to think £92 for PE kit is extortionate?!?!

[seeitoldyou]

My DD will be starting at a top grammar school in Sept. Up until now she has been at a below average state primary (which just got slated by ofsted). I am giving you this background to emphasise just how unfair it is that the parents of intelligent kids from poor or normal (us- 2 parents working, own home) backgrounds are essentially penalised for wanting our children to attend a grammar school. We, as a family, are so pleased for DD to attend this school as I think it will be the right place for her. But I can't help but feel annoyed that the school is charging so much for essential items. By the way, I have checked if I can buy some of the kit elsewhere and have been informed that I cannot as all the kit has the school logo on it! Don't even get me started on the actual school uniform........

I haven't read all of this post but at the moment I am absolutely livid with the school my kids attend. They have introduced a dress code in the 6th form and are trying to make parents buy a £25 jumper/cardi from the school. they previously had to go in 'business dress' but were allowed to wear most things apart from denim etc.

My ED is already in 6th form and I have bought her stuff to wear. They are now meant to wear shirts but i don't want to buy anymore plus my YD will be joining her in September in Y12. I don't particularly want to iron the shirts either. Long sleeved t shirts are much easier to maintain.

Again it is the assumption that everyone is rolling in money and plus they could be out working. Some rubbish was spouted about people wearing this sort of stuff at work but I can't say I ever have.

I have paid out for the uniform lower down the school and I object to buying something that is making the school money when i can buy about 3 dark coloured cardis for the same amount. grrrrr.

At DS1's school the tracksuit alone was £92! Apparently the students "lived in them". DS1 managed to lose his in the first term :-(

lawstudentmum that's a great idea - my friend's daughter is at Presdale's & he always struggles financially when she needs new uniform items, so I'll tell him about it. Also, I still have Aldenham uniform, from when we lived in Herts, so I'll have a go at earning some pocket money myself!

The schools are meant to follow guidelines on school uniform which states that they need to make it affordable and accessable for all students - if they are not, parents need to start questioning the schools on why not. I really think that the cost is getting too much and parents need to start making a stand - what is wrong with the schools having a uniform which is not ALL branded so parents can shop around to get the best deal.

Also if you are on any benefits - the school should offer you free school trips which is part of your childs education ( which is most of them. ) and of course free school meals. We all need to start questioning the schools on their policies.

It's Normal I'm afraid, and particularly with a selective school- you chose to send here there. Also highly selective grammar here but actually having 2 careful girls I bought big for the eldest- the biggest she could wear without it falling off- her pe shirt was a 34, the never worn sweatshirt a women's small.

She wore the same kit from 11-16- which makes the £90+ pretty good value!

And then the youngest joined the school ( thank heavens for a big age gap) and grandma unpicked the eldests christian name and embroidered the youngest as per regulations ! So most of the kit will last her 5yrs too!!

And I bet the lovely logged pale blue pe sweatshirt with still be unworn and fluffy inside lol.

Ds has outgrown his rugby shirt and shorts but still ot 2yrs heavy wear out of them.

Jumper £18 (You really need two and you pay VAT unless you are tiny)
Skirt £14
Trousers £25 (Ok nice M&S adult ones, but she has a size 12 ladies figure)
Blouses £10
Shoes £35
Tights £+++++ they last 5 minutes, hence trousers as soon as it gets cool)
Tie £3
Summer polo shirts £14 (for 2)
PE
Socks and shin pads £10
Poloshirt £5
Track suit £20
Skort £14 (strictly they can wear black shorts, but people don't because the skorts look really nice, regardless of shape of child)
Trainers £20+
Gum shield £4
Plain swimming costume £15 (worn 3times in 2 years )
Bag to put this lot in £5
£212, perfectly normal Comp

DD's uniform not including shoes, tights, etc., came to about 500 (admit we have 4 short sleeve and 4 long sleeve blouses). Selective state school. Isn't it all part of the household budget - it can be anticpated and saved up for. Also nothing apart from shoes and tights has needed to be replaced for two years and I don't anticipate it will need replacing in the near future either. We're lucky bcause dd hasn't grown much but I reckon we could have to buy very little during the next three years, say 150.00 - it works out at 2.50 a week for five secondary school years. How is that a lot? I'm pretty sure I would spend as much on clothes for the dc if they didn't have to wear a uniform - possibly more even.

