£25 for a PE top! AIBU to think this is OUTRAGEOUS?

[PokerFaceGrace]

State secondary school in a deprived town with a majority of social housing.

Apparently previously the PE top was an £8 polo top with logo but they’ve done away with this for the new Yr7’s who have to buy the new £25 jazzed up version. In addition to track suit, rugby top and socks so looking at close to £100 just for PE kit not including trainers and you just know that half of it is going to get lost stolen within the first few weeks.

AIBU to think this is an utter piss take, and be ‘that’ parent and complain, before DC has even started there?

@plominoagain were they seriously not allowed to wear the uniform they already had? No transition period? DS grew slowly year 7 to 9 and wore the same Games and PE kit for three years. No way would I have replaced uniform that still fit!

I think a two year transition period should be required for any uniform change. At a minimum, parents should not have to replace uniform that still fits (two years should mostly cover that). There would still be the issue of second hand uniform that can't be passed on, but it would be a start.

Sadly, I think that @HappySonHappyMum 's view is pretty mainstream. Why let the chavs spend money on clothes they and their kids actually like when they could be instructed to put their £8.73 an hour towards a nice £40 blazer instead? (That's six hours' wages after tax and NI on minimum wage, fact fans.)

You better not move to Ireland so.
We have to pay for registration each year, a 'voluntary' contribution to the school, pay for school books, stationery, bus fares and oh yes, school uniforms and shoes and the uniforms are generally not generic and are usually crested and they change the colour of the uniform for the senior part of the secondary school cycle.

Just coming back to this thread.

I was actually focusing on the PE top @HappySonHappyMum. It will be worn once a week for an hour a best and considering the current one is £8 that’s quite a jump! It’s a new one so no 2nd hand ones. I can afford it, but there’s going to be plenty who can’t in addition to the daily uniform plus rugby shirt, tracksuit etc.

It is an utter pisstake.

@IAmDaveTheSerialShagger You have no idea if I struggle financially or not! Fact is I do - so I started putting money away at the beginning of Year 6 because I knew the expense was coming. It was not a surprise that I'd be expected to lash out a few hundred quid on uniform. Doesn't everybody preplan for large expenditures?

On the PE top alone, I'd expect to pay around £15 for a school specific sports polo new. Our reversible rugby shirt is £24 but is indestructible. I expect uniform to last two years and still be in good enough condition to pass on.

It's not just about the price of one item in isolation though, £100 for the whole kit is extortionate, and the lack of second hand kit another issue.

@kowari

The first time , the school supplied pe top and blazer and new tie , to be fair. The rest of the kit parents had to replace , with no transition. The second and third times , no transition period at all .

@plominoagain that's so awful, for parents and for the environment, and so completely pointless too!

DD2 is at a school that was in the news a while back over the decision to change its name because of historic connections with the slave trade. The school management has been v sensible and will be supplying a blazer badge to go over the top of the old one.

Mine are primary age so not having to fork out for secondary uniform yet.

What would happen if you just called the school and politely explained that you can't afford the logo'd uniform in a very matter of fact way? Just said "I can't afford all these logo'd items, I can only afford supermarket equivalents. I'm not entitled to any help with uniform costs. What should I do?". Hold fast, repeat that you literally don't have enough money to cover it all, that you physically cannot buy it and make it their problem to solve. Has anyone done that? I'd be interested to know because that was my plan for when mine start secondary 😂

@Shelovesamystery sometimes when parents (non FSM) day they can't afford something then they can be offered instalments, as if five times 20 is somehow less than 100. That's one possibility of what could happen. If there is a uniform pool then you would be directed to look there, I saved a lot of money buying second hand.

My twins are disabled and attend a specialist school. Uniform is optional and is a sweatshirt or polo shirt if they want to wear it. We have lots to worry about but thank goodness we don’t have to deal with this.

How are families on low incomes supposed to find £88, ffs?

It could be argued that the school do not want children from low income families to attend.

Otherwise, Provident cheques at 1000% interest.

Or pay weekly to a 'savings club' at the specialist supplier which charges more but allows you to budget.

As part of my PGCE we went to different schools, one girls' school had trousers or skirt in black, school sweatshirt and I assume a polo shirt under.

When I rule the world uniform will be optional, it will be joggers/jeans and a hoodie.

I spent £200 kitting out DD for a comprehensive school in a deprived area. I have already had to buy second PE kit items as she's grown out of them. I was angry about it, we can afford it but many others may not. I didn't think of contacting my MP, that's a really good call.

That is ridiculous.
My mother in law does embroidery. She charges £18 for the set up then £6 per item after.
I bought £30 worth of clothes for my son from Asda, asked my mother in law to embroider the logo and they look identical, except the labels.
I would suggest you and a few friends club together, find someone who will do embroidery, pay the set up fee and then buy cheap supermarket uniform. Literally you could have it all done at a reasonable cost (I would estimate around £75 for the whole lot so you would have significant savings), and next school year/when your child grows out, simply buy more cheap uniform. Each year I would estimate would cost no more than £10-£20 after the initial purchase.
Even blazers are cheaper from my mother in law, £25 for a pe top, that’s insane prices!

I would be interested to know how this is legal. The consumer has choice on everything these days it seems except who to buy uniform from, hence the high prices. Although an elderly relative tells me this is nothing news...as a schoolboy in the 1950s going to a state school in London their official uniform could only be bought from Harrods. Which was very stressful for his mum, who hated going there!

