To think it's a bit cheeky for schools to only approve expensive stores for uniform purchases?

[malificent7]

Do our local comp approves only John Lewis, M and S and the local ( expensive ) uniform stores for uniform when very similar can be bought for a fraction of the price in a supermarket.
The sport kit is worse...basically a plain white polo shirt where a pack of 2 costs 3/4 pounds in tescos but no.....a single white polo shirt costs £8.50 in the local uniform store...why? Because pe department have decided the white polo shirt MUST havr no buttons so that girls can be differentiated from boys.
Wtf? Aibu to buy the tescos games shirts for half price and cut the buttons off...andcwrite a terse letter to school?
Yes...i am one of THOSE mums but i am a single parent, student and want to teach dd the art of economising!

It’s even worse round here. My son’s school is an exception as it has a very sensible head who is aware of the financial issues parents face but every other school in our area decrees that skirts and trousers must have a tiny school logo embroidered on them or a bespoke trim of coloured ribbon, only available from one supplier.

isabelle what supermarkets to you have around you? Because every single decent sized branch of Tesco, Sainsbury, ASDA etc. round my way sells secondary uniform!

I have all those supermarkets locally and none of them sell secondary uniforms. The secondary schools have got tartan, turquoise, navy, bright green, even purple uniforms here. Long pleated skirts, skirts with a split, skirts without a split. Checked shirts in the school colours, special coloured tights. The whole works. There is no way it would be viable for a supermarket to supply all that.

Frankly the whole uniform thing is ridiculous.
I've heard people say it's so that everybody seems equal but come on, everybody knows who's rich and who's poor anyway. In fact I feel like uniforms make that even more obvious.

Besides, if it's not the clothes it's gonna be watches, games, accessories, phones, etc.

There are no uniforms in my country and nobody gets teased over their clothes. Over other things, yes. But not that.

OP, in your place I'd not draw attention to myself and buy the cheap stuff, and make alterations if needed. If you're called on it by the school, I'd get the local media involved (or tell the school that I would, to make them back off).

Every year there are newspaper articles from people struggling with secondary uniform. Every year nothing changes. Personally I think the problem is that lots of people actually seem to like extremely strict uniform policies and there is simply not enough public support to challenge them.

I am a huge uniform fan but when it is with a relaxed approach, not single supplier high cost items. Why can’t secondary uniform be like primary? Simple colours, no patterns, available from supermarkets with a variety of style options. And FGS no see through shirts.

Oh isabelle so you are in a 100% rip-off school area... Sympathy.

I think expensive uniform is just wrong. Surely schools need to be seen to be inclusive which this practice isn't.

At my daughter's primary good quality second hand uniform can be bought from the school shop at 50p per item. Great for getting some logo items. The logo is not compulsory, though so plain polos and cardigans from the supermarkets can be worn as well as their skirts, dresses and trousers.

Um yeah it is expensive compared to supermarket prices. Given that the jumper is a navy blue jumper with school logo on. Navy jumper in Asda is a couple of £. Pe kit it's a white T-shirt and shorts with school logo on. Again would have been a couple of £.

I can't image with two DC that I'll be able to get away with one only each

God I feel poor

I’m so glad that my dc’s primary school is super relaxed about uniform! There are several suppliers that sell the polo shirt and sweatshirt with the school logo but apart from that anything goes. They can wear dresses, skirts, leggings, jeans, shorts, shoes or trainers! As long as their top is the school colour/has the logo then they don’t mind about the rest. They just want the children to be comfortable!

I wouldn't be 'that parent' approaching them to start with - but I would approach them with a 'silly old me' approach along the lines of could tell you which supermarkets supply the uniform as well given they have only listed the expensive suppliers and you understand that these days all schools have a duty to provide a cheap supplier of their uniform (and add in local too if they are all much further away than the local supermarkets that are big enough to sell uniform).

Approach it on the basis that they have just made an oversight when supplying you with the info rather than they have deliberately avoided having cheap suppliers. Then when they get back to you to say nope, that's it, you can then use the experience of 'a friend' who told you about the DoE's guidance and ask them why they aren't following it...

There will be other parents who haven't bought the uniform yet - see if there's a parent's facebook page that you can ask a question on about the lack of cheap uniform and follow up with how it means the school isn't following the guidance when people reply.

