Changing School Uniforms

Some incredibly strong, quite vicious opinions on here.

No DS is in yr 2 and has 3 jumpers. He does have 5 polos and trousers because they came in a pack of 5. He will rewear trousers unless absolutely filthy and will rewear his jumpers

If your child happens to eat nicely and doesn't play football to get all muddy they really do stay clean. Mine also changed when they got home from school so that was 3-4 hours wear 'saved'.

I have one child who needs fresh everyday as is a mucky puppy.

My other child can wear for a few days before changing.

Jumpers and trousers/skirts? Yes. Of course I do. Not every item of clothing needs to be washed after one wear.

My 7 year old has everything clean every day because he comes home covered in lunch. My 5 year old is much neater and can get at least 3 days out of a cardigan usually and 2 out of a dress.

I'm happy to provide a completely new set of everything every day if needed. But not just for the sake of it.

I'm surprised so many people send their kids to school in unwashed clothes. I know someone will be along to say that young children don't sweat but they still smell and spill stuff down themselves

Mine didn't have 5 clean a week. Shirts in upper primary onwards yes, but otherwise I don't believe trousers/skirts and jumpers need washing every day (jumpers often discarded part way through the day anyway). If they were visibly dirty they got swapped out or spot cleaned, then a wash at the weekend.

Waste of time, energy and money.

I guess how old are the kids? At primary mine wore clean uniform every day because they came home filthy. Plus they wore PE kit twice a week, so we had two sets of that and three sets of uniform. Probably only two sweatshirts and I’d wash, but I also pick them up in the second hand uniform sales.

secondary I don’t think they’ll come home covered in paint grass and beans every day but we’ve got enough shirts for clean every day and two skirt / trousers so should be able to have a clean set with a bit of washing if needed but I expect skirt or trousers to last a couple or so wears.

My kids don’t wear uniform but I’d assume you’d have at least 5 sets if they did? They were regular clothes and wear something different every day and I wash what they’ve worn (6 and 3 so even jeans etc are usually dirty!). Surely no young child would wear the same summer dress or white polo for more than a day or two without it being dirty? Jumpers and trousers/skirts I’d wash as needed but still have a good supply!

Kids need to be exposed to germs though?

5 sets here too. Clean every day. Shirts tend to come in 3 so I have 6. All ironed as well, I wouldn't be sending kine in forty or unironwd uniform , but that's me. Both primary and secondary,

DS6 has several tops for school (possibly 10? mostly second hand and haven't counted) to wear a fresh one every day. That includes jumpers. He wears new shorts/trousers every day as well. There's a spare set of uniform in his bag at school.
He certainly wouldn't go in wearing the same uniform twice. They run around like crazy, roll around outside.
Middle class or not. He's at an independent school and his classmates don't come in looking messy, either.
I don't wash during the week, though. I don't iron clothes. We do several loads on the weekend, then hang them up to dry outside and it's fine.

Full fresh set of uniform every day here. Honestly, hadn't even considered not sending them in clean clothes 🤢

3 sets, one midweek wash. It's really not that arduous 🤷

Genuinely grim thinking of sending them is the same clothes, knowing what happens to kids clothes during a day at school.

Young children don't really sweat so stuff doesn't get smelly. But they cover themselves it tons of mess, food, and general dirt.

It possibly also depends if they sit round in uniform after school, or if they are home and changed right away.

Me if I can get 2/3 days out a pair of trousers I'll do it. Tops I change daily but they are white but never stay white.

I’ve got enough for a change every day but we’re in Scotland where the logo jumper costs £14 and the rest came from the high street or supermarket so it wasn’t expensive to buy a whole week’s worth of uniform. The oldest is primary three now and last year’s jumpers and T-shirts still fit, and the younger is in his brother’s handmedown nursery jumpers and jeans every day so everything is getting well worn.

Mine had a clean t shirt every day at primary. I had to get 2 sets of pe kit as they wore it 2 consecutive days and no way was I sending my year 6 dc into school in sweaty clothes they'd word the entire previous day. Especially dd2 as she is a sweaty one.

Secondary school they'll have clean shirts daily and bottoms every couple of days unless they're dirty/smelly. Tights are clean daily for the girls as it's the same as knickers for me.

