To think that £14 for a school jumper for a 4 year old is just disgusting?

[anditwasallyellow]

AFAIK we have to buy the school logo ones although I will be checking for sure.

But £14 seems to be the going rate for a logo school jumper I can get one from Next for £8 or £4 from a supermarket but am paying double just for the school logo to be sewn on. They don't even seem to be that well made the shape is horrendous. Be bloody great when he loses it.

water bottle for £3.

dont go in for them

i buy 3 for 99p then dont care if they go missing

Wish ours did cost £14! £20 each here for the school cardigans and jumpers, however I bought 2 last year when dd started reception and they have had constant use and still look in good condition so I am not buying any this year for year 1.

I was having major heart attacks when looking at the prices of the school uniform i needed to buy for when my dd starts school in Sept, Luckily some very kind mumsnetters helped me out, but i shall be looking ahead to saving for years ahead, why they make it so it costs so much, for people that just don't have the money like me its disgusting.

Where I live compulsary uniform is not expected till junior school age as the primary school respects & encourages individuality in its pupils. That said, last year I bought 5 school jumpers, 6 pairs trousers (1 for pe bag, in case of accidents) and 5 polo shirts. I have now come to conclusion that I would rather ds wreck a pair of £3 school trousers than the £8 a pair he wears out of school and as for jumpers, which were ruined within first week, he can wear his own tops and get some wear out of them before they get too small. I put a school jumper in his bookbag every day in case it is required, but i think he has the rest of his school days to wear a uniform, why stress? Btw, only about 2 in his class wear uniform everyday. Hth

I also found it was pointless to write names on tags in clothing - write their full name in black indelible marker on the inside hem, embroider their initials into trouser waistband (couresy of nanna!)
I lost nothing this year but I know a lot that did. Even shoes ffs!

I think yabu. It's not "disgusting." Many things in life are "disgusting" but £14 for correct school uniform isn't one of them. Do you think the school makes a massive profit? Unlikely, but any profit they do make will undoubtably go into school funds. Your child's school.

Or you can buy £4 jumpers and not question how on earth they are sold so cheaply. Don't think about sweatshops or anything. So long as you spend as little as possible - that's all that matters, right?

Fwiw I had a horribly expensive school uniform. So the school ran a second hand uniform shop - almost everyone got kitted out from there.

Sorry if I sound a bit arsy. It's early.

I'm with you *TooManyDaisies". I know money is tight for people but there is no way when clothes are being sold so cheap that someone isn't getting exploited somewhere down the line, or more probably the person right at the very bottom.

yabu

Agree with TooManyDaisies and Sunnydelight. I think it's preferable to pay a decent amount for clothes produced in an ethical way.

£14 for a new kid's jumper sounds quite reasonable.

What also mystifies me is the white polo idea. Whose was that?! Can't have been a mum with boys. I'm tempted to send him in with black or dark blue polos. Would save money on stain removers and new polo shirts every few weeks.

The problem is some people are struggling so much that if they pay 3 times as much for school uniform they would have to do without food or risk defaulting on their rent.

My dd managed to lose 7 jumpers before Christmas last year that's £168 worth of jumper and almost a months worth of food.

How on earth do these kids manage to lose so many clothes? I can't remember losing one school jumper let alone seven, my mum would've been furious!

7 jumpers? Really? My 5 year old is pretty careless but she lost no items of clothing in her first year at school. When I pick her up I make sure she has everything with her. 7 jumpers in a term - that's about one a fortnight!

we have to have special school blazes buttons costing £4 each for our state school

Ours are 8.75 and can only be ordered online. I used to buy three from Asda for that amount, and they were really nice too - not horrible.

We fought the school about changing it to this and they won - only as far as the governors though. We didn't take it further.

I've decided that my children will only have two each, as we can't afford more than that, and if they get dirty and have holes in then they will just have to wear them anyway. Luckily my children never seem to notice their clothes being dirty so they won't mind.

The school can enforce it - I did a lot of research about it. Children can be excluded if the refusal to wear correct uniform is persistent.

