to think primary school uniform price is ridiculous?!

[TeaLover2468]

I'm new here but just wanting some perspective.

My dc's school has just updated the uniform policy, I've always thought it was expensive but now its getting a little silly.

Logo school jumpers £17.25 + each
Girls M&S Summer dresses £12+ each
The boys summer shirts £12 + each

On top of that they need

Logo PE tshirt £8.50
Logo PE hoodie £ £13.50
Specific PE Socks £ 5.50

This is without thiings like shoes, shirts, pinafores coats and backpacks, Logo PE bags, Hi-Viz.
Plus an Optional blazer at £30.

Is it unreasonable of me to think spending £200+ on one child a year on primary school uniform is ridiculous?
I always knew secondary schools were expensive but that's over £1300 for 6 years of primary school.
That could buy a car!
AIBU or is it getting a bit silly now?!

I'm absolutely flabbergasted by this!
YANBU in my opinion!!

My school would prefer jumpers, tshirts and pe tops have the logo, but it's not compulsory!
My DC have one logo top (£8) and one logo pe top (£6.50). The rest is cheap from Asda!

DS is in year one and his tops from reception still fit, and have washed really well so they're perfect for spare. DD is reception so they will work as spare for her too.

Wow how shitty of the school.

So grateful that DDs school can be anything as long as it's the correct colours. Even without a logo is fine. So my girls have one or two logo'd polos but the rest are plain.

I think the logo cardis look smart but DDs prefer the supermarket ones as they have heart buttons and frilly hems etc, so they're happy to be in the cheaper stuff.

Also glad we can use any summer dress as it means on PE days the youngest can wear one with a zip as opposed to buttons etc.

YADNBU. I don't spend this much on my own clothing, and I'm absolutely enormous - you could make at least five kids' jumpers with the material that goes into one of mine.

I can't believe all the posts saying it's not expensive! It's bloody eye-watering! £8.50 for a PE t-shirt when you can get two for £4 in M&S is just ridiculous!

DS's school uniform is very generic. Logo items are available but not insisted on and not very expensive anyway. He has one logo jumper for photos etc that I bought big and has lasted him two years already.

The advantage of generic is that you can shop around and get the best deals, or use hand-me-downs or charity shop finds. I know people are saying that you need to clothe children anyway, but restrictive policies like this make it much harder to do on a budget.

OP, I'd challenge with the head and if you get nowhere, raise it with the governors.

I'm not saying I cant use things twice but my point is generally its expensive!

Also i have to replace all shirts, socks and tights every year at least because they just get ruined

honestly with the upcoming cost of summer holiday childcare i cant even think of buying next years uniform yet.

Yeah i mean i think £17 for a jumper for a 6 year old is steep that's the same price as a coat in Tesco etc!

I will be challenging it and seeing how that goes for me, not feeling optimistic though!

Over the last 8 years I have done 3 primaries.

Primary 1 insisted on logo cardigans book bag and pe bag.
They dident have logo polos
Bottoms were gret supermarket as were shirts.
Summer dresses blue check from anywhere.

Year 2 moved to primary 2

They had some logo jumpers and polos plus or t shirt which I brought rest could be sypermarket so my daughter had 2 logo polos 2 logo jumpers I brought 2nd hand.
Then 2 Super Market navy cardigans
Pack of 3 supermarket plain white polos.
Grey bottoms we had 3 skirts 1 pair trousers and 2 summer dresses from Asda.
Fleeced and coats logo optional we never bothered
1st book bag was free

They recently changed suppliers and lot more pricy.
But we can still wear Super Market plain navy.
My son dislikes the logo jumpers as they fleece lined he likes knitted v necks.
I'm also rebel and put him in navy polos as he trashes white.
Or shirts can be logo or house colours so brought red t shirts 2 pack from Asda.

I buy some 2nd hand trousers skirts and dresses off eBay local groups carboot and charity shops

I only buy as they outgrown

My 2nd goes to junior school they don't insist logo but their new uniform supplier is tesco embroidery

2cardigans logo
1bookbag
3polos logo
1 or bag
1 or t shirt

Came to grand total of 50.

It's cheaper to have mix both logo and Super Market.

My eldest senior school now and her uniform was 600 her blazer cost more than junior uniform

I’m just kitting my lot out for school next year, taking advantage of 20% off sales that are on at the minute.
DD starts high school in September and Ds1 and 2 school is changing its uniform too. I’ve spent £240 so far and I still have to get shoes for 3 so that’s £150 easily, logo jumpers for the boys at £14 per jumper and I’ll need 4, new school bags and lunch bags each so another £100 there and stationery for DD so £20 ish.
With other bits and bobs It will cost nearly £600 to kit 3 kids out for school!

This isn't primary school but when my eldest started secondary I nearly died of shock at the prices. And you were very unfairly stitched up if you had a girl.

Shirts £19.90 each. They were a pin stripe blue and white.

Skirts £29 navy with a very very fine pinstripe.

Blazers £55.

Boys had to wear a tie with a plain white shirt and grey trousers. So for uniform all the parents of boys had to buy from the school shop was the tie and blazer.

I took this up with the school and they looked at me like I was that parent. I was furious. How can you can compare buying a pack of 3 shirts from a supermarket for £10 to £19.90 for one shirt for a girl. And teenage girls can get as whiffy as a boy in hot summer.

I took it to the governor's but again they wouldn't change it. I see the uniform now at the same school has completely changed now but girls are still being penalised as they now wear a tartan skirt. The boys are still in grey trousers.

Point out to the school that their heavy reliance on logoed items, which are then only available from a monopoly supplier, seems incompatible with the DfE guidance on uniforms and the CMA advice against monopolies and cartels. If the headteacher doesn't respond, take it to the governors.

