To think this is fecking expensive?

[Littlefluffyclouds81]

I bought dd1's uniform for secondary school today. It has to be ordered from a certain supplier online, as it's all got the school logos on.

I didn't go wild, I bought 2 kilts, 4 shirts, blazer, tie, PE kit (2 t shirts, tracksuit, shorts, skort, swimming hat), and one knitted jumper. It came to £257, and I still have around half of the things on the list to get, e.g shoes, tights, sports bag, gum shield, shin pads and loads more. I reckon all in it's going to cost about £500.

Is this normal? Seems like a lot of money to me. It's a state school btw.

I think it's par for the course. I was lucky dd didn't grow much once she got to secondary and one lot with some extra blouses and replaced jumper did five years.

For those complaining now, just wait until 6th form when it's own clothes and knee boots feature of . Oh yes, count your blessings

It costs me around £110 for my ds primary uniform not including coat, shoes etc. Everything had to have school logo on. They have just changed to shirt and tie so I will only need to buy the pullover with the logo on. Will save me a packet as the polo shirts are currently around £10 each and sweatshirts slightly more.

Private school uniform for secondary cost us £400, not including coat or bag.

We didn't buy the recommended gum shield from a specific supplier though which would have been about £60. DS will be playing rugby this year so I don't know if we will need to order a proper custom fit gum shield (we just have one of them mould yourself ones at the moment). Does anybody know anything about gum shields?

That sounds ridiculous!

Many moons ago I went to a Private School with a very specific uniform that could only be bought from a certain supplier.

However the school ran a second hand uniform shop about 3 or 4 times a year. The uniform was good quality and lasted ages so I was wearing stuff that had been through the shop about 4 times!

If school are going to insist on expensive logo'd uniform or stupid colours then they really need to think about second hand shops.

Thanks electrolux I do realise that there must be differences between the two types of gum shield I was just kind of hoping that a £60 one wouldn't be essential for a child who is only going to play rugby during PE lessons where it is essential. But if the differences are very significant then we will have to get a £50-£60 one.

Re gum shields, my ds was rugby player at school. We tried a variety, including custom made ones from the dentist. By trial and error he found the top end moldable ones (about £20) from specialist sports shops the best and most comfortable. If he wasn't comfortable he'd minimise wearing it. I worried so much about his teeth I had them insured and refused to invest in cosmetic work while he was still playing. He broke his nose though - his teeth remained intact!

id buy a decent quality mouldable one for if its just for school use, so £10 plus not the £2 from sports direct ones. Ds2 plays a lot of rugby and has had a fitted gum shield before but he prefers the mouldable one that is about 25 it comes with a guarantee as well.

PE kit, jumpers and ties have to be bought from one shop for DS's secondary school. The jumpers are £15 each, PE shorts £10 a pair, etc so it mounts up quickly. I'm just glad you can buy white shirts and black school trousers from supermarkets, and that they don't have a blazer. If ordinary items like trousers had to be bought from a specific place, I would be very pissed off.

We have a mouldable one already, bought for about £15 from a sports shop (I think it is a Nike branded one). We bought it so that DS could do judo because we suspected that he would only do it for a few sessions (we were right). It does fit quite well but I wasn't sure if we would need a custom order one for Rugby.

Yes, sounds right unfortunately!

DS2 hasn't grown that much this school year, so am hoping his blazer & PE kit will be OK for the start of next year at least.

Last year I had to buy everything, as he had had a growth spurt. £400 & we just had one P.E. kit & rugby shirt. No logo tracksuit etc.

Just to add - the most expensive single item was the £56 blazer.

My boys school uniform prices used to be expensive (£27 for one jumper!) then Tesco started doing an embroidery service and if your school is one the list it's about £8. They do blazers as well. Don't mind buying a few jumpers for that price! Can order online and it's good quality.

