To think this is rediculous for school uniform!

[worriedwinfred]

Polo shirts for foundation stage children (all school children but how messy is foundation stage) have to be embroidered and cost £8 each! I was planning on sticking up on ASDA ones at 2 for £3 so as soon as we get a stain or fadeing DS will always look smart. Jumpers and t shirts are £8 each I just think that for a t-shirt is abit much. I will be buying them obviously but it'll be a struggle and I can imagine maybe others won't be able to afford new ones every time there's a stain.

Aibu to think school colours but not embroidered would be a better idea? They also expect £1 a week "voluntary" donation to school funds

Definetly bring it up with parent council unless it is a private school i dont see why kids in primary have to wear embroidered polo shirts at extortionate price when you can buy them cheaper from other stores..
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My son's school PE shirt is £20, school jumper is £30 (and unravels at the cuff in a couple of months.) I think both are completely ridiculous prices and resent having to pay them. This is at a state primary.

My dd school blazers are £95 each. Not a private school. Plus have to have embroidered shirts, skirts only from school shop, embroidered bag, embroidered pe bag, all embroidered pe kit, embroidered coat, school scarf (£35!), embroidered swimming bag etc etc, not much change from £600 a year for each child. And yes this is uk and not private!!

I must admit I tend to buy clothes that are a bit too big, my kids are slow growers but it helps with finances as I am a self employed single parent on a low wage and luckily we don't have to have the logos so I normally manage to find school clothes from charity shops but when they're new I buy them a bit big. If they get holes or stitching comes apart I simply mend them or if they do get stained I do my best to get stains out but if they don't come out completely (tends to be the t-shirts) I don't worry about it, as long as they are clean,to me it's not an issue and the teachers at my sons school aren't too bothered as long as they are clean but can't afford to be buying new uniform every couple of months. Still don't agree with high priced uniforms, I know I couldn't afford them, be better if they stuck to bog standard uniforms that the majority of people are more likely to be able to afford.

If it's going to be under a jumper, how will they know if the logo's on the polo at all? What possible difference could it make to anyone.

Buy one with a logo for special occasions and put the rest under a jumper.

As an aside, this is why I've chosen a non-uniform school for my kids (lucky to have that choice) - it's a breath of fresh air vs their old school where I had to make sure the jumpers were washed at the weekend, and clean uniform available every day (I HATE washing/drying/folding, so this might colour my opinions)

Not RTFT, but my DC's school has a similar uniform - 12 quid for the logo polo shirts. In the school reception there's a rail where parents can leave old t shirts and pick up new ones. Could you suggest something like this to your school? It's handy when the kids grow out of their tops, and you don't feel bad about taking bigger sizes as you've donated the smaller sizes.

Do they not sell the badges alone? My DS school had the same in reception (sweater, not the polo), but also sold badges. So I bought cheap sweaters and got out my needle and thread

Actually, I've looked at an old photo, it was both polo and sweater that had the logo. So I bought 6 badges to do 3 of each

This is definitely unreasonable. My DS starts in Sept and at the recent parents evening the Headmistress went out of her way to say the logoed uniforms are available but she was more than happy with just primary school colours.
I wouldn’t bother, I doubt you’ll be the only one.

‘ DD is in y6 and remarkably still wearing some of the polos I bought for her in reception‘

Wtaf

There is no way this is true unless her shirts were around her knees in reception!

I always look at these kids in their 3 sizes too big t-shirts and feel sad for them tbh.

It is not mandatory at all, Asda polo shirts will be fine.

Not at all, my DS would have been sent home until he had the right uniform. It is mandatory for the school

@melissasummerfield I was amazed that my year 7 uniform lasted all the way up to the end of year 11... Until I looked back at old pictures and realised it absolutely drowned me back then

See if your school does second hand shop (often the PTA run it).

I'm on the pta and we ran an end of term one this week to syphon out all the lost property that hadn't been rejoined. I reckon there was about £400 worth of logo/official stuff up for grabs. My kids now have a load of cardis/jumpers for £5 donation 😀

Just wait till they start high school...

To be fair the schools in less well off areas get more government funding which is how they are able to provide breakfast club with children only paying for what they eat(unless getting free school meals) and not for the childcare whereas other areas charge a daily rate even if they don’t eat

A couple of the secondary schools locally offer a free uniform for all year 7s when they start so they are at least starting on a level footing in that sense. (Most parents seem to size up for obvious reasons!)

You can probably get second hand tops. I agree it is costly for a polo top but the jumper sounds a bargain!

How important is having a school identity/cohesion/feeling of belonging to you? For me it is very important. That doesn't mean you shouLdnt petition the school for cheaper options.

Remember once at school your dc will need many fewer other clothes so there's is a saving there's.

"DD is in y6 and remarkably still wearing some of the polos I bought for her in reception"

Not reception, but my dc has worn same shirts/polos/jumpers since yr3 until yr6. And they weren't wearing excessively huge one in yr3 , or too small one in yr6 either. It just happened, that we needed to buy trousers every year, but never the top.

The school aren’t being unreasonable to set a uniform. You are being unreasonable to want to throw away clothes as soon as they don’t look pristine. At that age they will get paint, ink etc all over them every day.

Another suggestion, if you want your child to wear nice logoed one everyday, but don't want to buy the expensive ones, just cut out the logo from old shirt/jumper and stitch it up to supermarket bought cheaper ones. It obviously only works if the logo is badge type, but it's one of the things you can do to keep cost down while sending children with logoed ones.

My youngest goes to a school who also wear brown & yellow and expect a £1 donation each week. Wonder if it’s the same school? (W. Yorkshire?)

If so, my youngest has definitely worn plain white towards the end of term. Also the winter uniform is just a generic white shirt (with tie).

Half the year they wear a school jumper over their top - so you only see the collar anyway.

As for the £1 a week; this is a voluntary contribution (in our case because it is a Catholic school and goes towards the building fund) All voluntary aided schools do this. However, they can’t enforce it and would never directly ask. No one would know whether you contributed or not, except for the school office. Don’t worry about it; they understand that everyone has different circumstances.

Also, don’t worry about it being an affluent area. Not everyone will have money and children themselves don’t know or care when they’re in primary.

Just try and enjoy it if you can

@melissasummerfield That poster said the t shirt in reception was big enough to be worn as a dress, and now is short enough that it can not be tucked in.

It's worth checking if there is a place in the area that can embroid the logo onto shop bought items.

Someone mentioned 2nd uniform. High school sent an email yesterday requesting this ASAP for their first shop. Ideally it should have been sent at the beginning of the school year as we are on:-
Blazer 2
Trousers 3rd set
2nd polo shirt
2nd shorts
2nd rugby kit.
All the rest was immaculate and binned as we knew no one they would fit (ds is almost 6ft, and a rugby player stamp!). It seems such a shame that someone could have made use of them, but they are only asking now. What he is wearing (providing he doesn’t have a massive growth spurt over the summer) will be used in September, so now we have nothing to donate unfortunately.

‘As for the £1 a week; this is a voluntary contribution (in our case because it is a Catholic school and goes towards the building fund) All voluntary aided schools do this‘

Dc have gone to Catholic Primary and Secondary schools and we have never had to give donations! So definitely not all voluntary schools do this!