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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I paid £12.50 for an extremely cheap school cardigan! I feel fleeced...

59 replies

DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 17:52

£12.50 for a cardigan with a school logo, £4.50 for a house colour PE top (also school logo'd). School coat £20 (I'm ok with that 1 - it's got stormshield).

Boys jumpers are only 8.50. Why am I paying more as she's a girl?

OP posts:
ShowOfHands · 23/08/2021 18:34

My dd always wanted a jumper and I was glad to save the money. Then I had a son and he wears a cardigan.

I'm just glad my dd doesn't wear skirts as boys can wear any old trousers, girls have to have the regulation uniform one and they're £20 a pop.

Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 18:42

that's so unfair £20 for a skirt. School skirts are £7 in asda for teens. Rip-off Britain!

OP posts:
Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 18:44

@NapoleonOzmolysis Thank you for that report. It's informative & infuriating.

OP posts:
MulanIsChinese · 23/08/2021 18:48

@DingDongThongs oh eck, sorry I spoke!

BeauxRingarde · 23/08/2021 18:53

@DingDongThongs

that's so unfair £20 for a skirt. School skirts are £7 in asda for teens. Rip-off Britain!
Rip off Britain? I'd be more concerned about who's making those 7 quid skirts...probably kids the same age as yours who should be in school, but aren't.
Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 18:55

[quote MulanIsChinese]@DingDongThongs oh eck, sorry I spoke! [/quote]
Didn't mean to upset u xx genuinely

OP posts:
Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 18:55

sorry if I've offended you x Mulanischinese

OP posts:
Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 18:56

@BeauxRingarde the £40 skirts are also made by young girls in Pakistan. I agree it isn't right.

OP posts:
Thehop · 23/08/2021 18:57

I buy nice M&as cardigans and take them to the embroiderer store get the emblem on.

Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 18:58

@Thehop

I buy nice M&as cardigans and take them to the embroiderer store get the emblem on.
I do love M & S. The quality is amazing.
OP posts:
Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 18:58

@ShowOfHands

My dd always wanted a jumper and I was glad to save the money. Then I had a son and he wears a cardigan.

I'm just glad my dd doesn't wear skirts as boys can wear any old trousers, girls have to have the regulation uniform one and they're £20 a pop.

£20 is a lot for a flippin skirt.
OP posts:
LadyFannyButton · 23/08/2021 18:59

@MulanIsChinese

Our school jumpers are £40 each plus a blazer that is £85!! Uniform for two cost £800 and I haven't bought shoes yet!
I was going to post to op, wait until you have to buy a blazer.

Ours was £86! I actually cried when I walked out of the uniform shop, I think the sports socks were £12 a pair.

Goodtohear · 23/08/2021 19:01

I have boy/girl twins and noticed this with not just school uniform but also general clothes. School shoes are my biggest bug bear as girls shoes don't last as long /are not as sturdy and often more expensive. Luckily dd often chooses boys shoes/clothes.

Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 19:02

I've been buying blazers for a while £37. He only got 1. Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask...

OP posts:
Peanutsandchilli · 23/08/2021 19:03

Girls can wear jumpers, just as boys can wear cardigans. All the cardigans that I've bought recently have the buttons on the 'boys' side so they're made to be unisex.

I was, however, ranting to my husband yesterday about the senior girls' skirts costing £17.50, whilst the boys' trousers can be bought from the supermarket. I know girls can wear trousers, but still...

Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 19:03

£86 - are they insane?

OP posts:
Hoolahoophop · 23/08/2021 19:07

£24 for cardi, £35 for hat, £10 tie then the shirts, pinafore, coat, shoes, socks tights, book bag, logo'd sports top and tracksuit, seperate hat and scarf for playtime, colour specific trainers for pe Day.......... Then all change for summer uniform. Different dress, hat, blazer etc. I haven't added it all up. Must be well over £200 per child. Thank goodness for second hand uniform stall! I'd take £12 for a cardi. Sad

Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 19:09

is there a boys side? Which is it? All the cardigans I've seen are girly looking.

£17.50 for a $*dd%%% skirt. Jesus wept. You need to with others complain, they won't stop till you point out the contravention of the equality act!

The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act does not deal specifically with school uniform, but the general requirement under the Act not to discriminate in the treatment of pupils applies.

However, government guidance for schools on the Act notes that differences in uniform requirements for male and female pupils are standard, and unlikely to be discriminatory unless one gender is particularly disadvantaged (for example, if the uniform for boys is much more expensive than the uniform for girls).

It is therefore up to schools to consider the implications of gender specific uniform rules on their pupils.

that's wriggle room for them to tell girls to be in the naff expensive skirts whilst lads can rock up in £7 trousers from asda.

We have a tremendous mountain to climb on equality.

OP posts:
twinningatlife · 23/08/2021 19:10

That's cheap! It's £25 for a cheap material school cardigan for a RECEPTION age child here - not even got a bloody logo
On it! And £8.95 each for a polo shirt with the logo on - not a private school by the way

Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 19:13

This is a breakdown from the primary school website that is from 1 supplier:

Logo'd book bag £4.35
School cardi is now £12.65! Seriously...
School tops for lads now £8.20
school fleece is £13.40
school polo is 7.90
school pe top now 6.35

It's even more if you have a child with a weight problem.

OP posts:
Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 19:14

@twinningatlife

That's cheap! It's £25 for a cheap material school cardigan for a RECEPTION age child here - not even got a bloody logo On it! And £8.95 each for a polo shirt with the logo on - not a private school by the way
Where are you- the South? That's an awful lot of money hun
OP posts:
Original poster
DingDongThongs · 23/08/2021 19:19

@Hoolahoophop that's awful. How do poor families even come close to affording that?

I see my 12.50 cardi with less venom now.

OP posts:
youngandbroken · 23/08/2021 19:25

My daughters school want them to have Polo tops with the logo on at £9 per top. My daughter is going into year 1! They get destroyed 😭... I think state schools insisting on their own logo items is ridiculous anyway uniforms should be affordable for everyone and the prices from the supplier our school use definitely are not! Why can't schools just sell the iron on patches like they used to?

aerosocks · 23/08/2021 19:26

@DingDongThongs

I suppose girl's stuff is more fiddly and narrows at the waist. The M and S stuff is lovely so somethings are worth paying more for.
I bet the boys' stuff is much more robust and well made though.
BeauxRingarde · 23/08/2021 19:27

@DingDongThongs

This is a breakdown from the primary school website that is from 1 supplier:

Logo'd book bag £4.35
School cardi is now £12.65! Seriously...
School tops for lads now £8.20
school fleece is £13.40
school polo is 7.90
school pe top now 6.35

It's even more if you have a child with a weight problem.

Again, that all seems very cheap. I'd be delighted if I could get my kids uniforms for twice that price.