£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?

It's a shame the Daily Mail is always keen to pick up on stories about affairs and arguments yet all the stories in this thread I doubt will get much interest. The sums people are talking about here...

It is outrageous. The whole point of uniform, of the whole uniform is that everyone looks the same and it is affordable. Oddly enough when my DS went to private school the uniform was a lot cheaper and generic than many of the state schools who I think like to use uniform as their brand or identity. His rugby top was quite expensive but everything else could be sourced in chain or grocery stores.

I would get some parents together and lobby the school. What would happen if a child did not have the uniform, they couldn't participate?

It’s absolutely ridiculous OP, I agree wholeheartedly. My DS‘s PE kit alone cost £100. I’m a single disabled parent living on benefits and it’s a real struggle, and I’ve only got the one child. How parents with more than one child cope I have no idea. There doesn’t even seem to be any assistance for purchasing school uniform around here, not that anybody should need assistance purchasing school uniform because it shouldn’t be so bloody expensive.

When I was at school the only special item we had to buy was a tie. How could we possibly have managed to learn without branded uniform? It’s amazing how any of us managed to get an education really isn’t it.

Anyone else thinking kickback?

DS starts Reception next year. His PE top costs 25€, the PE shorts another 21€ and the PE joggers also cost 20€. His school jumper costs about 40€ and the polo shirts are also 20 quid each. Yes, it's an independent school...but that's mostly because we are abroad and the local language isn't English. You cannot get any school uniform in supermarkets here.
Luckily, he can wear any shoes or trousers that he wants...