To ask the school to buy my children's clothes?

[Ivegotbills]

DS and DD came home from school yesterday with a letter regarding new school uniform. New head is starting in September and he's doing that thing some of them do of making his mark on the school by telling everyone in it what to wear.

They already have a uniform which I have to shell out for every year for the pair of them. Now this bloke is demanding:

• new blazers. Meaning the ones we have and which fit them will be useless.
• logo trousers and skirts from a named supplier.
• branded PE kit from a named supplier. That's right, branded items to run around a field in for an hour a week.

I've worked out that this little lot will cost me £45+£45 for blazers, £63+£63 for trousers and skirts (three of each which I regard as a minimum - currently they're in supermarket clothes which I have five of each of) and £80+£80 PE kits = £401.

WIBU to write to the school requesting they provide these items which they are now stipulating are necessary in order for my children to access their "free" education?

Our school sells second hand embroidered PE kit. I just unpicked the name. I don't agree with it because of the additional cost of embroidery, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to buy new.

School uniforms for state schools should be standard stuff that you can buy from anywhere with maybe a school specific tie and iron on blazer patch. Totally unfair to expect parents to fork out hundreds of pounds that they might well struggle to afford.

One of my DC had to wear a ridiculous ankle length kilt (state school, no other decent school within travelling distance so really no choice), which not only cost a fortune and looked awful, she was forever tripping over the bloody stupid thing too, black trousers were allowed in later years, thankfully.

When my secondary did this they actually changed so the blazers and shirts became white polo necks and jumpers. Much cheaper and easier to keep clean. They also scrapped the ties and made the PE requirement “White tshirt and black/blue/grey jogging bottoms with the same colour hoodie for outdoor sports” that was it. My mum was chuffed because it meant she didn’t need to buy anything new - even the “logoed” jumpers she just bought plain blue ones.
For my sons uniform I’ve actually bought it all from Facebook. I think I paid about £30 for logoed jumpers/tshirts and even trousers and a full PE kit! I have tshirts and jumpers up to age 7-8 and he’s only 4. Honestly if the head isn’t offering you any options I would put in a letter of complaint to the governors.

Uniform also needs to be easy to care for, it should be able to be thrown in the wash and not require ironing. I think all secondary schools should allow polo shirts.

Our school has a named supplier for everything bar shirts. Is that really not legal?
Thankfully though the prices are more reasonable. Even the blazers were only £33 and the trousers not much more than a next pair.

I always hated polo shirts on older DC, makes them look like giant toddlers. Mine learned to iron their own shirts on starting high school. Useful skill to learn imo but appreciate loads of folk don't iron at all.

Toddlers? Many workplaces have a polo shirts as uniform . I think 11 year old children dressed up in formal business wear looks silly and impractical myself.

I'd prefer not to iron anything. If I didn't iron the shirts then DS would wear them unironed, he doesn't care.

I don't know about behaviour at the secondary school, DD doesn't start until September, but putting pupils in isolation for wearing the wrong socks is misuse of isolation imo.

It wont be expected instantly. It will be as and when items wear out and new intake in the school.

It was expected by September at my DC's school. And it was more expensive than the old uniform as well.

How do poor people in Ireland afford all this?

There is a back to school clothing and footwear allowance for lower income families of €150 for primary aged children and €275 for secondary aged children and dependant adults receiving a recognised secondary level education up to age 22. But tbh, some schools insist on "voluntary" contributions and charge for book rental schemes or books must be purchased. So that money can be eaten up quickly. That said a growing number of schools in Ireland, particularly ET schools, have no uniform at all. Qualifying families still get the allowance, so it can be spent on good shoes, hard wearing comfortable clothing, a new coat, waterproofs, etc.

My dd has to have a pe top and hoodie with her initials on the front in big capital letters so we are not able to have hand me downs or give hers away unless we find someone with same initials!
This name stuff is another issue agreed. Its criminal that you cant hand down especially when they so expensive

Mine had to be embroidered on back in the day (1960s) I was so envious of the girls whose mothers where fantastic needlewomen. But the reasoning of it meant that your PE kit never went missing...

My dd has to have a pe top and hoodie with her initials on the front in big capital letters so we are not able to have hand me downs or give hers away unless we find someone with same initials!

I'd have been alright, my DSs have the same initials. When marking clothes I did A...... Smith for DS1 and then filled in the forename for DS2 so he'd have Alan Smith, this was so I could pass down but still tell DSs stuff apart. Disclaimer, not ther real names/initial...

