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

As for the “they need clothes anyway” argument - I pick up most of my kids’ clothes in the sales, or via supermarkets - there is no way I’d spend £30 on a skirt for my kids - which is the local academy cost for their compulsory logoed thing.

Well therein lies my point.. it’s something you have to do so just get over it! 🙄 a lot of schools in Ireland provide the school uniform and you must buy it straight from the school...no choice in the matter. It’s just the way it is. You had the children, get on with it!! It all be free or cheap!!

I have a cleaner and multiple holidays a year. I buy second hand uniform for my DCs from a local facebay site. £1 - £3 an item all in fab condition. I buy through the year and bigger sizes when I see them so there isn't a big cost before the new school year. Anything in decent condition that they outgrow is given back to the school as spares. I do buy new shoes as I like them to be properly fitted.

@Aderyn19 no but you’re complain about quality, ASDA hardly have the best quality but yet you state that they do, so which is it??

No one wants tree uniform though.

Just not to be robbed. Or priced out of education

It's not that bad though.

It lasts long enough.

Dds skirt lasted over 3 years and is still perfect I've kept for dd2.

The blazer that cost 31.50 though and delivery on top well that's a different story

Also, and probably in a cynical attempt to thwart the second hand market - most of our local schools academize then change the bloody school logo anyway so that you CAN’T flipping sell the stuff on or pass it down between siblings! The other fad in our area is to do all of this - then a year or so later decide to have coloured braid added to the blazer design so you have to re-buy that as well.

Even my kids’ junior school designed a new logo recently and added it as an optional feature on uniform - hence me double checking it wasn’t going to become compulsory before I bought the stuff for September... they’re not intending it to become anything other than an optional extra thankfully.

You are misunderstanding me. I object to paying nearly £30 for a blazer when I could get a blazer made from the same material in Asda for less. I'd pay £30 for a blazer which wasn't that awful synthetic, sweaty material. Jumpers for my dd's secondary school are £15 and acrylic. Who thinks acrylic for teenagers is a good idea? Especially when they are not allowed to take them off.
I'm happy to spend money but I think parents are entitled to good quality in exchange for their cash and that prices need to take account of all family incomes since the point of uniform was to not make poor pupils feel disadvantaged when they are going to school.

I will never accept that I should just suck it up when being ripped off, just because I had children

Yy kup

They dont want you to hand down.

They dont want the broke riff raff bringing their schools down.

It's sometimes small more subtle ways like different coloured ties for different houses , different colour logos for houses or years.

Changing school shirt colours for different years etc

Other times it's more blatant like beading on a blazer which means you cant buy one in sainsbury for 11 pound then sew on the badge

If only they cared about behaviour as much as they do about patented shades of grey..

it’s something you have to do so just get over it! 🙄

If everyone had that attitude towards everything, nothing would ever change. "That's just the way it is".

no but you’re complain about quality, ASDA hardly have the best quality but yet you state that they do, so which is it??

Someone said ASDA uniform is cheaper and about the same quality so I know which I'd rather.

As for the “they need clothes anyway” argument - I pick up most of my kids’ clothes in the sales, or via supermarkets - there is no way I’d spend £30 on a skirt for my kids

I don't even spend £30 on a skirt for myself let alone a child.

How about we didn't have a uniform? How would posters feel about that? I think it's crazy money to spend on school clothes. I would love it if there were no uniform. Obviously rules would have to be set for modesty reasons.

If everyone had that attitude towards everything, nothing would ever change. "That's just the way it is".

Exactly. So get off mumsnetz get the schools other parents together, get Facebook groups set up, WhatsApp groups, get every parent of kids in those schools to complain, to refuse to follow rules, to pull their kids out of school and to send an absolutely clear signal to the head teachers that you only accept it.

Seems to me people would rather just complain than do.

Don't like schools rules, don't bitch and moan, get every child to turn up on the first day in jeans and football shirt.. pull every pupil out.. send the head 1000 hand written letters...

Well back

I have just checked and the 3rd school I mentioned is actually the priciest uniform of them all. And surprise surprise are moving over to tartan skirts at 21.50 a go.

Blazers 35 pound and 16.99 for a pe skirt.

So yeah moving schools would really help

Coincidence that now this is the worst school in the county. Dreadful results And a new head.