Have you looked in charity shops, ours are crawling with local school uniforms

I have a white lab coat and a blue artist's coat hanging in my hallway for the last five years. They were listed on our uniform list and were not worn past the first lessons.
When my daughter started secondary school we were excited to go out and buy all the bits on the list - cost a fortune.
Experience tells me never to do that again!!
Could you not set up a second hand uniform sale at the school Our school does one and it is very popular.
Daughter is about to go into sixth form at the same school but there is no uniform as girls can now wear whatever they want - and believe me this is turning out to be far more expensive than having to purchase a uniform

I bought DS two sweatshirts, a PE t-shirt and a tie for £39.50. The only other school shop item we need is a scientific calculator which is about £7.
Everything else will be high street.

All the year 7s have blazers hanging off their arms, all the year 11s have blazers halfway between wrist and elbow. DD1 managed with 2 blazers from years 7 to 11 (then was at 6th form college so no uniform).

I only bought 1 skirt for DD2 when she started this year - I figured that most spills can be quickly rinsed/sponged off or I can wash it and stick it on a radiator if needed overnight. Only bare essentials of PE kit - talk to mums of kids who are already there - Learned that the uniform sweatshirt was hardly ever worn, and if your child got picked for the school teams you get given one. Was still expensive, though, as DD's school has value blue blouses with open neck collars - all the supermarkets last year only sold the ones for ties in pale blue so had to pay school shop prices. (Tesco value did some but they were almost see-through)

On a brighter note though, the official school suppliers like David Luke and Gloverall don't employ children in sweatshops on the other side of the world to make their stuff... so you pay a little extra for your kid and avoid contributing to child slavery for someone else's kid.
Info on David Luke's ethical policies are here (and no, I don't work for them, just checked them out when I was buying uniform for my kids): www.davidluke.com/what-we-are-doing

Fecking uniform changes really get my goat. I saved a whole lot of primary school pinafores to pass down through the ranks of the DDs and suddenly, nope, pinafores no good, it had to be pleated skirts. No sooner had I given in to nagging and bought one DD a crested school jumper than they changed the style of jumper. Bolshy DD2 crammed herself into her old skirt for 2 years after her school uniform changed which saved me shelling out a fortune on a poncy kilt (I think the kilt rationale is that the girls can't roll them up to make them shorter. Yeah, well, that works, doesn't it?)

Youngest DD's school has just emailed me this morning to inform us that as from September the new sports kit is compulsory. Well, bugger that, frankly. I think, much as I like the head, she's about to get a letter about a) unnecessary expense and c) unnecessary waste/the environment.

Sorry, OP: slight thread hijack there, but uniform changes are nearly as pricey as the initial outfitting. And every school my DDs have attended for more than about 2 minutes has changed the uniform. Why? Do the schools get kickbacks from the suppliers, or something?

In Scotland pupils are not obliged by law to wear a school uniform. I think the logos can come down to peer pressure and to some extent bullying, i.e if you don't have the clothes with the logo you get picked on because your parents must be too poor to buy them. It was better when each local school just picked a colour combination for you to buy things.
I am lucky because my Son said he didn't want a blazer, Granny is miffed that I don't make him wear a tie because she bought one even when I said not to.
I think the schools are too into their Image and wanting to show themselves in the community rather than thinking of more important things in education.

MehsMum - awful to be forced into a change, DD2's secondary changed their logo for jumper/blazer slightly but it is a gradual change and they are allowing a phase-in period (obviously, if you have children with a 5 year age gap you might be stuffed if you hoped to hand stuff down). The school secondhand stall will only take new logo items, and the school supplier in town only sells the new items. If you are wearing the old style you can continue until you outgrow it. I guess the problem will be for siblings, if they are only a year or so apart you might be OK for a while but otherwise you will stick out like a sore thumb after a year or two of the new style. (DD was given a couple of the old style jumpers from a friend as she bought them for her son but jumpers are not cool for boys apparently...)

Littlefluffyclouds81 Wed 01-Jul-15 21:26:37

Just looked at the list and realised I forgot to buy the sodding sports socks from the supplier so I'll have to pay another postage charge too! Aargh.