A myth that's regualrly trotted out on MN is that primary schools can't enforce uniform policy. That is not true. If the school decides to have a uniform policy, it can include wearing that uniform in home/school agreements and can enforce it, but any enforcement has to be reasonable and proportionate.

panelchair I don't think headteachers care about the guidance as they still get away with it. I brought up the guidance and was told "if I don't like the uniform policy I can remove my child to a different school" as this was the only secondary school available to us in the locality we had no choice, and the school know this.

Until it is made law that schools cannot do this as opposed to guidance then schools will still do exactly what they want.

M&S summer dress is £8 not £12.

Wait for secondary. My DS's blazer cost £60

Kickers £50+ at least they last all year.

It is dearer than it needs to be. Our school is flexible about generic/ logoed items, and all the children look smart, uniformed and retain a sense of individuality. I buy the logo cardigans because they are warm and fleecy, nicer than generic acrylic knits particularly for my sensitive sensory child. They are around £10 each. DS1 has had 3 years out of the first set (smallest size was somewhat gigantuan!) and they are still going well for DS2.

I buy generic items for shorts/ trousers and polo shirts so we can get a slim fit. I don't mind a logo PE t-shirt as only one is required.

It is wrong that so many schools are getting so prescriptive about specific, poor value items.

Yes, divadee, some head teachers can be very cavalier about the guidance (the one at the school where i was governor certainly was) but, if OP chooses to pursue it, head teachers also don't like being on the losing side of a complaint to the CMA.

I see the difficulty with this being guidance rather than law, but I'm not sure the statute book is big enough to include law on where schools source their school uniform and the fact that there is guidance does in itself have a certain amount of clout.

Tiddler7 actually the specific one requested by the school is £12

I know secondary is more expensive and kind of understand the stricter rules as getting children ready for college/jobs etc but in primary it just seems too much.

I see that its a pretty mixed bag with some schools being more relaxed i feel for all the other parents that are paying £17+ for jumpers!

I will be having a meeting next week to see what they suggest.
Also at primary age i find the growth spurts hard to keep u with we do 2 pairs of school shoes generally a year due to wear and tear and growth things like dresses i buy big and still a year later are too short!

YANBU my son starts this time and the price list from the school uniform shop is so expensive.

Luckily, the school are happy with plain polo shirts and jumpers so will get from supermarkets. Most expensive thing will be school shoes.

Do you have to buy polo shirts with a logo on? We have the option of plain and they are £7 for a pack of 3 (or 2 stain resistant) from m and s. We got dd the summer dress from m and s and it washes really well. She has a logo jumper and cardigan and we bought her a plain m and s one (now lost but that's another story!) The logo jumpers are about £11 but everything else is from m and s and washes and wears really well. She has the same skirts she wore when she started reception in September. Also I have a nightmare getting some of the stains out (mainly black marker) so you wouldn't want to spend a lot of money on the polo shirts-ours are white! That baffles me.

@Paddington68
Labelling doesn't mean they don't go missing- it can make it easier to get them back though!

That is very expensive. I just got 2x logo jumpers and 3 logo polo shirts for my little boy for £32. I have a supermarket jumper for spare. He does not have a logo pe bag.
I do buy m&s or John Lewis dresses for my daughter but only because she can't wear polyester and they do 100% cotton items.

School uniform is not compulsory and I think the prices you've quoted are way in excess of any price I've paid at the 5 different primaries we have had children at. Jumpers tend to be between £9-13 max. And to be honest they are a crap polyester mix which I would never buy otherwise. If it was a proper 100% cotton jumper and not a crap polymix sweatshirt I wouldn't mind so much.
The polo shirts are also dreadful. You can buy packs of 100% cotton polos for much cheaper than the horrid logo polo shirts.

So I don't think you're being unreasonable and I would not buy those overpriced items.

They actually specified which one!?

My DD is starting primary school this September, and they are (always been) very flexible. As long as colours are right, clothes can be from wherever. One school jumper they are asking for is for pictures and outings.

I am a parent of the buy big and grow into it, really common at the private school DD is at. Yes new the uniform is expensive, but there is a thriving second hand shop and typically items are worn by at least 4 children before they become unserviceable . I have only ever bought two items new in 10 years.
Primary we had one jumper year R to end of year 6, shirts recycled through second hand shop in year 3. Now in seniors I recycled skirts through second hand shop after 2.5years as she shrank in the waist when puberty hit.
The two new items were pinafores that were introduced for KS1 as DD started and the new style PE hoodie which is an amazing warm thick item. Knowing girls who left school years ago I know the PE hoodies are seen as a bit of a badge and are worn long after leaving the school so I was happy to invest in this.
If the new uniform is good quality and likely to last a while it is worthwhile.

We don't have to have logo shirts luckily so i buy the shirts / pinafores / skirts / trousers from asda or tesco its all the logo items that get expensive especially when they go missing and never come back!

i mean the jumpers aren't all that nice and definitely dot wash well or look worth £17 each!

You're joking Racecardiver I've never spent that much on my DC's ordinary clothes, because we can't afford it. It's the logo'd items that cost so much. Generic supermarket uniform is much cheaper than ordinary clothes, but they have to have ties, logo'd jumpers and logo'd PE t-shirts.

The secondary school DD and I would both like her to go to isn't that bad.

I haven't looked at the prices yet, but everything's generic apart from:

Blazer
PE polo shirt

I'm not sure if they have to buy their lanyards.

YANBU that is alot for primary school uniform.

We are lucky in that we can purchase logo items from the school (at better prices than yours are!) or buy items from any store in the same colour and all the children still look very smart.

This means my dd primary uniform recently came to under £20 all in (excluding shoes).

Secondary uniform is a different matter though, its crazy expensive.