Have recently kitted out DS for secondary school. With everything all in it has cost £570!!!

It includes:
2 x jumpers
2 x trousers
5 x shirts (no way am I sending two shirts around the washer)
blazer
tie
pe kit: shorts and t-shirt
tracksuit: jacket and bottoms
rugby bit: shorts, top, boots, gumshield
swimming trunks ... even these have the logo on!!!!
trainers
apron (dt)
pe bag
books rucksack
various sundry items

I know it is expensive but I chose to put this school on the form and we consider ourselves hugely lucky for our DS to have been offered a place. Some of the items (shirts, socks) can be bought outside of school and some (tracksuit) are optional.

School uniform is expensive and they do have you over a barrel on some of the items but I would pay that every year if I had to so that my DS gets to go to a fabulous school and receive a top notch education.

And we are in the same position - not rich, working hard to make ends meet. It's just our decision to make the sacrifices necessary to enable our DS to go there.

Don't want to sound uncaring, I do care very much that these items are so expensive. But it does remains that you put that school down and went through the entrance process. Did you not realise that the cost of the uniform would be fairly high?

£570

lawstudentmum it is not the case that if you are on any benefits the school has to offer free school trips and free school meals. Free school meals are provided by the government not the school and if a child is on FSM it is likely that the school will help with other costs thought to be essential, including some school trips. Help may be given to those on an income higher too where need can be proved.

It took just a couple of posts for the thread to turn into a grammar bashing thread with several posters claiming that grammars charged more than comps, ot just as a matter of fact but in order to restrict access to better off kids.

I think my costings have shown that that's complete rubbish (why would our grammar be different from any other?). It seems our school comes out the cheapest of any on the thread. Where are the 'social cleansing' apologists now? As usual, unsubstantiated predjudice which can't be sustained.

roguepixie That's about what I paid for ds's middle school uniform ( think it was about 350 - 400, so bit cheaper) and I'll pay that again when he goes up to secondary school - as I said before 'normal' school and all the schools round here need the same uniform, so we are not unique at all.

Quite honestly I'm horrified at the thought of a hundred quid for a PE kit alone when my DS1 starts high school in 3 year :/ At the rate he loses PE kit and uniform now I think I'll end up starving to clothe him when that time comes around!

It's amazing, we don't have holidays now (we're going on one next but it's our second in 9 years and accommodation is paid for), we get our bills paid but have little left over each month. DP works six days a week, sometimes seven. I cannot imagine how we are going to afford this, even cutting down in the areas we'd be able to, and this is normal pricing???

I think I'm going to tell my kids that they can't have any Christmas presents this year, we'll put it into savings accounts to pay for their future uniforms and school trips instead!

I think the uniform costs on here are ridiculous. I must admit i didn't bother with some of the stuff when it came to my ds. He managed to lose his PE kit or it was taken in Y7 and I didn't replace the £18 rugby shirt. I think he does PE in black shorts and a white polo shirt.

My tip would be to buy the bare essentials and wait and see.

Does anyone else have a situation in their 6th form about a dress code being sprung on them as this is my situation and I am not too happy.

Maybe you should have the expectation that you DS will simply not lose his kit and uniform!

MindTheGapp, haha! Of course, you don't know my son, he loses a lot of his uniform, and it never turns up in lost property either.

MindTheGapp, haha! Of course, you don't know my son, he loses a lot of his uniform, and it never turns up in lost property either.

Is it named?

My DCs all have giant labels on the outside of their kit and none of it goes astray.

They don't have their names embroidered on the outside at our local schools. I used to sew labels in, and write on the inside labels, this year I think I'll be writing both children's names in black marker on the inside of the jumpers and fleeces. Trousers and t shirts don't tend to get lost as easily, only the PE ones, which I buy as cheap as I can.

