new school uniform's is a con

[james1900]

ever since schools have been sold and become private i.e academy
the local authorities who are running schools are over charging for school uniforms'

Average Cost of a Junior School Uniform 2019

The basic school uniform including a pair of school shoes and trainers costs around £160 per child on average—£180 with a blazer—if your school doesn't require school logos (giving you flexibility on where to shop). Prices range significantly depending on your choice of retailer and the age of your child, with parents paying anywhere from £70 to £250 or more to dress their child for school. Read below to learn more about average prices for school uniform by age and gender. Those needing to buy uniform emblazoned with the school logo will most certainly pay even more.

Average Cost of School Uniform Items

Excluding shoes, we found the average cost of a basic list of school clothing is £96 per child. Add in a pair of PE trainers and school shoes, and the average uniform cost jumps up to £162 per child. Since a basic, plain blazer averages £18, we estimate the total uniform cost including trainers, school shoes and a blazer would be £180.

As your child grows, so do the costs of a school uniform. Between age 4 and 11, expect costs of basic clothing to rise by over 40%, as you can see in the following chart. You'll also notice that the uniform for a girl will cost a bit more than for a boy. While many items are sold unisex (e.g., shirts), you'll find skirts tend to cost a few pounds more than boys' shorts. And if your daughter wears a pinafore, expect to add a few more pounds to the uniform cost estimate

Can totally sympathise. Seems like a scam to get more money out of the parents, and i would wonder in any other sector would it be legal or tolerated. i.e. you can use the nhs but only if you buy this £50 hospital gown, without which we will put you into isolation and your treatment will probably be delayed.

I live in Scotland and other than the optional logo's jumpers/shirts as long as school uniform is black/grey/blue/school colours then there is no problem. Even logo'd stuff is pretty cheap, think I was about £6 a jumper and slightly less for the shirts. I was under £70 for 5 of each anyway and able to get rest of uniform from supermarkets for next to nothing. Long may that continue.

If your kids go to a school that enforces.logo, it's up to you to send them there or choose another school. If you choose that school, you choose their rules and accept that cost

Parents would kill to have a choice of school!!

We don't all have cleaners & multiple holidays... and I was pretty pleased to find a pair of StartRite shoes for DD in TK Maxx yesterday... hopefully they'll last a whole year, usually she goes through the soles of at least 2 pairs. We buy almost all of her uniform on offer, whenever we can, a bit at a time.
Name stuff going missing - this is why I write her name in stuff & sew tapes in as well. And reuse the name tapes until they're past it. We aren't all well off.

Is this like the Mumsnet chicken?

I could have bought logo stuff and watch that cost jump to 100s, but I chose not too
If your kids go to a school thatenforces.logo, it's up to you to send them there or choose another school. If you choose that school, you choose their rules and accept that

Why do people always trot out that argument. As I posted above 2 out of the three schools round here have the online supplier. The other would be 2 buses away.

Not one school in a 5 mile radius here and probably further away too is non uniform.

We live in times where people who live less than half a.mile from.a.schopl dont get in.

What choice do you think.peope actually have..seriously

All girls must wear skirts Really? No trouser option? It's disappointing that such policies are still in place.

If your kids go to a school that enforces logo, it's up to you to send them there or choose another school. If you choose that school, you choose their rules and accept that cost

What if every school your child is in catchment for has an expensive logoed uniform, made from cheap, uncomfortable fabrics? What choice would a parent have then?

If you choose that school, you choose their rules and accept that cost I mean, that sounds like a pretty ignorant comment that just ignores reality. Isnt that half the problem, that parents cant just choose the school their children go to, or am i imagining all those English threads about school choices that pop up all over mn once a year. Even in Scotland where i live fairly rurally, you can ask to transfer school (where i live all schools in the town are within 30 mins walking distance of each other) so location isnt a problem but id imagine in bigger cities this just isnt a choice. Even in my small town, you are still not guaranteed a place if you ask to change school.

Dont most schools have second hand uniform available to buy? I dont mind buying uniform from Tesco etc as they have to wear something and its actually cheaper than constantly being asked for the latest trend of t-shirt/character etc

I do find the requirements for logo uniform excessive. I try to buy second hand if I can.

My issue is, I have to buy it. My DC (secondary) School is very strict and will send them home if they wear non logo clothes (trouser, blazer, shirt & tie!). One set comes to around 70.- & we are not in an affluent area. The only good thing is a thriving 2nd hand market!I
It's a total till off especially towards the end of the year when everything is a bit small and DD for actually send home because her trousers where to teight!!!

Having grown up in a country without school uniform I must say that I am totally not on board with it!

As a parent it’s an awful lot of money for clothes that can only be worn for school. The only upside is that it might prevent me having to buy expensive label stuff, but both dc don’t seem to be so inclined.

As a teacher I hate policing school uniforms. I am positive that the smartness of the uniform does not have an impact on students’ ability to learn. I honestly don’t care if Johnny’s top button is done up or whether Tiffany is wearing star studs in her ears and nail varnish.
As I am a good teacher I go along with this whole circus somewhat half heartedly (99.9% of the time I don’t even spot the undone top button or rolled up skirt...). When it comes to discussing the pros and cons of school uniform in my subject in Year 10 students are usually speechless when I give them a sanitised version of what I really think about school uniform

NobleGiraffe - if you mean the name tapes - then yes! I literally remove them & reuse them until they're done. Reduces plastic waste as well as me being a tightarse.

I do also get a lot of meals out of a chicken...

I always comment on these threads about how alien all this is to me in Scotland. My kids are at state schools, two at secondary, one in primary. Branded uniform is just not a "thing".

The two at senior school have to wear a blazer which can only be bought from school. It costs £32. A tie - which obviously doesn't get grown out of - is £5. Other than that, it's all black and white and you can buy from anywhere.

