£420 a year on school uniform?

I guess if no uniform he'd need several sets clothes anyway but the PE kits cost lots

I originally posted on this in July when it went out and having just done the uniform shop today this post sprang back into my mind!

My son is going into year 10 this year, I’ve just had to purchase:

Pack of 5 shirts - £18.50
4 Pairs of trousers - £28.00
A new blazer - £50.25
New socks - £11.50
New school shoes - 127.20

Thats £235.45

He still needs:
2 jumpers - £17
P.E base layers for winter - £10.00
Which will take the total to: £262.45

Whilst not technically uniform I’ve also had to purchase the following mandatory items due to my son having lost, broken, used them up:

A new scientific calculator - £11.00
A protractor / ruler / compass set - £5.00
A pack of pens - £2.50
A pack of pencils - £1.00

Totalling £281.95 to make him ready for going back to school in September.

I suspect before the year is out I’ll have had to purchase a few extra ties at £6 each as these get lost a lot, which would round up to about £300 over the year.

This is the first year he hasn’t needed a new school bag or water bottle at the start of the year which is around another £30.00 and may still be needed at a later date.

We have managed to avoid having to buy new P.E Trainers, P.E Shorts & P.E Top so far but if he needs them further into the school year could be another £70-80.

That is a definite spend of £300 this school year with a potential spend of up to £410.00 over the course of the whole year.

So yeah I think £420 sounds about right for the average secondary school child. As I said previously I’m north west with an average uniform, for those further south or from fancier schools where uniform is even more stringent I imagine it could cost quite a bit more.

we moved to forrin a few years ago and no uniform is a lot less stressful both for us parents and the dc.

school has only two clothing rules: torso must be covered and no large letters/branding/slogans on clothes or bags.

secondary school is still expensive due to the additional things they need. like computer, multiple pairs of shoes, school trips, bus pass etc.

It's about £400 per child at the beginning of the year if they need a new blazer, a bit less than £300 if not. But shoes, trousers, shirts, tights, rugby socks all have to be replaced at least once during the school year. This is purely for the compulsory uniform, I've not included football/rugby boots and trainers in this as they use them outside school as well.
As they are in secondary school, it's harder to get second hand uniform as kids wear it into the ground before they grow out of it.

When I read school uniform threads, am always relieved DC’s went to a non uniform school. Just wore the same clothes as they would do at weekends and holidays.

This as well.

Ours is appalling quality. Can only be bought online.

Also! The waist to leg ratio is absurd.

The leg length always too short by the end of the year, and the waist too big.....

BUT THE GIRLS CANT WEAR BELTS wtf is that about

I feel like I've spent this on lost ties alone this year 😡

My DC needed multiple pairs of PE shoes too.
Indoor trainers. Outdoor trainers and studded football boots. With rules regarding styles, colours and branding/logos.
They never could decide what type of PE they'd do at any point in the year so they were all needed all the time.

Of course the indoor trainers and studded football ones couldn't be worn at weekends/holidays.
And DC wouldn't have wanted to wear their sports trainers/smart school shoes outside of school either.

Do they do pe inside and outside? I’d honestly be worried about twisted/ broken ankles without studs. Scotland so wet , slippery grass would be standard 9 months of the year.

I get so cross mine have to have logo'd sports leggings, skorts and shorts... they are plain black with the tiniest logo... there is no reason at all they couldn't wear generic ones.

Even for rugby and football in the winter? Guess you just wash them before transitioning to indoor sport?

Ds school only requires one pair of trainers. They keep the pe kit like the rest of the uniform nice and simple.

Ds only ever needed inside trainers and football boots for a state grammar. If he occasionally needed trainers for outside then that would just be whatever he wore at home, nothing extra.

They really do expect multiple different kinds of pe shoes as they do pe in a variety of locations. Sports hall for badminton/ basketball type stuff requires a light coloured non marking sole. Playing fields you need studs for most of the year. My kid has not been on the astroturf pitch or cross country running this year but going by other parents they also require their own shoes.

In our school pe is once a week and rotated to a new location termly. So you know they need indoor p.e. kit Jan- Easter. Swim kit for a term which is great as requires no shoes at all.

Another thing that drives me mad... the uniform shop being in a completely different town 30 minutes drive away!

That has to be on the high end of uniform to get through.

Over 5 years DS had-

5 shirts x 3 sizes
2 trousers x 3 sizes
1 jumper (never worn so not replaced)
1 blazer x 2 sizes
1 tie

2 pairs shorts x 2 sizes
1 PE vest x 2 sizes
1 rugby shirt x 2 sizes
1 pair games socks x 2 sizes

Boots about once a year
School shoes once a year
Trainers once a year

School bag x 2 (using the second now at college)

Only the shoes were every year

I can believe it.

For school my son requires.

Pack of 5 shirts - £15 (end of the year he’s down to two and they could do with binning and replacing really).

4 pairs of black pants - £12.50 per pair

2 Jumpers - up to £15 each

Tie - £5 (probably goes though about 4 per year due to losing).

Blazer - £40

Branded PE T-Shirt - £15

Branded PE Shorts - £15

House PE T-Shirt - £2.50

Black Leather School Shoes (in adult sizes, often goes through 2 pairs a year due to growing) - £50

PE Trainers - £25-£30 (again adult sizes may go through two pairs).

New school bag - £25 (never had one fit to use for a second year running).

Thats at least £232.50, if I have to replace items as stated thats a total of at least £322.50. That doesn’t include a light weight waterproof coat for bad weather or the countless number of bloody pens he goes through. I’m also aware of other schools in the area that also insist on things like branded sports socks and sew on house badges. I’m in the north west so I can imagine further down south is also significantly more expensive than here.

We had two pairs of shorts (different colours), PE vest, rugby shorts, games socks, boots and trainers, and gum shield. Didn't need anything like a tennis racket or hockey stick and there was no swimming, I think all that is unusual! There was a midlayer but that was optional and few had it as they were running around anyway.