to think that a state school should have affordable uniform

[brizzledrizzle]

An acquaintance has just been to look at a state school for her 11 year old. A single set of school uniform (blouse, skirt, jumper, tie, blazer plus PE kit which has to come from the approved suppliers) is nearly £250 even before you've started buying shoes.

It might as well be a private school.

Our school has 2 different sports kits and a 3rd one if they play cricket. Everything is logod to death including socks and thermal under armour (if you want your child to be warm).

DS (State) secondary school has

Compulsory blazer - £30
School jumper £18 (not compulsory but useful in winter if it is cold)
PE logo T-shirt compulsory £7.00
Total logo stuff - £54

Then we buy
4 x White Polo shirts - £20 total
2-3 x Plain black trousers from anywhere (no jeans) £10-£15 each say £30 total
Black shoes (trainers OK, just has to be completely black, so soles and any logos have to be black). £30 or so
So about £80

In total about £140. But we would spend masses more than that if DS wore his own clothes to school

Anything else for PE is just stuff we would buy anyway, tracksuit bottoms/shorts (black) and trainers
Total about

not surprised, dss goes to a shit academy and his uniform is expensive and you have to have a summer, and winter pe kit etc.

has to all be bought from one shop which opens Monday to Friday 9-5 - useful!!

ds will NOT be going there. (He is 1 but even still)

Yura I don't think anyone's saying there shouldn't be uniform. Just how ridiculous and unfair it is to demand eg £11 per logo jumper when a perfectly adequate £4 school sweatshirt can be bought from a supermarket. How does this school really think that charging so much for trousers that look the same apart from a tiny logo is going to improve their inadequate status? Oh, apart from stopping a certain demographic of pupil applying for a place

@sonypony one other poster said tgey wish there wasn't uniform - i really really don't believe that is a solution.
this specific uniform price is shocking, its more than my son's private school uniform!

I believe in a uniform but at a reasonable cost; I just priced up the uniform for our local high school (like most, it's an academy), at M&S £200 would get you 4 pairs of trousers, 4 shirts, a blazer and the socks. Another £40 would get the PE kit (it all has a logo) and badges to sew on the blazer.

It could be cheaper, the colours are all standard and available from supermarkets, it is just the PE kit that isn't.

I posted in here the other day about DS's uniform costs. It's not even the main day to day uniform that breaks the bank as such, the blazer is £40 and the tie £6, otherwise he can wear any white shirt, black trousers and black shoes (that's still enough cost, mind you). It's all the compulsory extras like special logoed sports kit that is only available from one official shop - not just one PE kit but a different bloody kit for every sport! Even separate logoed socks for normal PE, rugby, football, athletics... You're right, may as well be a public school as parents on low incomes can't afford all this without assistance. There is a fund to help, but I know I found it humiliating to have to ask, like it marked DS's card before he even started there.

The secondary my DDs go to has a second hand school uniform sale 2 or 3 times a year. We go and it has saved us a fortune. Haven't bought everything second hand, not the blazers or shirts but skorts, summer polo shirts, skirts and PE hoodies.

Well that's hardly like a private school but still unsuitable. The purpose of state schools (initially at least and also among enlightened society) is to provide education to children who otherwise would go without. A uniform that costs hundreds of pounds negates this point as it will act as a barrier for the poorest families whose children need it the most. This middle class mivevjbtovstate svhools and the social cleansing that results is deplorable.

New Zealand high schools have ridiculously expensive uniforms, they actually manage to make UK uniforms look cheap. We don't really have selective schools, and these are state schools not private, but it costs about $850 (about £435) at least to get one set of a uniform, ie just one shirt etc. There are no allowances made for poorer areas and parents often have to take out loans to pay for them. Our pm says she was not aware of the costs of these until recently and hopefully the new government will do something. I had a look at a few of our local schools (and this was not the most expensive),
Kilt $150
Short sleeved blouse $50
Long sleeved blouse $50
Cardigan $110
Tie $25
Sleeveless vest $75
Blazer $180
Kilt pin $2
Tights $12
White socks $10
Winter shoes $90
PE shorts $40
PE shirt $38
Sports socks $18

So $850 if you only have one shirt, one skirt etc That's about £435.

