £8.50.

Oh and I buy the fleeces too as mine where them alot.

I am incredibly lucky though that a charity in the area that I live give uniform grants to people on a low income.

[custy]

becuase their peers dont judge them on not being able to afford the latest named brand - that is becuase in the holidays they hang out with their friends.

in schools ( outside of brighton anyway) your social status, class, monetary position, style, fashion sense, and peer group are determined by aesthetics.

with three children school uniform is an expensive business, however i couldn't afford the clothes for three teenagers and wouldn't want them to be social pariahs because of my inability to earn enough to buy them what they need.


i dont buy polo shirts from school - fuck them and their school logo - asda do them for £3.50 pack of two or something similar.

i get the traousers from BHS - for my teenage daughter £14 - and thats expensive - again supermarket outlets often do them cheaper.

also logo PE kits - fuck that twice. i don't think so.

[MrsBadger]

plain things in the right colours much cheaper from here

[scotlou]

Age 5/6 - 26" (and it'll do him into teh next year too!) You only need 3 polo shirts and 3 sweat shirts though. I did buy ds the school coat (which was about £17 I think) but it has already done him 2 years and will pass to dd now.

[shouldbedoingsomethingelse]

my DD1 has just started senior school so we were sent the trutex catalogue and told to stick rigidly to the school uniform (we have plain jumpers no logo but school want us to buy them from trutex) We totalled up what we would need and if came to £160.
We went into town and bought a couple of jumpers from Woolworths at £5 each and instead of the tracksuit at £30+ we went into the sports shop and got one exactly the same for £10. They do have a logo on their summer polo shirts and they are £7 each but only allowed to wear these in the summer term!

[GrumpyOldHorsewoman]

Spidermama, I agree wholeheartedly.

Add to your list the fact that we have to fork out for clothes they can only wear to one place. DD2's (nursery) polo T-shirt and sweatshirt cardi cost me £26. She has drawers of pefectly good clothes that can be worn anywhere. She's 3, FGS. Why does she need to be in a uniform? We are only passing on the message to our children that, in order to be treated fairly they all have to conform to one particular standard, in this case, looking the same. No wonder they make such a big deal out of 'own clothes day' and often dress inappropriately. I spent much of my childhood in the US where none of my friends wore uniform. None of them went to school dressed like slappers. All very normal and sensible, but then, a big deal was not made about the clothes you wore, because they knew no different.

[motherinferior]

DD1's comment on school uniform this morning:

Oooh, no, we'd look like the cover of a really boring book.

(She's wearing jeans, scruffy pink trainers, and a red T-shirt that I think used to belong to Hoxtonchick's DS.)

[Furball]

My DS is a tall skinny 5 1/2 YO and is in 28inch but won't last much longer, but summer is in the way. If I were you I'd go for 30inch though and get maximun wear out of it.

Ds' sweatshirts are only 30% cotton - the rest 45% acrylic and 15% polyester then there is 10% mixed fibres The uniform order lady approached the head asking whether they could change supplier to a more natural material and she said no as she wanted all the children to wear the same. Well it would only be until the children had grown out of the old stuff before they would all have the new uniform which wouldn't be that long.

We don't buy the poloshirts as they are £7 a shot and you get them for 2 or 3 at that price.

PE Kit is also our own.

[Gingerbear]

Hi gscrym.
DD's school have logo'ed stuff at extortionate prices too. I just bought a fleece, cardi and a sweatshirt - came to £30. M&S, Asda or Woolies for the rest. As others have said - they can't insist on it!

[islandofsodor]

That's cheap. I just paid £12 for a polo shirt for ds, dd's jumper is £17, T Shirt for PE is £9. The best value item is the Regatta fleece at £22.

I sell buy logoed polo shirts in bulk from a supplier for an organisation and don't get them for less than some of the prices quoted here.

[princesscc]

DD starts secondary school in September and we've just got the uniform list. Most of it I can get from usual places, Asda, M&S, Woolies. She has to have a blazer though and I've already got her one in M&S! They were half price about 4 weeks ago and you just know that in August they'll be full price again. I'm going to start buying now I think. Just a couple of bits every month and just leave the dreaded shoes until August!

[gscrym]

My mum's started buying him bits for school and she agrees with you lot. I called the school and they said the logo'd stuff isn't compulsory so will get him some sweatshirts and a jacket. She's bought him some 100% cotton polos from La Redoute (I think) and got them for £2 each by the time she added on discounts.

I do agree with the teflon trousers bit though. I'm going to see if I can get him some cotton ones that don't look like jeans to wear. If I can't, then the school ones he shall have.

I do appreciate the difference between private and state though. I worked in a private school and the uniform came to the best part of £1000 by the time the girls bought kilts, blazers etc.

[bozza]

If you are not buying school trousers from the uniform shop and a polo shirt costs £7.50 I fail to see how you are managing to spend £100. I would get 3 polo shirts at a total of £22.50 and then also sweatshirts. Not sure how much you are paying for them, but at our school there is not much difference in price so I would end up spending about £50 I think.

I find the polo shirts expensive and the sweatshirts reasonable. The polo shirts are reasonably quality (sig. better than Asda) IMO.

[bozza]

Sounds like I am in a minority because I love the teflon coated trousers - saves me loads of washing.

[gscrym]

I'm ordering the following:-

3 polos
5 sweatshirts (9.50 each)
1 Fleece (13.00)
1 Waterproof (£20)
1 Shoe Bag (£3)

I'm not sure about bothering with the fleece. I bought one for nursery and it's hardly been worn. I'm getting a sweatshirt for each day because he'll be getting ready at my mums when I'm dayshift so it make s things a bit easier.

I am going to ask about a second hand stall because I'd like to see the stuff getting recycled rather than just going out.

[Spidermama]

Bozza why not seek out teflon for the whole family then? Wouldn't you love the feel of putting on teflon every day?

Even just touching the stuff to hang out to dry makes my hair stand on end and brings me out in goosebumps all over.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Schoolbloodyuniform.

[elliott]

This term I am testing out my schools 'uniform is optional' policy. Why not? At least this way ds1 will actually get to wear some of the perfectly good t shirts I bought him last year.

But to answer the OP, for ds1's reception year I bought one logo jumper and 1 logo fleece from the school (quite expensive, you're right), and six worryingly cheap non logo polo shirts from M&S. sorted.

[Spidermama]

Mmmmm the sensual feel of teflon against your skin and the warm, static prickle of polyester trapping in those onion arms.

Don't you miss it?

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

DD1 has managed since September with ONE polo shirt and ONE cardigan. I think we've only had two occasions when I've had to wash it overnight.

DS1 is starting in September. I think M&S and Next both do school trousers in wool as well as the nasty teflon. The wool trousers are about £10. I'm only buying him one pair, most of the boys in DD1s class have managed thus far with one pair - they all seem to be going into larger sizes now so they can have the old ones for emergencies.

[unknownrebelbang]

DH's uniform trousers are worse to the touch than the boys, and his scratchy jumpers are horrid, not that he wears them very often.

What are onion arms???