If you're feeling really brave, ask at the new parent's evening. Do you know many of the new parents starting - if so, talk to them in advance, see if they will back you up if you raise a question.

Good luck - even getting a partial consideration for some of the items would help so it's worth pushing on to the governors if needs be.

We had DDs secondary school uniform day this week for a grammar school. They ask the girls to come in and be measured, and there is one supplier for the whole lot. Just the basics came to £230.

In their defence though they allow for growing room and said on average rates of growth the first lot of uniform should last three years and then the next lot the last two years.

If I can get five years worth of wear from £460 of clothes I don't feel as though we have had a bad deal.

Have you queried with the Governors why they are using a sole supplier? It breaches government guidelines.

Can academies get away with breaching their guidelines though? I tried to find this out last year and it seemed as if they could . Hopefully I am wrong.

No, academies should not be getting away with it - the guidelines apply to all maintained schools.

Unfortunately, no government has put teeth behind the guidance so schools that wish to do so,an flout it quite blatantly.

It's not only cheeky, it's unlawful. Challenge the school about the poor example they are setting the children if they are effectively saying it's OK to ignore their legal obligations and indeed OK to poverty-shame children.

Ah so it’s the old story of guidelines rather than anything legally enforceable?

Thanks meditrina.

DNiece is starting secondary school this September.

Blazers are £35, fair enough.

But they also have to buy the logo school trousers at £14 each, because the girls were wearing trousers that were too tight As well as their specific school shirts which are £15 each. Skirts are allowed but again only their specific logo ones, again £15 each. PE kit is £35.

DSis is a full time STEM student, single, 2 other DC. The entire catchment is low to very low income.

The reason they specify a supplier is to prevent inappropriate items being worn. The problem is some parents allow their kids to wear completely inappropriate items to school. This prevents that happening.

The whole thing makes an absolutely mockery of uniform hiding the financial differences between families (of course, there’s always been plenty of other ways to know who’s who). Just get rid of uniform. Clothes becomes less important and everyone can focus on their studies.

DD is at a non-uniform primary, which horrifies all the parents we know at uniform schools, but clothing is an absolute non-issue, and can be as cheap as you want. Most of the kids are wearing cheap stuff from the supermarket or H&M. Leggings or shorts and a t shirt all year round, job done.

Never understood blazers. Too warm to wear indoors but not sufficient for winter. Better to have a sweatshirt- bought from a supermarket with a logo to sew on, and a normal coat for winter.

My dd goes to an academy and I almost passed out when we had to get her uniform in year seven. £220 it cost, not including shoes and tights which we were ‘allowed’ to get elsewhere.

However I’ve never heard a peep about uniform since. Everyone wears exactly the same thing. There isn’t any bullying about what you are wearing and nobody talks about it ever. It’s just not an issue because there is nothing you can do to make it different.

DS's high school have a uniform supplier, but state that apart from PE and games kit, the rest can be purchased from any store, and a badge bought at school to saw on. But we found a blazer at M&S was £42 and a badge £8, but the blazer at school supplies was £45= cheaper.

The blazers at my son's school are £99!

And you have to pay for their initials to be embroidered in house colours on their hoodies, Pe kit, bags and coats (specific school approved bags and coats).

I've said it before but this just doesn't happen in Scotland. The only schools which make these "approved supplier" rules are the fee paying ones.

All comps in this area have a blazer and a tie. Blazer is the washable type, and costs £30. Tie is a fiver. The rest of the uniform is basics - grey/black/navy skirts or trousers and white shirts, jumpers in red/black/green/navy. There are no rules about where you get these items from. You can choose whether to shop in Asda or John Lewis.

Why are parents in England putting up with this crap?

On the flip side of that, here in N Ireland school uniforms seem to be much much more expensive than in England and no one seems bothered. I've heard plenty of parents (myself included) have a bit of a grumble about the cost but everyone just accepts that at secondary that's what a uniform costs. Upthread people were very with me when I said that £16 seems incredibly cheap for a school jumper but to me it really is.

We had DDs secondary school uniform day this week for a grammar school. They ask the girls to come in and be measured, and there is one supplier for the whole lot. Just the basics came to £230

Bloody hell. DD started at her grammar last September. Her uniform cost me £120 for everything!