When my eldest DD started secondary school we got a list of stuff to buy, altogether it came to nearly £500. This is a state school.
But lots of it was never used, so for the next DD we knew just to ignore most of it.
One of the items was a sleeping bag, to be used on a school trip, but then the school trip was changed so they wouldn't need it. I went to work and moaned about it to my colleague, who'd attended the same school years ago, and he said he had an unused sleeping bag for the same reason.
Then when we tidied up our loft we found a sleeping bag in perfect condition left by the previous owners. I wonder how many more of the things are stashed in lofts and cupboards around our area.
YANBU by the way, it's like the school haven't even considered the affect on parents. Like when our school created a sixth form cafeteria which was quite expensive, and at a parents' meeting (pre covid) one of the teachers was joking that they hoped the children weren't bankrupting us with what they spent at the cafeteria. It's not funny, I had to ask my DD to spend less.

[quote HappySonHappyMum]@IAmDaveTheSerialShagger You have no idea if I struggle financially or not! Fact is I do - so I started putting money away at the beginning of Year 6 because I knew the expense was coming. It was not a surprise that I'd be expected to lash out a few hundred quid on uniform. Doesn't everybody preplan for large expenditures?[/quote]
Well you're lucky that you have money to put away for 'large expenditures'. Some people don't. And even if they do, why should they have to prioritize school uniform over other expensive items which may be more necessary.
Thankfully the schools my kids went to allowed supermarket uniform, which was perfectly adequate, with the addition of a few reasonably priced items from the school shop.
Their 'designer brand clothes and trainers' usually came from Sports direct and were in a similar price range.

I volunteer at our local Uniform Exchange and baby bank. Its operated on a take what you need, leave what you can system. If your struggling it worth seeing if there is something similar in your area.

I absolutely hate the logo'd everything for schools. One school near me insisted on girls trousers which had a logo on the waistband. Couldn't be seen under the blazer and shirt. But girls still subjected to uniform checks to ensure they had it. Cost of logo trousers was about £25 a pair. Skirt was the same idea, logo couldn't be seen unless you moved the blazer but had to have it even though the kids had to ask for permission to remove blazers (a rule I absolutely disagree with also).
A primary school in my town has now got in on the act with blazers for Year 3 upwards and a bespoke cardigan/jumper for the lower years with yellow piping on the collar and cuffs. Summer dresses must be yellow stripes not gingham with the logo on it. Skirts are blue tartan pleated. PE must be a logo polo neck in the house colour. The cardigan for Reception to Year 2 are £20 each. The blazers are boy and girl specific due to buttons at £40. Skirts are £14 each or £20 for a pinafore. This is a PRIMARY school and it is insane.
It is an academy in a wealthier neighbourhood but there is a large social housing estate within walking distance. What better way to deter them than ensuring only socks and shirts can be bought from a supermarket rather than the school supplier

Local high school has logo everything. And the PE top have to have the surname in big letters on the back so cant be sold on or given away afterwards. Our surname is not double barrelled but is 5 syllables and very long so good luck putting that on a tshirt.

DD is at a junior school where uniform is supermarket, logo if you really want. This is much better.

What better way to deter them than ensuring only socks and shirts can be bought from a supermarket rather than the school supplier

If this can reasonably be demonstrated, it is covered by legislation that is somewhat less toothless than the one I linked above - The School Admission Code.

The Code states: "Admission authorities must ensure that their arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly, either directly or indirectly, a child from a particular social or racial group, or a child with a disability or special educational needs, and that other policies around school uniform or school trips do not discourage parents from applying for a place for their child.

If enough people feel strongly about this issue, and want to coordinate to send challenges to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, I could perhaps help out by supplying a template objection form for people to tailor to the details of their local school.

It would probably work best for schools where you can demonstrate that the proportion of children on free schools meals is lower than the average for the area. This information is publicly available.

You could also go with the approach of finding a parent due to apply to that school in the next admissions round who can say that they are deterred from putting the school as a first choice due to the cost of the uniform. Parents due to apply to a school can make an anonymous objection.

A coordinated set of challenges might, if successful, have enough public interest to attract some press attention to the issue.

Yanbu at all. This is what my dc need for pe:
Logo tshirt
Logo fleece
Plain navy blue Jogging bottoms
Plain navy blue shorts
plain black trainers
Football boots
Shin pads
Plain black waterproof jacket.
It's just too much on top of the regular uniform.

@FairAdmissions

What better way to deter them than ensuring only socks and shirts can be bought from a supermarket rather than the school supplier

If this can reasonably be demonstrated, it is covered by legislation that is somewhat less toothless than the one I linked above - The School Admission Code.

The Code states: "Admission authorities must ensure that their arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly, either directly or indirectly, a child from a particular social or racial group, or a child with a disability or special educational needs, and that other policies around school uniform or school trips do not discourage parents from applying for a place for their child.

If enough people feel strongly about this issue, and want to coordinate to send challenges to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, I could perhaps help out by supplying a template objection form for people to tailor to the details of their local school.

It would probably work best for schools where you can demonstrate that the proportion of children on free schools meals is lower than the average for the area. This information is publicly available.

You could also go with the approach of finding a parent due to apply to that school in the next admissions round who can say that they are deterred from putting the school as a first choice due to the cost of the uniform. Parents due to apply to a school can make an anonymous objection.

A coordinated set of challenges might, if successful, have enough public interest to attract some press attention to the issue.

We would like to do this. Reading about secondary school prices I am getting a bit worried and realising the worst is yet to come!