Speaking to my sister whose children are at one of these "Academies" near London is like another world. Special jumpers with stripes in house colours at £25 a pop, branded joggers and hoodies for PE, skirts of a particular colour and style, shirts in weird colours which are impossible to source online.... she spends a fortune.

I agree with noble. You'd have to buy clothes anyway. Usually you can get away wihh buying fsr less uniform than if you had to send kids in their own clothes. Just think back to nursery clothes!

Ds primary school tried to make their uniform logo exclusive to force parents to only buy uniform from them. An unknown parent (me) took the logo to a stall in the local market who copies logos for school uniform & sells better quality uniform much cheaper, most parents now buy from the market. Secondary school have tried the same thing by changing the colour of the sweatshirts at short notice, market have been informed & have new colour sweatshirts on sale £5 cheaper than through school.

not-stealth boast - my son got into a great school.

The only uniform shop covers quite a area, and out of curiosity I checked the price of blazers of the same size for a 'not good school'. This was last year, and my son was in year 12, so smallest and probably cheapest school blazers, were £23 for the 'not good school' but around £55 for the 'good school'. I can't believe that they are of radically different quality.

There is a lot of rip off going on.

There is a lot of rip off going on

Yes there is.

If you look at the blazers you will find that they have shoulder padding.

Imo this serves for no other reason than to ensure that instead of being able to size up quite considerably to make the blazers last as long as possible, that you have to buy the one that fits just now as otherwise they look like American footballs players...

Means u buy more..

They are in school 186 days a year, if (like I did) you buy 2 sets plus 3 extra polo shirts, it comes to about £100 or under 50p a day, if it lasts a second year or gets passed down then even cheaper .... I bet none of their weekend clothes work out so cheap per wear! My DD's had 2 infant cardigans, 2 junior school, and 2 blazers, handing down

@stucknoue I also have to add in the cost of the Dr Beckman ink remover stuff.

Primary school was less expensive, but by the time you've added in the mouth guards, shin pads, two different PE tops, shorts, jogging bottoms etc, at High School, it adds up, even if they aren't hard on their clothes.

There is a primary school near me that has a uniform of jeans/denim skirt/denim pinafore (from wherever you like) and a coloured T-shirt or polo shirt (choice of two colours and you can buy them wherever you like) and then sells patches with the school logo to sew/glue on.

Common sense, practical and hardwearing. I have no idea why there is this obsession with dressing small children up as business people. Most workplaces don’t even require full suit and tie anymore!

I wondered where allthe crazy prices were coming from on the back to school thread. Our school is a primary academy and we're allowed to buy from anywhere and doesn't have to be a logo. I've spent £20. It's ridiculous that parents are forced to spend a fortune.

I think as well there are a lot of parents who get sucked into the "back to school must have everything new" crap. Even if last year's stuff still fits and is still presentable, the child MUST have new because it's September. Totally wasteful.

Even if last year's stuff still fits and is still presentable, the child MUST have new because it's September. Totally wasteful

I think this is a thing of the past or soon.will be.

When dd1 first started primary the jumpers lasted ages. And when the school held their second hand sales the jumpers and cardies all looked fine still.

Fast forward to when she hit yr five and there had been a definate drop in standards. They looked shiny and old very quickly. When she hit yr 6 obviously i wasnt going to replace at 14 quid a go and it being her last year so I hit the second hand stall. Every single jumper was a state..compared to previous years where I got 2 years wear out of second hand ones and still looked fine and survived being passed down and worn again by her sister.

I wasn't the only one to.notic either. The second hand jumpers especially flew off the table.

Now they can barely get rid if them at £1.50 pound a go.

I understand now what people stick.up and buy 2.or 3 years worth in the sales . No sooner do you find a style that fits nicely. They get discontinued or changed and are no longer anywhere near as nice..

Agree that a lot of parents feel the entire cost of choosing to have children should be down to the state.

Clothes for children have to be bought whether school uniform or everyday wear.

We are highly lucky that we don’t have to pay for education upto A Levels in this country or buy books etc. There is also free health care and free maternity services.

Why bother having children if you begrudge the known costs that come with them. It’s hardly a surprise.

I'm fortunate that my DC's school (LA) is fairly relaxed about uniform and pretty much any generic uniform of the colour scheme will do. Logos are optional, and it's mainly the sweatshirts/ cardigan/ PE t-shirt which tend to be bought.

The prospect of secondary school uniform concerns me as all that we have a remote cat in hell's chance of getting into have gone to strict blazer/ tie/ stiff collars in recent years. DS is very sensory and will only wear a pair of shorts and t-shirt. He now even rejects the fairly soft sweatshirts and would not entertain an arcrylic jumper. He looks smart and obviously learns best when he is physically comfortable. I found at secondary that blazers were horribly uncomfortable and didn't allow the range of movement to be able to write comfortably and spent the minimal amount of time possible wearing the hideous thing.

I used to buy into the cost/ peer pressure arguements in support of uniform, but the cost of heavily prescribed uniform undermines that. (I'm happy to pay a bit more for M&S for quality and slim fits as an option.) I ended up working in a non-uniform school for a while and it was rather liberating to just teach in comfortable clothes and not have any distracting arguments about dress codes. There were some safety requirements, but they were all adhered too. Back in stricter schools, the time wasted on arguments on skirt lengths, trouser tightness etc is ridiculous and a significant distraction from actually getting on with teaching. It's just an expensive farce.

See kids now have school uniform and weekend clothes - which they out grow before they wear out - which is another waste!!

I’d much rather they scrapped uniform all together, it makes no difference to their learning, mainly uncomfortable, hot and sweaty. I’d have it so they must be weather appropriate, and covered shoulders and to the knees, anything else would be fine.