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

Of course i can grasp that. I cant grasp someone encouraging others to 'pull their kids out of school' because they don't like the uniform policy.

By all means write to the governors and complain!

My dc is off to secondary and you have to buy the logo blazer and house tie but it’s the PE kit that cost. It’s not something you could purchase in a store and so far has cost me £66 just for a top, shorts and a jacket and I still need to get the specific football boots, rugby top, tracksuit bottoms and thermals. Plus other bits like trainers, coat and school shoes. I also have another child but primary school so not so strict.

sarah these are buying and selling sites. Noone discussed the school (on ours anyway)

Apart from the £40 skirt, I do find it surprising how cheap a lot of the stuff mentioned here is. Obviously a £7 polo shirt is doing to be poor quality no matter where it’s from and £10 jumpers etc? It’s the cheap end of clothes prices isn’t it? (You know the terrible ones under usual circumstances are being made by children in Indonesia and destroying the planet )

I’ve just got DC starting primary- spent £100 on 2 skirts a pinafore, 5 logo’d polo shirts, a logo’d cardigan, logo’d PE kit and a book bag/ PE bag from the local school shop. I thought it was fine until a friend claimed £6.99 for a skirt was expensive and you can get a pack of 2 in Tesco for that

I've just looked and there isnt one so if there is it's onthe main face book page however scrolling down theres nothing.

And I came off of a general local selling site as it was clogging up my time.line with everyone's trash .

To be fair though the blazers are rubbish dds certainly is not for for resale .

The only thing that may be suitable to pass on is the skirts.

I'm holding on to mine for dd2. With any luck the uniform.wont change for a second time .

I do attend primary school second hand sales bit the quality of the jumpers os alot poorer now so none.of them look any good.most the time.

Which is another reason for why I.object. it wouldnt be quite so.painful if for the 31.50 plus delivery on top I had an item that could be re used.

I bought dd2 2 school skirts 3 years ago, they were 55 each. They look as good as new and because they are kilts you can move the buttons. Dd3 is getting them in September and will wear for another 3 years. That's 9 per skirt per year. Good value.

Would you say it was good value if dd3 was a boy and/or both kids grew out of then in a very short space of time or they were deemed too shot for your tall dd?

Or if they changed the uniform.5.months after you bought them?

MN is a complete anomaly to me. Every year there’s this debate over £200 ish on uniform yet posters seem to be loaded and think nothing of having a cleaner and multiple holidays. The mind boggles.

"HotChocolateLover", I've got startling news for you. There are thousands of active contributors to MN, and they don't aren't all in the same financial circumstances..

Of course i can grasp that. I cant grasp someone encouraging others to 'pull their kids out of school' because they don't like the uniform policy

I would consider pulling my dd’s out if they changed the uniform policy to skirts only for girls.

Although looking at the kids the vast majority opt to wear skirts and tights- rolled up so you can nearly see their pants of course.

My dd’s are probably the exception and wear trousers. I know in year 8 my dd plus a muslim girl were the only ones in trousers - out of a year group of 300.

Dd has been asked fairly frequently if she is trans due to the trousers. Fortunately she has the hard stare down to a fine art.

My Ds goes to a none uniform school, the costs have definitely gone down.

It doesn’t matter if some people can add a cleaner and multiple holidays . Many people can’t afford the basics.

And when it comes to workwear everywhere I have had to wear a uniform it is provided.

My ds’s primary was far more sensible , polo tops, trousers or skirts bought from anywhere. Only thing that must be logo was jumper . My Ds still runs around playing tug in year 7 . He doesn’t need smart trousers and a blazer

I bought dd2 2 school skirts 3 years ago, they were 55 each.

Bully for you..
As they were £55 each, did your child get £45 pound more education wearing them over a £10 Tesco skirt?
Of course not...
So why insist on them?

Kids go to school to learn. Insisting they wear uniform only some people can comfortably afford only teaches them that poor kids are lesser in the eyes of that school and it's teachers.
Sound like a good lesson?

Uniform shouldn't be something a school makes profit from

Would you rather the suppliers made the profit?

Most people would rather that uniform, if it exists at all, should be of a type that is easily available from reasonably priced high street suppliers. Sure, those suppliers would have to make a profit, otherwise they wouldn't be in business. The point is, obviously, that it should not be possible for schools to be incentivised to insist on overpriced uniforms by the prospect of making a profit from doing so.