There are no free school dinners here so children often go without, pupils also have to buy their own stationery, but they still have to pay these ridiculous prices. Makes me very angry (and yes I am on to the government about it). There are second hand uniform shops at the schools luckily where the clothes are about half price but it is still costly.

Yura no uniform works perfectly well in many countries. Most kids just end up wearing ordinary jeans and hoodies. I went to a no uniform junior school and didn't get bullied though to be fair that was in the early 70's before logos and brands, and everyone was poor.

When dd1 went to private school they used to have items of preloved uniform for sale from the Laundry. Everybody loved getting a bargain. Later my dc went to a very over subscribed academy with a cripplingly expensive uniform and no pre-used uniform was available -presumably there was a financial arrangement between the one official supplier and the school

I agree BertandRussel, there is no way someone on a bursary could afford these prices.

At our school, those on a full bursary get a uniform allowance each year, as well as funding for School transport and residential trips.

There was a thread about Irish uniforms and a grammar uniform in Northern Ireland cost £1000!

I think I spend loads less on uniform than I would on other clothes. DS has 1 blazer and 1 pair of trousers plus a tie, costs £42 a year. He wears these 5 days a week for 3 terms. You have to use a specific shop but it’s good quality stuff. Different clothes for every day of the week for a whole year for £42? It would cost loads more.

Actually I don’t buy a blazer or a tie every year, though this year I did, so the cost would be less than £42 a year. Trousers are just £18.

Ours are standard skirt/blazer/shirt/trousers type but badge and tie only available from the school, summer term polos (choice if they want to wear) only from school (about £7-£10 each)

PE kit only from School Shop ( PE trousers/rugby top/polo top) which had queues round the block

They changed to an Academy last year so all the DC old kit is redundant. DD finishes this year , I think they'll phase in the new logoed kit then.

I remember at my state secondary school the blazer alone cost £80. My mum used to buy mine about three sizes bigger so that I'd get two years out of it.

Our state primary school (Scotland) the uniform is all supermarket stuff with a logo’d hoody - not compulsory- for £12. State Secondary all supermarket, except £5 blazer badge and tie. £15 logo’d hoody and £12 logo’d pe T-shirt. Logo’d stuff not compulsory. All quite reasonable.

Just checking how much ours was:
All the following had to be bought from school supplier, as specific styles.

Blouses £15 for two so need at least two packs £30
Skirt £17 and/or trousers £20
Blazer £30
Jumper £18 (not compulsory but necessary as no coats allowed to be worn)

PE
polo shirt with logo £11
shorts with logo £7
skort with logo £14 (I bought only the skort and DD got told off because the skort was for netball and she was supposed to have shorts for football.)
tracksuit bottoms with logo £20
tracksuit top with logo £25
football socks £10
shin pads £10

The above adds up to over £200.

Then she also needed a tennis racket, trainers, football boots, black leather school shoes, tights, socks, calculator, memory stick, rucksack, art kit and folder, maths kit, PE kit bag. Probably another £200 in total.

It's seriously bonkers. I can see the point of having a logo on the blazer. The rest could be generic black trousers/skirt/white shirt. Unless they are representing the school in a sport there is no point in logo PE kit.

I am seriously hoping dd2 gets into the same school so I can pass things on to her.

Milk I would definitely not spend more if they had non-uniform. DD has mountains of 'home clothes' anyway, so I would not be buying more if she was wearing them to school as well. The vast majority of her home clothes come from charity shops, Tesco, Primark. I would be extremely unlikely to spend £20 on a pair of trousers for her.

Mine went to private schools that had no uniform. The kids all wore jeans, tee shirts, hoodies and trainers or Converse type shoes. PE kit was plain navy shorts with a white polo shirt. There was never any competitiveness over designer labels. The only issue was girls wearing shorts or skirts that were too short and got them “dress coded.” Boys also got dress coded for short shorts and vests in the summer, but apart from that, no issues.