£420 a year on school uniform?

[weareallout]

Just heard that i£420 is average on the news. Our high is no where near.
£40 blazer / lasts more than 1 year
£5 tie
£10-20 jumper
£10 PE top of £5 non logo
Any black shorts and trainers.
Black trousers and white shirts

@JaninaDuszejko I would really push back with this. Your Y10 will only be in school till May. That's very unreasonable to expect you to buy new.

It could easily be £400 the first year but presumably most of it will last a good while (presuming not lost!). Especially for girls who don't grow as much, most girls are near adult height by age 12. Most can probably get away with the same size throughout school or maybe will grow out of it once. Excepting shoes of course which need to be replaced annually.

Primary is cheaper per year but most children probbaly need everything replacing every 2 years at least?

I didn't include a bag and shoes in my uniform calculations upthread. Ds used the same nike backpack for school and college and never wore a coat. The college clothes includes sportswear and non sportswear.

I think that I must have been the only girl ever who went through from 1st year to Upper 6th having my raincoat shortened, that was back in the days when the mini came into fashion and it had been bought to allow for growth but as I was almost my current height when I was 12 it never happened.

I never spent that amount (even allowing for inflation)

1 blazer (was £20 for blazer plus £5 for badge you sewed on) lasted 2 years then passed on
1 jumper £10
5 blouses £20
2 skirts £15
Tights £20 for enough for year
Tie £5
Pe kit was £65 but lasted 2 years, then passed down
Trainers £15, school shoes £45
Bag £20 lasted years

Yes things have gone up but I don't accept some of the prices quoted today, trainers cost from £10, if you choose £100 ones more fool you ditto bag etc

Again, why does your child need 4 of everything?! That's ridiculous. No one needs 4 pairs of the same shorts, jumpers and trousers.
I think some people are just buying way too much of everything.
Coat, bag, lunchbox, socks, underwear, vests and trainers are things he'd need, uniform or not. Why is this being included in people's costings of uniform?

Coat, bag, lunchbox, socks, underwear, vests and trainers are things he'd need, uniform or not. Why is this being included in people's costings of uniform?

Some school dictate the coat, bag, shoes/trainers and lunchbox. School PE kits require special socks many children will have school specific feet coverings, whether they are white knee high socks, tights in the school uniform colours (I bought billions of red and grey school tights when my DDs were at primary school andnow am constantly replenishing black opaque tights) or simple grey or black socks (the only grey socks I have bought the kids were fortheir school uniforms).

This was made illegal. It's happening in less and less schools. I only really see it in private schools now. Still, all of those things can be used outside of school, esp in primary school.

My teenager costs me about £400 per year. More if he has a growth spurt and needs new shoes/trousers midway. Most of the uniform is branded and even the bits that aren't are very strict on style/colour so I can't buy cheap. The younger ones are home schooled and they cost me nothing. They already had a full wardrobe of clothes for outside of school before we started (same as their older brother) and I haven't yet had to buy anything extra. We spend the savings on books instead now :)

@Foxesandsquirrels because he's a teenage boy who plays football and comes home sweaty and stinking.

I work full time shifts so I'd rather not be washing one every day!

If he's a teenage boy he can easily do his own uniform wash, no? Esp if he's coming home filthy everyday.

He's 13. Only just, and goes between me and his fathers, easier for him to have a few just to make sure he's clean!

Over the course of a year the cost of having the washing machine on every single day for just 1-2 items (plus tumble dryer because in winter or on rainy days you can't get clothes dry) and that's not including the effect on the environment means it is necessary to have multiple sets of uniform.

I don’t think I spend much at all on uniform each year. There was a one off cost when they started secondary school, but since the costs have been minimal. Primary probably cost more as they grew out of stuff.

my two were both early growers so never grew out of the blazers they had in y7. Dd1’s did her right the way through and DD2s is still going strong in y10. They were only £25 to start with.

this year I’ve brought dd2 a pack of new shirts at the beginning of the year and I’ve just brought her new shoes which were £40 and a bag as hers died after using it for 3 years which was £20. I’m not expecting to have to buy her anything to start y11 apart from maybe some shirts if hers look too manky.

we’re lucky really that the school isn’t very strict on uniform. They’re even allowed to wear leggings.

I have 1 teen DS (he's 13). I have 5 shirts for him as we don't generate enough white washing to do more than 1 load per week. In the winter he might wear a shirt 2 days in a row but I wouldn't expect or want him to wear them for multiple days in the summer, particularly when worn with a blazer.
The shirts are the cheapest part of the uniform though, as they are one of the few things that fortunately don't need to be school branded

I've just priced it up for my eldest (secondary)
It is £345, not including PE trainers or PE shorts as he doesn't need new ones of these. He's had the same stuff since year 7 (other than trousers) and about to go into year 9 so needs a whole new set of everything.