I don't have kids at school but am amazed this still goes on! I suspect these head teachers are getting a personal kickback, apart from anything going into school funds. Any head teachers on here like to comment?

Where does it say that schools can't insist on specific suppliers? The link someone posted upthread was the dot gov guidance and it didn't say that at all. It said "the school uniform should be easily available for parents to purchase and schools should seek to select items that can be purchased cheaply, for example in a supermarket or other good value shop. Schools should keep compulsory branded items to a minimum and avoid specifying expensive items of uniform eg expensive outdoor coats."
Nothing in that says it can't be compulsory, just that they are encouraged to be fair to parents.

Ask the head to clarify that current items can still be worn - there should always be a crossover with new uniform items being brought in - otherwise everyone sufffers financially replacing perfectly good clothes! I’d write back and say while you respect the changes, you and countless other parents have items which fit and can’t really spend extra on new items so surely a 1 Year time lag is allowed? Obviously if the kids then need new stuff you buy the newly branded stuff then

There are guidelines!www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/education/Circular%20201104%20-%20Guidance%20to%20Schools%20on%20School%20Uniform%20Policy%20%28revised%205%20June%202018%29.pdf

In particular look at : 3.2 In addition, Boards of Governors need to bear in mind the implications, in
terms of value for money and consumer choice of supplier, of uniforms often
only being available from a limited number of official suppliers. In
September 2006 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced the conclusion of
its fact-finding review of the school uniform market and called on schools to
eliminate exclusive agreements with retailers. They found that such exclusive
outlets were on average 23% more expensive than school uniform retailers
generally and 150% more expensive than supermarkets. OFT also
recommended that uniforms incorporate items that are readily available “off
the peg” from a number of retail outlets. Schools should therefore ensure that
their uniform is widely available in high street shops and other retail outlets,
and internet suppliers rather than from an expensive sole supplier. Schools
that buy uniform items to sell directly to parents should be aware that they
have responsibilities under consumer law if items are not of satisfactory quality
or not fit for purpose. Schools may seek advice from the Consumer Council
here.

Hope this helps - long time Governor with responsibility for uniform!

Gosh that's more than our food budget for the month!

That's crazy money. However, people seem to forget that when they send their child to a school, you enter into a contract with them. The rules need to be obeyed the same as a workplace. Schools aren't free 🤷‍♀️

Not everyone has a choice where they send their children to school.

And at some point people have to stand up and say No. Its how many rules and discriminatory or unfair policies were dropped or changed or reviewed in many different establishments in the first place.

Oh no! Definitely challenge this. Yet another head who needs to slap his 🍆 on the table to ‘establish’ himself. Oh dear.

Slightly off message, but IME the more expensive the uniform, the better the quality, the less you buy and the longer you have it. Also it serves for three or four children, although as it is better quality, that can work well.

I personally think it is not a good thing generally to buy lots of cheap clothing. 5 shirts, three skirts/trousers, three jumpers.....too much throwaway stuff. My DD's only ever had three blouses, one jumper one skirt, one blazer, throughout their whole secondary school, and they were handed down .

It is getting rather like a premier league football team with some schools . it is very unfair as it means parents are unable to even buy second hand items . A lot of academy heads earn so much money they haven't a clue what goes on in the real world .

My dd's previous school changed PE kit and then the whole uniform. There was a one year changeover (which is bad enough if your child doesn't happen to have a growth spurt during that year) and I think Y10 & 11 didn't have to change at all if their current uniform still fitted. While it's infuriating, I think you'd get a better response by politely requesting a changeover period.

£21 for trousers is ridiculous. Fair enough for them to ban skinny trousers or combat-style, but they could say something like "plain black trousers, straight leg, not tight fitting or low waisted" to give you the option of chain store ones. I think dd's old school had a list of 4 or 5 styles from M&S, Asda, Next, etc that were acceptable.

Same at my kids high school have to buy logo blazers, skirts/trousers, logo PE kit too from one shop only! the skirt/trousers have a pathetic little tab on them with the schools initials. Only good thing is the PE tops are unisex so I can pass them down but are still £20 each, blazers are £35+ trousers are £21+ & girls trousers for some reason are more expensive even though my dd is younger than my ds, the obnoxious woman in the uniform shop must rub her hands together in glee every July/August because of the money she is taking from poor parents!