See a pattern here?

stucknoue

Do your children not get changes when they come home?A;so what does it cost to wash the uniform?

Going from working in FE with no uniform to schools I was surprised at all the time wasted checking uniform. I actually refused to check the girls trousers because a) it was only a few girls who wore ones that were not uniform and b) the boys hever had their trousers checked.

Oh and at this school the girls wore the shortest skorts I have ever seen for PE. Apparently girls thighs are offensive in tight trousers but on display on the sportsfield they are fine.

If you are going to have a uniform though I do think the PE kit should be an option for hot weather. When I was ar high school we did have a 'summer uniform' which was either a dress or an open necked blouse and no tie.

Seems to me people would rather just complain than do.

My DDs in nursery, and you're never going to get every child to turn up without uniform because as you can see from this thread not everyone cares.

I've been selective in what I've purchased, which is my way of not just blindly accepting the school position on uniform. If school object, I'm more than happy to have a discussion with the head about fair pricing. Unfortunately there are so many things going wrong in schools at the moment that parents are having to pick their battles. I must admit I've prioritised teaching issues rather than uniform ones in recent years because while it is annoying to spend £££ on synthetic uniforms, it's not quite as important as having no science teacher in year 11 or a teacher delivering the wrong course.

Sarah ours has also got a new Head as of this coming term. It's just 'new broom' bullshit. For the past 7 years our school uniform has been affordable and sensible, and good quality. Now we're getting this skirt (which thank goodness my DD2 won't have to wear because 6th form). Because the incoming head isn't confident enough to start without somehow visibly 'making her mark'. It's pathetic.

And parents shouldn't have to organise mass protests. Parents have jobs and lives. This should be a simple matter of legislating to ban these practices, with some nice hefty fines to focus the mind. Ripping people off should be illegal everywhere.

Couldn't agree more pointy

The only reason parents are so in favour if all this is snobbery. They dont want their kids from "best results in town high" being indistinguishable from."shit hole academy".

I'm.sure the tune would change when one divorce or long term sickness off work later when they cant afford 26 pound for a black skirt identical to one in Tesco and they cant pass down the pe kit cos they insist on having it embroidered with the name on it .....means they are priced out if even applying...

And parents shouldn't have to organise mass protests. Parents have jobs and lives.

No they shouldn't, but if the parents, who are here moaning, aren't willing to stand up for their kids then who the hell will?

As for “doing something” - I more than do my share to help with the school, and I’m on the governing body so would raise a bloody huge stink about accessibility if our school went anywhere near this nonsense. Thankfully our head (who is bloody amazing and gets dispatched to sort out other schools periodically) is of the “I do not care as long as it’s sensible and smart” old school of head teachers.

It’s also a frigging nightmare for parents of children with special needs around motor skills and sensory issues - I shop uniform very carefully for DD2 to make it variants of the school uniform she can manage to dress into independently and isn’t likely to be distressed by wearing - at the moment we have the flexibility to do this (and she does look smart... for the nano-second before we leave the house on a morning) - but when we hit secondary with mandatory tied-ties (rather than elastic or clip on) and no flexibility in terms of the type of skirt or shirt worn it’s going to be a bloody nightmare.

No they shouldn't, but if the parents, who are here moaning, aren't willing to stand up for their kids then who the hell will?

And those most adversely affected such as those on low income, those with disabilities or children with additional needs/disabilities, single parents, etc are most likely those who are more socially isolated, working poorly paid jobs and possibly more than one, or struggle to get out of the house and would he highly unable to do that. Either through lack.of time, lack.of support with family , no access to internet ,

It's why it needs to become a government introduced law that these high priced single supplier details should be closed down and all uniform able to be purchased on the high street. Blazers included .

I'm happy if its "supermarket" type uniform - that tends to be pretty cheap and last in my experience. So is cheaper than "home clothes". I don't mind secondary blazers if they can go in the washing machine. I do object to keep changing the design of school skirts - so that ones that cost £20 each a few years later are no use to anyone.
And I objected to football boots as my son hated football/rugby so wore each pair 10 time roughly (1 outdoor PE lesson a week, for 2 winter terms, with the odd one missed for various reasons), and grew so needed a new pair every year.