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Original poster

School blazer - £90?!

222 replies

Livvielo · 22/08/2021 01:42

Posting for traffic really… DD 11 starts secondary school in September, and we are just purchasing her uniform… £90 for a blazer?! Is that the norm?! That’s without the school skirt, PE kit and various other bits that have to be purchased from the school. How many blazers do you buy? This is just a catholic comprehensive girls school, although it is regarded as extremely good.
But £90 for a blazer?? Is that not a bit OTT?

OP posts:
Sirzy · 22/08/2021 17:39

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

As part of Relocation allowance from DHs work whenever we had to move, we got a School Uniform allowance of £75 per child. This was supposedly the average cost of required logoed items... not sure which year they calculated that in! More than enough at Primary School, wouldn't touch it at many Secondaries it seems.
When I ordered DS free uniform for secondary the price if we had purchased it all (including PE kit, everything but shirt and shoes) it would have cost £72 but they do make an effort to keep things affordable
OswaldOwl · 22/08/2021 17:50

Shocking.
Disgusting, actually.
Can you get one second hand?

Once your child is in and settled, see if you can set up a scheme whereby second hand blazers are passed on for free or a fraction of the price. Often happens in dance schools with old shoes and uniform. make the point that is is rid.ic.u.lous.

Flowerlane · 22/08/2021 17:58

@Livvielo
Does the school begin with B?
If so i think I know the school uniform you are on about as we had to get a blazer from the same supplier luckily ours wasn’t that expensive! I remember seeing the blazers in the shop and thinking wow!!!

Petardos · 22/08/2021 19:01

May be buy it second hand at the school?

DingDongThongs · 22/08/2021 20:49

@herecomesthsun

Also, for families on free school meals & etc., if you contact the school, there may well be some sort of grant for uniform. I know there is at ours. There is also priority (for kids who have passed the entrance exam) for the free schools meals pupils. They actively want to encourage these children to apply (selective state school).
an awful lot of counties dont do this anymore
Whataboutye · 23/08/2021 12:21

That sounds just like my school uniform, when I was in school, brown blazer with blue & yellow stripes, I sure my mum paid €90 for it, back in the 90s. Such an ugly uniform! still can't wear brown, to this day.

NothingIsWrong · 23/08/2021 12:34

Wow that sounds expensive. All our stuff has to be logod, but the blazers are £32, the girls skirts are £18 each, (although I've just found them online for £12.50 each AFTER I bought them Angry), jumpers are £12. The shop also does an embroidery service so you can bring them your own jumpers to be done, and you can buy a patch to sew onto any navy blazer. White shirts and the boys black trousers you can just get Asda ones. The PE kit is a bit more expensive, but it's only the logod hoodie that you have to have - otherwise it's navy skort and sky blue artex from anywhere you like. Boys have a compulsory reversible rugby shirt but I think it was only £14?

NothingIsWrong · 23/08/2021 12:37

And the only thing that identifies your house is the tie, with a coloured stripe, and they are £3 each

Mummyto2rugrats · 23/08/2021 13:56

Yep that's about right, just purchased ours a DD starts September and not private school but public, on top of this there is the labled PE kit and oh don't forget it has to be a badged skirt not just an off the shelf one at £21 with cheap polyester material which imo is crap compared to the M&S skirts I would normally buy as 1) they have adjustable waist ideal for those young girls who have a figure are tall but have a slim waist and 2) are made of durable good quality material.

All told her uniform has cost me £326 that's not including a school bag large enough to fit all the text books we are told it would have to fit that was an extra £25 of which it's been discussed some girls are taking a handbag style bag! So will she be bullied for having a rucksack, trainers as hers still fit luckily so I'm hoping another 6mth before replacing.

Given that having a uniform is so expensive I am not surprised people struggle and yes you can buy second hand but seriously we can only afford because we are lucky that we both work fulltime in well paying jobs for those that can't, even 2nd hand maybe a struggle with what they have to have it's really not necessary for all of it and certainly not for PE.

Apologise rant over but the expense got me especially on the poor quality skirt!

SpamIAm · 23/08/2021 14:26

I was thinking about this the other week. DD starts school this year. I'm in Wales where they have (or are going to) introduce a limit on what school uniforms can cost. It's only polo shirts, sweatshirts and a PE T-shirt, then just generic supermarket trousers/cardis etc. Still has all added up to a large amount on money so I was thinking it must be extortionate for people buying uniforms with blazers, those awful tartan kilts etc.

SpiderinaWingMirror · 23/08/2021 16:24

Terrible.
Colleague has a step child who has got into Grammar. As they are on a low income, they asked what help there might be towards uniform. First dibs in the second hand shop was the answer.

WhispersOfWickedness · 23/08/2021 16:59

ShockShockShock
Just bought my son's, blazers are between £22 and £26 depending on size!! And not terrible quality which is what I was expecting for that price!

DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 17:47

@SpiderinaWingMirror

Terrible. Colleague has a step child who has got into Grammar. As they are on a low income, they asked what help there might be towards uniform. First dibs in the second hand shop was the answer.
1st dibs isn't bad, I'd be ok with that..
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 17:47

@Spiderina is she on any assistance ie benefits?

CecilyP · 23/08/2021 20:16

Colleague has a step child who has got into Grammar. As they are on a low income, they asked what help there might be towards uniform. First dibs in the second hand shop was the answer.

It’s usually the local authority that deals with clothing grants. I wouldn’t really expect teachers in the school to be all that knowledgeable, though schools that have made lot of low income families are more likely to be.

Porcupineintherough · 23/08/2021 21:41

And what happens if the second hand shop has nothing in your size? Internal exclusion til your parents miraculously scrape together the money? Grammar schools were supposed to level the playing field.

Tyredofallthis1 · 24/08/2021 08:18

I don't know if it's changed (new headmaster) but when child started high school, second hand uniform was discouraged. I can't remember the exact wording, but it was basically - get new stuff. Still, at least I can get supermarket shirts and trousers for him. It's just everything else has to have a logo.

And the blazer is brown, so you can't do what my mother did and buy a cheap(ish) blazer from M&S and sew a school patch on the pocket.

Pottedpalm · 24/08/2021 08:42

Our convent school uniform (many decades ago) included not only a striped blazer but an army-style’greatcoat in grey. It was a fabulous warm coat hut pricey. We also had to have a gaberdine mac for wet days, and a striped scarf. Winter headgear was a felt hat with striped hatband and a metal badge. In summer a boater (how I loved my boater!) with another striped band and badge. However, the felt hat and boater were not suitable for wet weather so there was a beret to be purchased, also with badge.
Then there were dresses, old gold linen! Skirts, blouses, knitwear.. Clarks sandals to be kept at school for indoor wear..
I was on a full scholarship. I think I was doing my O levels by the time the uniform was paid for.

MelbourneTerrace · 24/08/2021 09:03

@Terhou

Get on to the school governing body, point out that government guidance is:

No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to, or attend, a school of their choice, due to the cost of the uniform. School governing bodies should therefore give high priority to cost considerations. The governing body should be able to demonstrate how best value has been achieved and keep the cost of supplying the uniform under review

When considering how the school uniform should be sourced, governing bodies should give highest priority to the consideration of cost and value for money for parents. The school uniform should be easily available for parents to purchase and schools should seek to select items that can be purchased cheaply, for example in a supermarket or other good value shop. Schools should keep compulsory branded items to a minimum and avoid specifying expensive items of uniform eg expensive outdoor coats.

And if no joy from governors, the Local Authority if this a maintained school, the Trust if it is an academy and then the Regional School Commissioner for your area.

Flag up to your MP.

GreenLakes · 25/08/2021 08:19

Tbh this seems like a school with very high standards that I would be supporting rather than criticising!

The DC’s school has a very strict uniform and all parents support it. They have to wear a blazer at all times (and blazer and jumper in winter) unless given permission.

Teachers can and do give permission to remove blazers in lessons when the weather is very hot. It’s not an issue.

SpiderinaWingMirror · 25/08/2021 08:26

Just came back to this. It was Kent, 2 years ago. No assistance from the Kent County Council was my understanding.

RoyalQueen · 25/08/2021 09:39

I would be writing to my MP and the board of governors making many of the points raised on this thread. I don't care if it makes me "that" parent.

DS is about to start a local grammar who by and large are sensible with uniform but their sports kit is a bit bonkers. I have bought one set but intend to ask if I can buy non branded as a spare. I have 2 other children to pay for.

I hate uniform. It's not a leveller. Children know who has money and who doesn't, it's obvious. By and large they don't care (at least in primary in my experience). Get rid and say leggings/ joggers and a colour top in a particular colour. Other countries manage.

GreenWhiteViolet · 25/08/2021 09:57

It's ridiculous, isn't it? I was also at a Catholic state school with a hideous brown and yellow uniform. Put me off those colours for life! Blazer was £75 and pleated skirt £40 in the 90s. I was poor, so we bought it very oversized and I was wearing the same set in year 11 that I started out with. Blazer no longer fitted but I used to just carry it, because at least there were no absurd 'must be worn at all times regardless of the temperature' rules back then.

Of course, wearing badly-fitting uniform was considered infinitely more acceptable than second-hand. In my working-class circles that was like 'charity' and we didn't go near it.

I was the only one in my class on free school meals though, so the school mostly achieved its objective of staying solidly middle class while not being overtly selective. Most working-class parents would look at those uniform prices and not even apply.

grafittiartist · 25/08/2021 12:02

One of our local MP's has been very vocal about this issue recently- I am grateful to her.