School uniform costs: un-necessary items

[LLWK]

I was reading the recent news of Mike Amesbury's private members bill, that seeks to reduce the cost of school uniforms. It looks mainly at the "single supplier" issue that drives costs up, sometimes to a ridiculous level. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56376138

I also got to looking at uniforms for some local secondary schools (although my children are still at primary). What struck me was that costs could be reduced by not only increasing suppliers, but by cutting out items that aren't strictly necessary. One local comprehensive requires a branded PE kit (fair enough); but also a dance kit of a different polo shirt, with school and departmental logo; and them for that polo shirt to be worn for drama lessons, with regular uniform trousers or skirts, and the pupils in bare feet. Can dance not just be done in PE kit, and does drama really require a different top and no shoes, socks or tights? Or am I stuck in the past?!

I suppose at least the drama is barefoot and not specialist drama shoes...

Sadly secondary school uniform is expensive and I don't think this bill is going to change it.

Our school has everything branded right down to the PE socks which are over priced. We also have to have PE leggings and PE joggers both of which are a thin shitty material that my daughter put her knees through in the first few weeks of term and just to the pandemic we havent been able to replace.

The school wont let us use non branded stuff, but the ONE shop that sells it cant get the stock. Its nonsensical.

Our school has a specific tie and blazer. It specifies black trousers and skirts and white shirts but you can buy them from anywhere. You need blue pe shorts too but they cost about £5

I hope this Private Member's Bill becomes law. OP perfectly reasonable I think about the volume of dedicated school clothing/kit.

Only at Primary school, but DDs are supposed to have a specific PE top. Only costs £4... But the only supplier charges £5 delivery.

My eldest has a plain t-shirt as O refuse to pay the delivery charge.

Ours is fairly reasonable, but then has weird things like they can only wear a jumper under their blazer, but the jumper must be logod - which you would never see.
PE top is fine, but I don't see why they need fancy PE shorts when plain navy is cheaper and just as functional, equally plain navy sports socks rather than the coloured banded ones (and if they'd need them for inter school sport, surely that can be an option for the minority of kids who are on the teams)

I think schools should be made to run a second hand uniform shop. Lost property (unnamed) could go in each half term to boost stocks.
Regular drives for donations.
Coats and bags too.

Perhaps some sort of local council co-ordination, so that schools with lots of donations could give to schools with fewer donations.

And you should be able to obtain any new branded/logo uniform through the school, and it should be sold at cost price. Or maybe PTA fundraising could subsidise.
If schools have to spend their budget to buy it in first, perhaps that would put them off having unnecessary and costly items. They should be able to get a discount for buying in bulk.

Children on FSM should get a grant for uniform too, maybe once per term or once per year.

There are uniform grants already

Absolutely. The number of schools that select by the back door or extort money for uniform by using branding is abhorrent.

An iron on school badge for anything that needs to be identified is a simple and inexpensive solution.

YANBU. I’ve got a dd at secondary, and another parent told me just to get a ‘capsule wardrobe’ of the PE kit. She was so right - all dd has ever needed is the short sleeved top, warm top, skort, leggings and tracksuit bottoms in different combinations depending on the weather and what she’s doing. The rest is just unnecessary and I won’t be buying the next size up. This has covered dance, hockey, netball, aerobics. Schools should have a list of options (ideally supermarket sourced with stick on logos to add as needed) and people can buy and wear whatever works for them.

Unnecessary items...
So that's
A tie
A blazer
A specific style of skirt - usually a 'kilt' style that is ugly, unflattering and expensive so they get outgrown and not replaced and become too short and you have 13 year old girls looking like a pervy mans fantasy
A shirt with a logo
A shirt in an obscure colour so hard to buy
Trousers or skirt with a logo
PE kit with a logo
A book bag with a logo
A backpack with a logo
Anything with a stupid logo....

Also unnecessary in my opinion
Rules that say 'no hoodies' when they are allowed to wear costs or rain macs that have hoods.
Blazers in general - logo or no logo - they are a pointless piece of clothing.
Making a giant fuss about the colour of socks.

I really hope this bill goes through. Personally I would have no uniforms but if schools insist on it the rules should just be 'a certain colour scheme' and can be purchased at supermarkets and mix and match of skirts, trousers, polos, shirts, shorts, joggers, cardigans, sweatshirts or whatever depending on what the child prefers and is comfy in.

Every single item, for both primary and secondary., can be bought from anywhere for us. I've just ordered a huge load from asda.
Expensive branded socks would really piss me off

I see the mythical uniform grants have been mentioned. My council (largest in UK) does not offer help towards uniform costs and says to ask the school about second-hand uniform.
Even secondary schools that appear to be reasonable still have ludicrous requirements such as special jumpers that will never be seen as blazers have to be kept on plus only one supplier. It's a total racket.

