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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

132 replies

anditwasallyellow · 13/08/2012 20:50

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.

OP posts:
NoComet · 14/08/2012 10:01

And huge numbers of Ugandan children no doubt go without an education because they can't afford it.

Yes we need to value our education system far more. The Kenyans who came to DDs school were shocked that we don't.

But I think it needs a far bigger shift in attitude than worrying what shoes DCs wear.

FiveMonths · 14/08/2012 10:03

Daisies, perhaps a lot of us do take our school system for granted but is a comparison with the way of life in Uganda really feasible?

I ask that genuinely.
I am sure that a huge amount of effort and sacrifice goes into having their children educated - but the priorities in their culture are presumably different from ours?
How do the parents' lifestyles compare?

LeeCoakley · 14/08/2012 10:03

Children's individuality is about so much more than their clothes! The majority of the year is spent out of school where this 'individuality' via clothes can be expressed to the full. By wearing a uniform in school their personality and real individuality shines through. And by uniform I don't mean all this expensive shit I mean e.g. white top, grey bottoms, school jumper.

Moln · 14/08/2012 10:06

Nope Usfellife.

DSs' track suit when he was 4 cost me ?97 and that was with a discount

The crested white polos where ?15 each

Not even going to start on the cost of school books and all the money that has to be handed over for supplies (exercise books etc) and gym classes.

i'm trying not to think about the cost of secondary. This is "free education" apparently

Not in the UK btw!

FiveMonths · 14/08/2012 10:06

HappyOrchid, I do wonder if having such expensive kit encourages people to keep stuff their children might bring home by mistake - or even some people to take stuff that does not belong to them.

Daisies - yes, you're right, they can express themselves in words and actions, but to me it is like taking away a child's colouring pens...sure they don't need them to live, but it makes them happy.

FiveMonths · 14/08/2012 10:10

btw HO I don't mean it's your fault - I mean the fact your old school required it. It must be very hard to manage that sort of expense for a lot of people.

Lee - I am not sure about the majority of time being spent out of school. Isn't it something like nearly 200 days of the year, at school? (might be wrong).

To me, having the right of expression in terms of which pyjamas you wear when you're asleep doesn't really make up for being forced into a dull and uncomfortable uniform in your waking hours.

Saying that, if we were allowed anything like tracksuit bottoms I'd be far happier - but no, they have to be 'school trousers' which basically means horrible polyester things that fit hardly anyone properly. I am taking a big risk buying plain cotton ones - they will probably object.

LeeCoakley · 14/08/2012 10:14

Yes but they are not forced to wear uniform until bedtime. Grin

TooManyDaisies · 14/08/2012 10:14

five months

Daisies, perhaps a lot of us do take our school system for granted but is a comparison with the way of life in Uganda really feasible?

I ask that genuinely.
I am sure that a huge amount of effort and sacrifice goes into having their children educated - but the priorities in their culture are presumably different from ours?
How do the parents' lifestyles compare?

I can only speak for the area I worked in. It was very poor (not far from Kampala) and many children lived in mud huts with corrugated rooves.

The priority of the parents is for their children to be educated. They see it as the only way out of poverty. Finishing sch

LeeCoakley · 14/08/2012 10:15

I have never heard a child say that the uniform is uncomfortable. (I work in a school)

TooManyDaisies · 14/08/2012 10:16

Sorry, sent too soon!

Finishing high school is seen as a huge achievement. And for many that is not financially possible. But finishing primary school is key as this enables children to have good literacy and numeracy.

Most parents were farm labourers. At least 50% of their wages went on school fees (the equivalent of a few pounds a term).

TooManyDaisies · 14/08/2012 10:19

And actually, parents in the UK and Uganda generally have the same priorities. They want their children to be healthy, happy and able to work for a living. The difference between the countries is that if you have no education in Uganda you will almost certainly be living in extreme poverty.

HappyOrchid · 14/08/2012 10:20

None taken FiveMonths, I agree I do think that was part of it. The kids got changed sometimes 3 times a day and when the kids bring the wrong stuff home it is tempting to think ah well. But maybe it's just me and I couldn't do it.

Now she will have grey trousers or a skirt and hurrah polo shirts instead of fiddly proper ones and no tie, which she'd just go the hang of - typical.

It is a lot for everyone, but IMHO there nothing nicer than seeing them all in their uniforms - well on the first day when they're all sparkly clean and unscuffed shoes.