@bluebluezoo Dd has been asked fairly frequently if she is trans due to the trousers.

Oh wow, how things have changed. Please say your DD is in secondary, and not primary? I didn’t even know what “trans” meant until second year of medical school

I detest the logo stuff. I’ve just had to fork out yet again.
I detest paying £40 for nylon pe kit. For a teen boy. Cotton would be more practical and damn cheaper.
When my older ones were at school, only label was on the blazer. Seperate patches available to give a choice of expensive blazer or much cheaper option. This isn’t an option anymore for a lot of schools. With the patch already on - £35+. Buy seperate max £20 (including paying someone to sew if needed) plus of course any replacement will be just the blazer.

The uniform shop goes to the school once a year. Then everything is online only plus p&p. The sizing guide is awful. The quality is awful. I have had to buy a 3rd blazer in 3 years. None logod I would have bought 2.

Added to the initial layout you also have lost items that need replacing, growth spurts (mine went from 4.6 to 5.8 in two years) and stuff looking shit and wearing out. Logo’d so expensive and a wait to replace. No logod easy and cheap to replace.

Yes I know the child needs clothing. But think about how many practical shorts and T-shirt’s I could get for £40. (Well 44.95 with p&p).

There is no second hand uniform sale.

Would you quibble the cost of your workwear?

Certainly, if I had no choice about what to wear and was aware that there were perfectly acceptable cheaper choices easily available.

My son starts school in September, I have been surprised by how cheap his uniform has been. I bought most of it from m&s

Shirts £10 for three, so £20 in total.
Trousers £11 for two pairs
Shorts £8 for two pairs
Polo top for PE £3
Shorts for PE £2
Jumper £8 so £16 in total

His blazer with logo from the school shop was £20.

He can use a pair of his clarks trainers for PE, his clarks school shoes were £24.

So that’s £104 for clothes he will wear for five days a week for a year, he will get a good six months out of the shoes as well.

Dd has been asked fairly frequently if she is trans due to the trousers.

I would pmsl as would teens I know. And point out their stupidity and ask about their female relatives.

I would pmsl as would teens I know. And point out their stupidity and ask about their female relatives

She doesn’t even bother. It’s her business and they have no right to question her sex.

It is sad that the societal norm is a big city school has reverted to boys- trousers, girls-skirts. Almost without exception. And that anyone not aligning with the gender norm must be trans.

Would you quibble the cost of your workwear?

Well no. What you wear to work is your choice especially when it comes to price, material and fit. Plus you need to wear something.

Uniform for work - paid for by company. Plus rebate possible for washing the uniform.

I agree with noble. You'd have to buy clothes anyway.

But you wouldn't have to buy clothes that have a premium whacked onto the price because they are a specified design or have a logo on them. And you wouldn't have to throw away perfectly serviceable clothes and buy new ones just because some new broom headteacher has decided on a uniform change.

I detest paying £40 for nylon pe kit. For a teen boy. Cotton would be more practical and damn cheaper
Cotton sports kit is hugely impractical. It fades and shrinks and cotton fabric that doesn't fade or shrink costs a fortune.

If you are throwing away clothes because a new head has decided to change the uniform on a whim with no lead in time, or because you are being charged well over the odds for logoed kit then that’s a reasonable complaint.

But a minority one. Most schools aren’t like that.

It’s her gender they are questioning btw.

I can understand why girls are going back to skirts. The fit is better than the trousers especially the logo stuff. There’s often no choice in style and as we know the cut matters in terms of fit and comfort. As women we have lots of cuts to make a choice.
And of course it’s easier for them rather than face sanctions for the trousers.

Uniform policy isn’t just about the cost but other issues.

I heard so many horror stories about school stuff, we were scared stuff about it.

We cut back on non essentials like takeaways (non-child related fun) over the summer to give us some cash.

When I finally got the courage up to buy it we found out we are super lucky. Each item on our schools online shop is under £20, most £5-9 each.

Easy enough to save up for by not getting a few takeaways! We were so relived at our schools sensible approach.

A few things like getting the spare trousers in Poundland helped us buy nice trousers for day to day. His spares bag was super cheap!

Having no school uniform would not help AT ALL!! The same parents would be complaining that their poor little darling is being left out because they can’t afford the latest cool hoody or jeans etc etc!!

And yet schools all over the world cope perfectly satisfactorily with having no school uniform without being defeated by this dreadful problem.