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?!

quizqueen circumstances like yours were the reason that so many children had to turn down Grammar School places.
We have gone so backwards in this. Parents have the 'freedom' of choice of which schools too apply for but I know many parents (including myself) who didn't even bother to put certain schools on their application because the uniforms were to complicated, expensive and restricted. This is not what it should be. It has gone back to the Victorian era of children only being able to receive an education suitable for their needs if their parents could afford the uniforms and equipment.
Ridiculous and heartbreaking.

When my eldest started secondary school it cost just over £500 to kit her out with uniform and I nearly passed out! Girls got really stitched up as they had to have pin striped shirts and skirts that were only available from 1 supplier. Boys got away with grey trousers and a white shirt from anywhere. Shirts were £25 each and skirts were £30 each.

My youngest is just starting infants in September and they need branded jumpers and ties, book bags, pe kit and even a branded bloody water bottle! White shirts and black skirts (it says no pinafores or summer dresses allowed) can luckily be bought from anywhere. I think it will cost me about £150 to kit her out for infants with the basics which seems so excessive.

I hope this new bill goes through, but sadly I don't think it will, or it will be changed to 2 suppliers have to supply and then those suppliers will just price it the same as each other.

I teach secondary MFL. One of the topics in the textbook is on pros and cons of school uniforms. It says that an advantage is that it's cheaper than other clothes. Every year at least one student will point out that a £40 skirt (which has to be exactly the right length, so probably needs replacing at least yearly), £50 blazer, etc isn't cheaper than a trip to Primark.

The school also has branded PE kit, rugby shirt and leotard. Students also need different shoes for different sports + drama. Sports teams, choir, etc have to pay for another top with their surname on, so it can't be passed on (unless same-sex sibling plays the same sport).

It's our catchment secondary but we're not really considering it for year 5 DD, partly due to things like this. We could afford it, but IME it's a symptom of a school where SLT has very little understanding of students' circumstances.

One of the things I love about the new HT at DS and DD's school is that she believes uniform shouldn't be cost prohibitive. She started a second hand shop in her first month in.

Last summer she sent out a letter telling parents, to the fury of the school supplier, not to buy new uniform until we knew how much time kids were going to be at school for. She said until Christmas then black/navy trousers (trousers, joggers, leggings, anything except jeans because they're a pain if they get wet), a white shirt or poloshirt and a jumper or cardigan in black/navy/white/red was all that was needed. Then in the run up to Christmas she said that would be the uniform until the end of the year as there was obviously going to be closures ongoing again.

She's determined to bring in a uniform you can buy anywhere as soon as she can.

Her husband is the new HT for the local high school and is apparently of the same mind, which is great as their uniform is currently ridiculously expensive.

@ItsSnowJokes

When my eldest started secondary school it cost just over £500 to kit her out with uniform and I nearly passed out! Girls got really stitched up as they had to have pin striped shirts and skirts that were only available from 1 supplier. Boys got away with grey trousers and a white shirt from anywhere. Shirts were £25 each and skirts were £30 each.

My youngest is just starting infants in September and they need branded jumpers and ties, book bags, pe kit and even a branded bloody water bottle! White shirts and black skirts (it says no pinafores or summer dresses allowed) can luckily be bought from anywhere. I think it will cost me about £150 to kit her out for infants with the basics which seems so excessive.

I hope this new bill goes through, but sadly I don't think it will, or it will be changed to 2 suppliers have to supply and then those suppliers will just price it the same as each other.

My eldest is in infants. Uniform is simple, cheap and has flexibility - logo or plain polo shirts and t-shirts are fine. PE is plain t-shirt, plain shorts and bare feet. Water bottle was provided by the school (although DC chewed the top to pieces well before Christmas), as is a book bag.

Branded trousers, now they are a thing of stupidity and expense. Utter madness!

YANBU

The full kit for my DD when she started year 7 came to about £150, maybe more, not including the only generic things we could buy -trousers and shirts.

