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?!

It might be that the school gets a small amount of commission from the uniform company or that they get some free kit for sports teams out of the contract.

And what is that commission used for? Does it go to line he pockets of the Head and teachers? No, it will be used to fund essentials that the school can no longer afford becaus of all the cuts - the cuts that are driving them to constantly look for ways to save money and to bring money in so they can continue to offer a decent education. It will get a lot worse than this and parents are going to be asked to increasingly pay for things and if they can't or won't, the education offered will become more and more basic and spArtan. Already many schools have axed subjects like Food and nutrition, and aren't offering things like Music at GCSE but only offering the narrowest range of options and actually reducing the no.s of GCSEs students can sit so save money. Already their times tables are at breaking point with no flexibility so your children are being taught by non-specialists across the curriculum. And schools will have to ask for more and more money via various back door routes -it is wrong, but the days of a free education where clubs, acitivities, trips and enrichment and a broad curriculum were offered for free are gone and all that will be offered free is the very minimum in ever larger classes.....and everything else you will either pay for or go without. And yes it will hit those hardest who can afford it least.

The thing is though, it's not the schools trying to fleece parents to line their pockets - any money making attempts are to fund education. It's not right that parents are asked for it, but it's also not right that schools are put in a position of having to do it. But not enough people complain. Not enough comp,Ian about uniform and not enough complain about the other cuts and changes....guess it will have to wait until schools simply don't have enough teachers or materials to actually cover everyone, before people really see how bad it is and complain....and by then it will take a generation to boost funding and see an improvement. Depressing but true I'm afraid.

Not RTFT. So apologies if this has been mentioned but Tesco do a logo embroidery service. The school get a percentage of the money spent. The items are only a little more expensive than supermarket prices and they are really good quality. It might be worth you mentioning it to your school.

I agree with you,it’s pricy and prohibitive to restrict to one retailer
The socks are pricy,considering yiu can buy cheaper in supermarket
It is an imposition,because you can buy same unbranded same colour items cheaper

Yes Chocolate but when you have 1 DC who's been at the school for 3 years and 1 who's been there for 6, then the school becomes an academy and decides to change the uniform, and to a more expensive one at that, then it is a surprise.

I have 5 day sets of school uniform
Makes it easy,a week worth all hung up in advance

School uniform is an ecological scandal and an unethical commercial wheeze. I honestly don’t know why it’s allowed.

you might want to clarify that a tad user1499173618 you are not making much sense

I got three summer dresses from a charity shop
Matalan is super cheep
Pinafore sounds bizarre private school thing?
Can you get the year 6's to bring in all un wanted uniform and sell super cheap at the summer fayre?

Ecological scandal = cheap synthetic clothing made in sweat shops that doesn’t last and goes to landfill where it doesn’t biodegrade
Commercially unethical = forces families to spend more than they need to clothe their DC

HMU understanding is tesco is stopping doing the logo embroidery service as it’s shitting it’s website on the 9th July. I’d love to be told I’m wrong though.

😳 that would be shutting not shitting

I have no qualms buying supermarket and primark clothing for my kids
And families shouldn’t be berated for choosing primary,supermarket clothing
other pricier ranges are available but they are largely beyond the means of most families
We are in recession,food prices are rising,public sector wages have fallen in real terms.
This is the reality of how Families spend their money,and the reality is a packet of Spain’s socks for £2 is good value
Not everyone wants to buy eco sourced fair trade clothing.and that’s fair enough frankly

not sure how Primark clothes and the like would be an improvement on the "ecological scandal".

Parents have to buy clothes, shoes for their children, which you can mostly get second-hand, not sure where the scandal is there either. You still need to put your kids in the right clothes in non-uniform schools, they still do PE, they still need wellies, school bags etc. Instead of the school logo bags, they would all have smuggle ones instead.

Ask them to add a suitable option from Tesco or Asda to make uniform more affordable. And to review the cost of logo items. It sounds a lot to me. I wonder if school get bribes from the uniform companies.

I’m not surprised it’s shutting if it’s shitting.

Our logo jumpers are £8 and everything else is from the supermarket. All done for under £100 including shoes and pe kit. Benefits of living in a low income area (but obviously still difficult for those on low incomes

Don't get me fucking started on the price of uniform! £180 I spent today on logo'd jumpers and cardigans and then the rest of the kit not with a logo on and pe kit for both!! That doesn't even include shoes!

I haven’t read the whole thread but my children are tall and some years they used to go through 2 age ranges in the year ( like 5-6 and 7-8). They literally grew like weeds. Luckily I could pass things down but their uniform wasn’t do expensive until secondary school. I’ve always bought 3 of each because they were messy. I feel your pain. Definitely label, I’ve seen in the Cah labels and re use them.

Cash labels

Whether or not people want to be ecologically responsible ought not to be the issue. People should be required to make ecologically responsible choices rather than being required as they are now to make ecologically irresponsible choices. The values being imparted by school uniforms are so very wrong.

Just to correct one misconception (which has arisen even in my school newsletters last week) the Tesco uniform embroidery service ISN'T closing with Tesco Direct. It's moving from the Tesco direct part of the site to the main Tesco.com site (www.tesco.com/direct/ues/?source=others) and staying in operation.

This was reported in numerous news sources when I did a quick Google.

Imposing one retailer who is more expensive than others is problematic
Chose a colour that’s available on high street,eg navy, grey and badges parents sew on clothing
It is shocking to compel parents to buy pricy items,when cheaper alternatives are available

It’s shocking to compel parents to buy high cost items and it is also shocking to compel parents to buy more clothes than their children need, especially synthetic clothing made in very low wage economies to poor ethical standards. Pollution by short life plastic clothing is a very serious matter.

The values being imparted by school uniforms are so very wrong.

schools have never banned parents from buying second hand uniforms, even private schools held their "Nearly new" sales!

No one is compelled to buy more clothes than needed, you could just buy 1 pair of trousers and 1 jumper, but I really believe you need a lot more than that!

I end up buying much less clothes when my kids start school, not sure why people would buy more. They only need 5 set of uniforms, and a few casual clothes for evenings and weekends.

Why would any child need 5 sets of uniform?

I actually like school uniform,it reduces the competition about brands and being cool
I attended schools with uniform and it was a social leveller,no conspicuous branding.
less obvious who was prosperous who wasn’t. We all looked largely the same
Sure there were kids with branded bags,nicer shoes etc but overall the uniform was useful