A friend of mine was so incensed by uniform prices that she looked at the company accounts of our local uniform shop and they are raking it in. To be honest, the cars of the family that own it kinda gave that away But the mark up was extortionate. Her proposal was for the school to take it in-house and have the profit.

For primary we had to have dresses from the uniform shop but girls could wear supermarket cardigans, the boys got supermarket trousers but had to wear logo jumpers. There's a KS1 PE kit, one for KS2 - the PE kit has changed 3 times in the time my children have gone through the school, and there's less than 6 years between them.

For secondary it's the Pe kit that racks up the cost - all has logos, even the skins which if plain from Sports Direct would be half the price. So rugby shirt, skins top and bottom, polo top, shorts, even bloody socks. Skort optional, otherwise it's same for both sexes. Only now they are wearing it all day due to Covid are they allowed to wear un-logoed tracksuit bottoms.

Don't start me on the secondary girls having to have a non-supermarket skirt with a bright waistband so the teachers can see if it's been rolled up. They know if the skirt is too short! Don't charge me £25 per skirt!! Especially if it's piss poorly made and needs resewing back together every couple of months.

My DDs school likes them to wear white polo t shirts with the school logo on which are £11 each which just seems ridiculous when you can get a pack from the supermarket for that price. Similar with the branded pe kit, why is it necessary!

I've just been looking into this as dc1 is year 6 so not had to think about the secondary school issue. I had heard the school he'd got into changed from a wool blazer to a polyester one a couple of years ago - dropping the price by £100.

The thing that gets me, they talk about the 2nd hand uniform shop, but rugby tops need to be embroidered (yes really) with your child's name, so they cant be handed down.

There is a huge range of kit. I dont see why they need so many items and can't just have one top and one pair of shorts for all pe.

I'm lucky in that I'm only dealing with primary right now - I opted out of the logo polo shirts at £9.50 a time, and got a six pack from Asda for £6. We did buy two logo sweatshirts for £12 each, but the school are also happy with plain sweatshirts. PE kit is ok too - just plain navy t-shirt and shorts.

One local senior school has the dreaded kilt someone mentioned earlier - with prices "from £42.50"! They also mandate a logoed and named bag for dance clothing, at £7!

Our school uniform is

• black blazer from anywhere
• black trousers/skirt (one particular style) - widely available
• white shirts - from anywhere
• tie - from school

For PE kit it specifies only shorts and polo shirt (these are branded but available from all 3 school uniform shops in town) are mandatory. Black joggers or leggings (from anywhere) are optional as is a sweatshirt (this is branded)

All easy and cheap enough to buy. There's no reason for secondary schools to go OTT on uniform.

@UserTwice

Our school uniform is

• black blazer from anywhere
• black trousers/skirt (one particular style) - widely available
• white shirts - from anywhere
• tie - from school

For PE kit it specifies only shorts and polo shirt (these are branded but available from all 3 school uniform shops in town) are mandatory. Black joggers or leggings (from anywhere) are optional as is a sweatshirt (this is branded)

All easy and cheap enough to buy. There's no reason for secondary schools to go OTT on uniform.

And that shows how it can be made to work. What it takes is willingness.

Single supplier requirements shouldn’t be allowed as a disability issue. It’s one thing to say blue trousers, but to require a specific pair and not account for kids who need soft fabric or access panels or no seams shouldn’t be allowed.

Yanbu. But not all schools are like that, fir secondary my kids had to have black skirts/trousers, white shirts, school tie (£4), grey jumper, black blazer with school badge (buy any blazer, badge was £4), black smart shoes. Pe kit was black shorts, black tracksuit, white logo polo shirt (£8), trainers, football boots, rugby shirt with logo (£14). I thought it was fine but I wasn't best pleased at having to sew on the badge on the blazer (bought from M&S)

I remember unlocking the badge from my old blazer and sewing it on the new one! I really don't see why everything has to have a logo for 'in house.' Save the fancy stuff for when they're seen in public, days out, concerts, open days etc. when they are representing the school. Otherwise, just let them wear plain uniform in the right colours. Ito my gets wrecked or grown out of anyway!

YANBU Dc recently moved schools, their school has a long list of requirements branded and non branded. What they don’t tell you, is that all the non-branded basics are actually from John Lewis with an £8 mark up per item!

Unpicking not unlocking!

@dementedpixie

There are uniform grants already

Not all authorities have uniform grants. Mine doesn't. It stopped a few years ago.