If they weren't compelled to wear uniform, then mine would not as they rarely get to wear their other clothes, and uniform is expensive, and trousers to fit my son are very hard to find (he's not huge - just an odd shape, so generous ones are massive on him and normal ones always dig in and hurt him) and they wear out easily anyway, I hate polyester.

I've just bought cotton ones and am taking them up by about 4 inches, it's ridiculous. If he could wear normal clothes, sensible ones, like the trousers with elasticated waists he has, it would be fine. Uniform is a crap concept.

She loses a jumper roughly every second day but I managed to retrieve them a lot of the time. I get extremely irate with her and she is sent back in every single day for whatever she has lost this time. In her defence though her dad, my bastard of an ex has been known to bin uniform items if his access is on a school day. He does it then calls the school to express concern that I don't clothe her properly in the hope I get investigated by SS.

Don't even start me on white polo shirts - we used to have pale ones in a nice colour that didn't show up the dirt, now we have white and they are all grey within a few weeks.

It looks hideous. I don't use bleach, I don't think it's environmentally a good idea apart from anything else, it's a right faff as well. We just have grey shirts. And then replace them much more often than the old ones.

Some schools are just run by idiots I think. And they consulted us before changing it, and the majority of parents voted to stay the same but they changed it anyway! They said the children wanted it to change

Do you not think of it per wear/ year. You say you spend £100 on regular clothes a year, well now he will be wearing uniform for 3/4 of the year so only needs a few other clothes.

Wow, this depresses me. What happened to children taking a pride in their appearance? Representing their school by looking smart and wearing the correct uniform?

Schools with no uniform or a very broad spectrum of what is allowed look so scruffy. In my humble opinion.

I was a brownie and guide and if we didn't have the correct uniform we were simply not allowed to take part in anything official. There were LOTS of girls whose parents would have struggled to buy everything new so we had a thriving second hand trade. Wearing the correct uniform (even the ridiculously expensive and weird hat that was around in my day) was important. It showed how proud we were of our group.

Also, I'm sure I've banged on about this before but I've worked in rural Uganda. Schooling is not free. Uniforms are not free. Parents sacrifice EVERYTHING to pay for both. Children wear their uniforms with enormous pride. We need to value the education system we have and not take it for granted.

Oh, and children in Uganda emerge immaculate our of very basic homes each morning. No washing machines. No bleach. Perfectly turned out children. Anything is possible!

£15 for logoed sweatshirt
£25 for trousers
£7 for the plain white polo shirts
£24 for a fleece

do I win?

It depresses me to think that so much value is put on appearance when in my school days I was taught over and over again not to judge by appearances.

Our uniform change was prompted apparently by 'visitors' complaining that the children looked scruffy. The existing uniform could have been tightened up, it didn't need changing entirely. But I don't think that was necessary.

Our school has a huge amount of pride, is vastly oversubscribed and widely regarded as the best in the city. Everyone wants to get their child into it.

The kids are great, well the vast majority, they're polite, smart, bright, kind to the little ones, and get on well with adult visitors. It is rated outstanding.

This was well before the uniform was changed. Schools are about so much more than how tidy the children look. No one was coming in dressed in high heels or mini skirts, no one wore flashy trainers.

This year my son was made to wear plimsolls for an entire day as apparently his v expensive, navy blue shoes were 'trainers' I did win that battle very quickly - it was utterly ridiculous. and kids are being admonished for wearing socks in anything but black or navy. Where is the joy of being a child, where is their individuality?

DD is changing primary schools this year. Part of the problem was that despite everything being labelled I estimate she lost about £150 of stuff last year. We had to have the school tracksuit, jacket £42 went missing even though it was labelled in 3 places. Dance skirt that cost £25 disappeared from her bag and her school jumper £18 and her PE polo shirt £17

So now she is going to village primary. Polo shirts are £8 each, sweatshirt style cardigan £12 (nice cotton ones are £17) and her whole school tracksuit is only £20. Much better.

fivemonths Their individuality can be expressed through who they are. Not how they look. I just don't agree with you. Looking smart is important. Learning to respect the school rules is important.

I feel so sorry for head teachers!