I do the same for work otherwise with 6 of us I'd never get through the washing.

They do extra curricular activities and again, sportswear gets washed each time. Other stuff every couple of wears unless dirty. Shirts get done each time. They spent a week at camp and only showered once each 🤢🤢🤢

I always had enough uniform so that I could do one wash at the weekend for all of it, I must admit there were times when the odd pair of trousers had to have a good wipe with a baby wipe to removed mud or spilt school dinner.

In theory a fresh set every day is nice but it really depends on the uniform. If you can buy it in multipacks from the supermarket then fair enough, if every item has the school logo and can only be bought from the school uniform shop nobody is going to buy five complete sets. In Aus it is normal to have different Summer and Winter uniform plus PE kit so enough is enough.

Hell no!

All 3 have a pack of 3 shirts only because they come in packs of 3, older 2 have a skirt each, reception child 2 pinafores & 1 cardigan or jumper each. I try and make 1 set of uniform last, I’d only change anything if it’s caked in something I couldn’t wipe off. They do wear their PE kit 2 days a week, but only have 1 set each. Washing is done over the weekend.

By the end of the school year it’s all usually trashed anyway so why trash multiple uniforms.

I will happily do a fresh shirt daily when puberty hits.

5 sets here for both kids but I live in / come from quite a "deprived" area.

You can tell people are middle class when they don't need to worry about their kids looking clean.

My mum is a nursery teacher and it's something she always remarked on - that the kids in the naice city centre nursery where the parents were consultants and barristers would be in second hand / stained / otherwise tatty clothes with their hair frequently knotty etc, whereas the kids at the nursery on the council estate (for the most part) would be immaculate with their hair neatly plaited etc. It wouldn't even cross the former's mind that there would be welfare concerns or whatever whereas for the latter it's a harsh reality.

I genuinely can't imagine sending my kids to school in dirty clothes and not having something said about them... I also like to have everything washed and ready over the weekend and wouldn't have time to be doing it midweek.

do you go into work in the same outfit two days in a row

I wear clothes many time before washing, yes. Anything else is wasteful and they don't smell / are not dirty.

5 sets here too and fresh on every day. DS has just turned 7 and I don’t think has ever come home without mud, food, marker pen or paint on him.
I never iron it though

Clean everyday, 5 sets ironed every Sunday. I know MN doesn't believe in ironing but un ironed clothes look so scruffy imo

@KrisAkabusi do you seriously not put a load of washing on mid week?! 😳🤮🤢

At primary DD had 6 tops, 6 bottoms - skirts and trousers (mostly because everything comes in multipacks), 2 jumpers and 2 cardigans.

She only attended a UK primary from Yr 4 as we lived abroad before that and they didn't wear a uniform - she'd wear fresh clothes every day but that was mostly because we lived in a hot city so things needed washing after one wear as they would be grimy from dust/dirt and general school messes - so by the time she did need a uniform she wasnt really at the stage of coming home filthy every day.

This meant that while she had enough uniform to wear everything clean every day, I only insisted on a new shirt every day, regardless of whether it was marked or not. If the skirt/trousers and jumper/cardigan wasn't visibly dirty when she got home then she could wear it again the following day if she wanted.

Now she's at secondary she has 2 skirts, a pair of trousers, two jumpers and 5 shirts and a blazer. She has a fresh shirt every day and then just rotates the skirts/trousers as and when she chooses. Sometimes it's based on the weather, sometimes because they have visible marks but I leave it up to her to decide what she wears every day.

I should caveat this with the fact I share custody of DD 50/50 with her dad and she spends every other week with each of us, going to school from one house on Monday morning and coming home to the other house on Monday evening. B cause of that she has the same amount of uniform at each house and only one set (jumper/top/bottoms) as well as her blazer rotates between houses every week so we both keep the same level of inventory at each house. It also means she only wears "my" uniform every other week so it all lasts longer than if it was used every day, every week - if she did then I might have extra shirts/trousers/jumpers to account for the level of wear.

Point of pride for me that my kids have a fresh uniform washed and smelling lovely all ready for them each morning. Bit of a hangover from the chaotic way I was bought up though, I'm not sure it's entirely normal or necessary!