School blazer, tie, jumper all with badge, skirt with badge. PE leggings with school name, PE skort with badge, PE polo and hoody. They're all pretty crappy quality too, they've worn terribly after just one term despite washing on delicate to try to get a year or two out of them... I dread to think what might happen when I have to wash the blazer.

It's ridiculous, we can afford it but I still begrudge paying so much for what is totally unnecessary and looks down right uncomfortable.

Our primary school is so much better, there's the option to buy the polo shirt and jumper with the badge but cheap generic stuff from the supermarket is an option too.

Both my kids secondary schools have a lot school branded items, my daughters school has every item only available from a single supplier (£35 skirt, £15 blouses....) and the PE kit is just ridiculous. I am pretty sure it is marketing led. Prospective parents around here generally are quite well off and they like the look of the branded uniform as it makes the schools look posh. I wish it would be law that there can’t be any branding or specification of uniform that you can’t buy easily as it is the only way it is going to change.

Amazing how we all managed to get an education without these ridiculous uniform policies! Uniform was bought wherever you wanted to buy it from. You only needed to buy a school tie and a sew on pocket badge for your blazer which could be moved to a new blazer when/if you grew out of it. PE kit was navy shorts and a white airtex top.
When we were out and about everyone still knew which school we were from by the colour of the jumpers/blazers. I see absolutely no benefit whatsoever to this ridiculous uniform fiasco.

There weren’t schools competing for admissions bigbluebus. It is like a beauty parade round here on open evenings!

My school (that I started in 1997) had particular skirt (depending on year!), Coloured blouses and blazers, various bits of PE kit... Boys needed two different rugby shirts..

It was a Grammar school. But nearby comprehensives had similar. So the expensive uniforms aren't new.

I live in an area with grammar schools. They tend to be the ones with the simple uniforms with items available wherever. It's the "comprehensives" that tend towards branded items, kits for PE, dance, drama etc.

One pair of school trousers for my D's start at £37.99 and the quality of the fabric is terrible! The logo is tiny and on the inside of the blazer so cannot be seen but still the style means I have to buy the logoed uniform as I can't find it anywhere else.
My best friends mum regularly visits family in India and she had loads of logos sewn by a Taylor for her dgc. My best friend buys non logoed and uses the iron on stuff to stick the logos in pkace

I was most annoyed by the difference in girls and boys uniforms at the high school my DC's went to.
Boys needed a logo jumper and tie. Plain black trousers, plain white shirt. Girls needed the jumper and tie, and grey logo'd skirt, and a weirdly striped shirt which was only available from the specific school uniform shops for £17.99 for two, as opposed to the boys you could buy in the supermarket 3 for £6 or so.
Then in year 11 they had to have a different tie and logo'd jumper, and the girls had a black logo'd skirt.

School uniform grant round here is £25 if you qualify. Kitting out my child with minimum amount of logo'd kit with supermarket shirts and trousers will be £300. Uniform grant won't even cover the cost of compulsory blazer.

DS's secondary isn't too bad for the main uniform, the only things from a specific supplier are tie, blazer and optional jumper. The pe kit on the other hand is ridiculous - branded polo shirt, branded rugby shirt, shorts, two different colors of socks for indoors & outdoors, trainers, football boots (which DS has grown out of without wearing), gum shield, shin pads. Plus they get a detention if they have the wrong kit.

Our local secondary school has branded hats, blazers, socks, ties and everything else.
Luckily my family member owns an embroidery business and can effectively “steal” the logo off one pair of socks and then replicate it onto cheaper versions.
That’s what we do with primary uniform.
The last 3 years have cost me less than £30 total because I’ve only had to buy supermarket jumpers and tshirts and got family member to embroider the logo on. No one has ever noticed.

@WeAllHaveWings

Our school uniform is:

generic black trousers/skirt
generic black jumper/sweatshirt (no large logos)
generic white shirt
generic black shoes or all black trainers
generic any colour shorts/leggings and tshirt for pe (no large logos)

school tie
logo'd blazer - recommended for senior years, mandatory for prefects.