Ben10 - I was actually but at the fact that I had costed it at about £900 so was pleasantly surprised - hahaha. .

valium - I think I have been fairly spoilt with DS's primary and junior uniform. Fairly reasonable and trousers etc can be bought from M&S/John Lewis etc so price can be reduced a little bit. Sadly, because of his height we have long since broken the 'ceiling' for children's clothes and I spend a fair amount more than many of my friends as he has to have men's small/medium sizes now.

Speaking with other mums about uniforms, a huge topic of conversation at the school gates at the mo, I think £500+ is fairly common for a uniform.

Btw, Amara, I think my DS might be your DS!!! An amazing capacity for losing kit.

roguepixie I take it that yours is a state school (you refer to the 'form')? Is it a grammar? The cost sounds totally over the top! That price would certainly exclude lots of kids.

I didn't include shoes or sports shoes or rucksack because those are items which are not specific to a particular school. But the difference between my £100 and your £570 is mad, even deducting those items.

Since our school is one of those ones which parents are dead keen to get their kids into and which is consistently rated outstanding by Ofsted, fancy logos clearly aren't required to get results or engender a particular ethos or anything else that I can think of which enhances the educational experience of a child. Perhaps parents at these crazy price schools should take a stand.

Reading some of the posts, I wonder how many of these items are compulsory? We have people quoting prices for sports shorts and netball skirts. And rugby shorts and football shorts FFS. Now, if you join a school sports team I can understand that they might have an official kit for each sport and that this might be a requirement if you are playing fixtures in the school team. It's like paying for music lessons or school trips. But for kids who maybe aren't that sporty, they surely shouldn't be asked to provide seperate shorts or skirts for different sports? It seems a bit unnecessary.

Jeez I'm in for a

DS is starting juniors (state) and I was complaining that his 'house' coloured PE T-shirt is £5.50p when I'm used to the plain white 2 for £2 ASDA ones.

Help me when he gets to secondary. That will be state too but doesn't seem to make much difference.

Has anyone ever bought their children's uniforms online? Is anyone familar with any web sites which offer this service? What are your experiences?

Yes, but only because the local uniform shop has a website. It was all delivered within 2 hours - dead impressed with service!

I am agog at some of the prices quoted here! I am moving next week so both DC will be going to new schools. Sods law dictates that DS1 needs a complete set of new uniform, as his current one is black trousers, White shirt, house coloured tie and blazer and the new school is navy trousers, White polo shirts and purple jumper. DS2 currently has navy trousers and will need to change to black ones. Sadly he is far too short for DS1's hand me downs so I will be buying him a whole new set of trousers as well. DS2's school jumper has to be their own logo'd one. White polo shirts under the jumper which is what he wears now, but they never tend to last the year out without major staining so will need a new batch.

I have done some rough working out and think I am looking at £300-350 to kit them both out fully, and that is taking into account the fact that I intend to buy at least 4 polo shirts each and a minimum of 3 pairs of trousers, as DS3 is due right at the start of term so I am buggered if I will be washing uniform every single night.

I think it helps with me that both their new schools seem pretty laid back about PE kit, DS1's senior school just wants black shorts, black or navy tracksuit and a plain White tshirt and DS2's is pretty much the same. That is much lighter on the pocket than DS1's current school which needed a polo shirt with school logo, in their house colours so less chance of grabbing a second hand bargain anywhere, a school logo'd rugby shirt, blacktracksuit, plain black trainers, plimsols, football boots, gum shield, blackshorts, navy blue swimming trunks, school logo'd swimming hat and a PE bag (which isnt big enough to fit both indoor and outdoor kit in, so either needs changing over twice a week or two buying) with the school logo on as well.

I am quite glad I just picked up bits for DS's uniform as and when I could and have never actually sat down to see how much it all cost as I doubt I could then afford the smelling salts to bring me round again!