TooManyDaisies · 14/08/2012 10:24

*rooves"?! Good grief Smile

sancerreity · 14/08/2012 10:26

I wonder who thought it was a good idea to team up a polo shirt and sweatshirt with smart trousers/skirts/pinafores.

LeeCoakley · 14/08/2012 10:31

Looks like a shirt (white with a collar, but stretchy and soft) and a 4 year old can put it on and take it off independently. A brilliant idea.

FiveMonths · 14/08/2012 10:44

Lee - well, I can only speak for my own child! He finds it uncomfortable. And having to get changed after school is something he resents - not because he doesn't want to wear his own clothes but because it's a hassle.

I dunno - I just think it's a lot of fuss when it's primary, even if not at secondary level. As long as the kids are wearing sensible, cleanish, warm clothes to school then it should not matter what the colours or styles are. And no one should be judging these kids on that.

Ds looks far smarted in his own clothes than in the uniform he's been struggling to 'live' in all day - it's impractical, easily dirtied and shows up every speck. And he is one of those bright, beautiful, and kind kids who nonetheless behaves like a puppy Smile

Daisies, many thanks for explaining a bit. I suppose I was wondering if more of an allowance is made for getting the children ready for school, than it is over here - I don't know how to explain what I mean but if education is considered such a massively important thing there, maybe the parents devote an awful lot more time to it than we do. We tend to shove their things in the machine to be washed, rush around with our own lives and business and school isn't something we build our lives around.

I'm not sure how it would work if we did, iyswim.

MulberryMoon · 14/08/2012 10:44

Those who are saying "Legally, they cannot force a uniform." Do you really send your child in their own clothes when all the other children are wearing a uniform? I have never seen anyone do that and I would feel sorry for the child if someone did.

FiveMonths · 14/08/2012 10:48

Oh and by looking smarter in his own clothes, I mean this - picture a grown up man in a posh suit, tie and polished shoes, having a (play) fight, climbing a couple of trees, hanging upside down from some bars, falling over a few times, eating a rather messy dinner, and various other things a small boy does on a daily basis in school.

the picture the same man doing these things in tough cargo trousers (dark khaki) and a long sleeved, bright coloured t shirt.

Which one is going to look scruffier afterwards?

Scrounginscum · 14/08/2012 10:51

I do value education and support the general principal of school uniform. My dd looks very smart thank you very much. She wears school skirt, polo shirt and school coloured cardigan and regulation shoes, only thing missing is the logo.

FiveMonths · 14/08/2012 10:51

Mulberry, it's not true. If it were true I suspect a lot more parents would do it - I remember when a lot of primary schools round here had no uniform.

Northernlurker · 14/08/2012 11:03

The children at dd3's school do not look scruffy. They look lovely. Discipline and behaviour is good. Possibly becuase the staff don't have to spend time criticising length of skirts and ways of tying ties. Dd1 and 2's secondary school lays a lot of stress on uniform. They have assemblies to look at the length of the girls skirts. dd1 now won't wear a skirt after the humiliation of being told hers was 'borderline'. This was in June. She'd grown a bit and her skirt was slightly above the knee not on it. The staff spend hours dealing with untucked shirts and jumpers discarded when the weather isn't deemed warm enough. It's a waste of time. No uniform and they could spend their time dealing with stuff that's actually, you know, an issue. Uniform is a massive cop out imo - that brings it's own pita issues.

FiveMonths · 14/08/2012 11:07

Northern I am completely envious of your children's prmary school. For all the reasons you mention.

I hated wearing uniform and I hate having to put my own children in it from the age of four. There's something perverse about it, imo - particularly when it comes down to inspections...

I was told off for having a skirt that was too LONG at secondary. I cut the bottom off it then and they told me it was now too short.

It was laughable.

GreenEggsAndNichts · 14/08/2012 12:15

Why would people assume the jumpers costing 14 pounds are "ethically" made? That's a bit of a leap. Unless the OP has mentioned this aspect and I've missed it? I agree, it's a reasonable thing to pay extra for, but I was assuming this was just an unreasonable markup for a school-branded item.

CecilyP · 14/08/2012 14:24

HappyOrchid, I do wonder if having such expensive kit encourages people to keep stuff their children might bring home by mistake - or even some people to take stuff that does not belong to them.

I was wondering that. DS went to non-uniform schools and didn't lose anything - not one thing - in his entire school career.

Moln · 14/08/2012 14:26

It's a common enough way of thinking GreenEggs.

Cheap stuff means exploitation but a small bit more means ethically made. Doesn't though, mostly likely it means more profit.

In reality £14 really isn't that much for a child's jumper.