Kids look smart.

This sounds exactly like my DDs school. The only nitpicking I've really heard from them is it being brought up in assembly about sock colour, where the school have asked for pupils to stick to preferably black (but white will do) and I had a wèe laugh thinking the pupils were rebelling by wearing bright, fluoro socks under their trousers 😂

My eldests school has just notified us of a uniform change. Change of logo and change of colour. I have another child going up in September which means I get hardly any use from the £88 I spent on blazers last September (in Wales, so comps not actually back at school yet) their p.e. kit now has to have the school logo, in their colours and even the shorts and odd leggings for boys have to be bought from the school. I did the maths yesterday, and for all the uniform I'm going to need to buy in September for all of my children, its going to cost roughly £1090. And that is if I cheap out on shoes. It's beyond a joke.

Mike Amesbury is our local MP. I think it’s a brilliant bill and hope it gets through. Our local school rule is: wear whatever colour polo top/jumper/cardie you want. Wear either grey or black skirt/shorts/trousers. Any colour standard uniform dress. Our school is so colourful - it allows kids to make choices for themselves, be individual. We have logo’d stuff but that all about your choice - have it or don’t. We also have a second hand uniform store. It’s brilliant. More should be like this.

@Ifyoudontlaughyouwillcry

Mike Amesbury is our local MP. I think it’s a brilliant bill and hope it gets through. Our local school rule is: wear whatever colour polo top/jumper/cardie you want. Wear either grey or black skirt/shorts/trousers. Any colour standard uniform dress. Our school is so colourful - it allows kids to make choices for themselves, be individual. We have logo’d stuff but that all about your choice - have it or don’t. We also have a second hand uniform store. It’s brilliant. More should be like this.

The Bill has government support, so it's almost certain to become law. Currently with the Lords but I can't see any massive amendments there.

Our school's not bad. Only polo shirts and sweatshirts have logo's. I have to say as someone who makes garments most of the cheap clothes we see in shops really can't even be made for the low prices they're sold at. I often look at items and think good god the thread alone would cost more than the garment is selling for!

When I was at school you bought the logo patches and your mum sewed them on! Much cheaper. I do think that should be an option.

Our primary only expects logoed jumpers/cardigans and only for school trips so at the moment most of the children aren't wearing the logoed ones. Everything else can be bought from the supermarket.

Local secondary the children get put in isolation for not having the correct trousers, skirt or ties. The ties is black and white striped but because it has to have a spot on the bottom with the childs house on it can't be bought from anywhere other than the school supplier. It's absolutely ridiculous, friend of mine spent over £300 on uniform when her child started in year 7.

Along with stupidly priced branded items we also have unworn football boots (and 2 DSs who hate football so won't wear them outside of school), a barely worn lab coat, although to be fair DS1 did get given that when he attended Summer school in the summer between year 6 and 7, unused mouth guard and half the pe kit never worn.

PE kit really is the absolute killer - I think all the PE teachers go on a power trip when it comes to uniform. DDs last school required:-

Logoe'd and flashy coloured polo top - for netball, hockey tennis and dance
Logoe'd football shorts - for athletics and dance
Logoed skort for netball and tennis
Logoed skins type leggings for hockey and cross country
Logoed skins type top for cross country
Logoed tracksuit top and bottoms - for wearing on the mini bus to the sports field
Special three coloured striped socks for hockey etc
Logoed white socks for tennis
Logoed swimsuit
Logoed swiming cap
Logoed PE bag
Logoed swimming bag
Plain black footless tights for dance (couldn't use the logoed skins leggings)
Black velour long sleeved leotard and matching overshorts for gymnastics
Astro trainers for hockey
White trainers for tennis
Black trainers for most other sports
A further pair of indoor only trainers to wear between the changing rooms and dance/gymnastics.

Woe betide them if they didn't have the correct kit - eg daring to play netball in shorts or hockey in a skort or skins as it was cold etc......