How many school shirts do you need in secondary school

[Grk]

My child starts secondary in sept, already looking at uniform costs . A shirt is £22 realistically do I need 5 ?
They have to wear them every day and change into pe kit at school

Same with kilts they are £44 each
And trousers are £18 each

We have 5 shirts, 2 jumpers, 2 trousers and 3 sets of PE kit (sporty kids - between lessons and fixtures it gets used a lot!).

Do you have second hand shop that you can get some of what you need from?

I had 6 and did a light wash at the weekend although they were the bog standard 3 pack ones you can get anywhere.

Is this a private school? State school uniforms shouldn’t be that expensive and should allow you to substitute official school brand items such as shirts for generic ones. You can get shirts very cheaply in Asda, Tesco, M&S etc which most schools are more than happy for kids to wear.

if you’re happy to do a mid week wash you could get away with 3 shirts. But realistically you do need one every day.

£22 is crazy. Are they branded?

Our school shirts are pricey from the official supplier. But the Asda or M&S shirts are the same and much cheaper. Could you find equivalent shirt?

Or does your school have a second hand uniform shop?

DS has 4 but thats because they come in packs of 2 and I see no point in having 6.
He gets a clean one every day

Buy supermarket shirts and have enough for a clean one daily.

£22 seems like a lot? Are they branded and are branded ones compulsory or recommended?

No they shouldn't be that expensive but most state schools are that expensive sadly. My daughters (who is now 28) school was £25 a shirt and £30 a skirt and that was 17 years ago! I am dreading it when my youngest goes to secondary as I dread to think of the prices.

£22 a shirt?! Are they branded? That is nuts. (I say that as a private school parent who buys M&S and Tesco white shirts).

Mine have 5 shirts each because it's important to me that they have a completely fresh shirt daily. Both are pubescent boys although neither have really become too body - odoury yet and they shower daily- but my older one has a range of SEN and one of the few things I can control in our rather uncontrollable and troubled week is that he is turned out immaculately.

That’s madness. I’m so glad that dds school had the most relaxed uniform policy. Their policy was that uniform should never be an issue. Blazers were £25, they could wear a white shirt from anywhere and black trainers were fine.

In the end they got sick of excluding kids for wearing leggings to school so they just said they could wear leggings. The reasoning was that wearing leggings won’t stop kids learning but being excluded will. To me that just makes so much sense.

They will need a new one each day (my DS needs new trousers every day too, as they seem to do all-in mud wrestling at break time 🙄 I'm hoping he will grow out of it by Year 8...)

M&S do reasonable smart white school shirts. A 5 pack is £24 and supermarkets even cheaper. Not sure why you need to spend £22 per shirt?

Surely you can get cheaper shirts than that?

I found secondary uniform expensive upfront but it literally seemed to last forever!
I think that dd had 2 blazers and 3 skirts across the entire 5 years ( granted it was covid)
She had 6 blouses. I liked to know that there was a clean one available everyday, not that it always got worn!

If there is a tie, buy 3. At least!

@NewsdeskJC - yes, I definitely second that!

Oh god, my son is going to lose his tie, isn’t he? Am dreading this. Can I just sew air tags into everything? It was the blazer that was worrying me at £40 a pop. We can get generic shirts but have to get uniform trousers at £22 a go which is going to be a challenge given the lunchtime football sessions. I regularly get ripped trousers. He came home yesterday with a massive hole in the crotch. HOW?!

I always went with five shirts but even M&S (bought for flat seams) don't cost £22

We have 12 shirts between 2 DDs, as they are the same size! But they are plain white.

1 kilt each (can also wear generic grey trousers)
1 blazer
1 tie, plus 1 spare they can both use.

I PE kit each, but its quick drying so I can wash i the evening and hang up overnight if necessary.

It was PE socks that continually disappeared here! Luckily the Sports Direct 3 for 2 one’s were exactly the same colour as the school shop ones and far cheaper!

They need a new shirt every day and then we have 2 x skirts + 3 x jumpers. Our shirts are around £25 but have done 2 years and still look good.

5 shirts,, one wash a week, already a clean, and smelling clean at the start of the day at least shirt. I prefer 6 shirts as there is one spare if you go away at weekend and was cheaper when we could get the generic packets but ours outgrew them and feel more comfortable in men's cotton heavy shirts at £17/18 a throw.

I only bought 2 shirts. I wash them midweek as well as at the weekend so they have a freshly laundered one daily. They wear PE uniform to school one day so the shirts have to cover 4 days.

5 shirts, I only do a white wash on the weekend.
DD has two skirts, DS has three pairs of trousers and I do a midweek dark wash.

I'd get 6 (5 + spare)

I have 2 at secondary, they need a clean shirt every day otherwise the smell is real... especially as they got older- play more sport at lunchtime etc.

How many you need depends on your washing regime. I have 5 each as I just don't have the capacity to guarantee a mid week wash. Also check whether you can tumble them. If you can't that adds to the wash demands...