Youngest (primary) is easier as she now goes into school in PE kit twice a week (this is a post Covid rule and makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE!) so needs less stuff. She's also happy in high street shoes, secondary aged DC not so much 🙄 I reckon £150 will see her through

Ah that makes sense.

DD goes to an independent, so it might not be an accurate comparison -

Duffle coat - 105 (every 2 years)
Blazer - 95 (every 2 years)
Cagoule (sp?) - 30 (every 2 years)
2 x pinafore dress - 80 (every 2 years)
3 x polo necks - 60 (every 2 years)
School polo shirt - 14 (every year)
5 x unbranded polo shirts - 20 (they get grubby - every year)
Skort - 24 (every 2 years)
Shorts - 18 (ever 2 years)
2 x unbranded jogging bottoms - 12 (every year)
3 x unbranded cardigans - 18 (every year)
3 x summer dress - 68 (every 2 years)
1 x school jumper - 48 (every 2 years)
Ballet kit - 50 (every year)
Swimming kit - 35 (every year)

So around £400 per year. Plus socks, shoes, tights, trainers, etc. (let's say another £120 for those).

Most of the big ticket items we buy a little too big, and have them taken up, and down, as needed.

Where we can buy supermarket/unbranded (e.g. plain cardigans, plain polo shirts) we do.

There is a thriving 'nearly new' sale - and there is no shame in buying secondhand, many of the parents pass items between families as people grown in and out of them.

My daughter is 6 and comes home almost every day with her cardigan, dress and polo shirt dirty and she doesn't even have dyspraxia which I imagine might mean a child is more likely to get their uniform dirty.
We both work 60+ hours a week and don't always have time to get uniform washed and dried until the weekend so we need enough for a full clean uniform 4 days a week, and then her PE kit.
I wouldn't include underwear in the uniform cost but my daughter needs to wear white or grey socks for school. I wouldn't put her in those the rest of the time so she does need specific ones.
Why would she need a lunch box if she wasn't going to school? She wouldn't need a bag either. And while her winter coat is the only thick coat she has, we had to buy a specific colour summer coat that she wouldn't have needed otherwise.
She has also got through 2 pairs of school shoes and 2 pairs of trainers so far as her feet grew massively earlier this year.

Schools have been told to consider if it’s necessary to have specific branded items - some are still deeming it necessary. It’s all “consider this” and “think about that” - it’s very woolly on what is necessary and what is expensive.

Plus they’re allowed to continue with current uniform supplier deals until they end so even schools that will makes changes don’t have to do it yet.

Not a year but yr7 was very expensive. Blazer £85 and pe leggings were £28. State school but almost everything was a logo and only available from 2 suppliers.

That's the very minimal though. I spent a lot more as my child needed 5 logo polo shirts, 3 logo sweatshirts (then 2 replacement ones as he lost 2 despite name tags on), 3 pairs of black school trousers, school shoes, PE white logo T shirt, PE Black shorts, coloured logo house PE kit t shirt for sports day and other house events. The trousers fitted for 2 years but logo polo shirts need replacing every year as not good quality and difficult to keep looking properly white even with hot 50 wash.

DD's first primary school was

Blue supermarket gingham dress x 3 £18
Blue supermarket cardigan x 3 £15
Black shoes £20
Supermarket PE kit £15ish
Pants/socks/coats were all things I'd have bought anyway.

But now they've been forced into an academy chain and they need branded nylon tartan tunics, branded shirts, branded cardigans, branded PE kit. I'm told the tunics start at £26 for the smallest size.

And this is the catchment school for the poorest part of a poverty stricken town. A huge proportion of kids are on pupil premium and/or have SEN, and most parents absolutely cannot afford it. People were switching schools specifically to avoid this issue. It's not uncommon for me to see kids going into school in filthy uniform because they've only got one set. And that's with a free uniform exchange in town!

@wherethecityis ok I get your point on quantity but this:

Why would she need a lunch box if she wasn't going to school? She wouldn't need a bag either.
She has also got through 2 pairs of school shoes and 2 pairs of trainers so far as her feet grew massively earlier this year.

This is a cost you'd incur whether she goes to non uniform or uniform school. This is a discussion on cost of uniform, not normal cost of having children.

This was for reception year at primary school

2 packs of 3 polos £12 - my child is the messiest person I know
2 pinafores - £12
1 skirt - £5
1 logo’d jumper £13
1 logo’d cardigan £13
1 logo’d fleece £16
2 packs of school socks - £10
1 pair of school shoes £40
1 pair of trainers £20
1 pack of 3 white t-shirts £5
1 pack of 2 PE shorts - £6
1 x book bag £5
1 x school bag £15
1 x water bottle £7
Total £177

During the year I’ve had to buy 2 more pairs of school shoes (feet keep growing), some more socks, some more white t-shirts, and 2 summer dresses.

DC1 can go back to school in summer uniform in September so I am hoping to fork out for only another school jumper, white polos, and white T-shirts.

Logo’s fleeces and jumpers will be kept for DC2 to wear next year.