£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

Our was always £350-400. Rugby kit was expensive and lost several times .

We saved costs by keeping and reusing kit and uniform where possible. Luckily plain white shirts and black trousers were easily sourced from supermarkets. Otherwise it would have been upwards of £500.

My kids never wore their school shoes or Pe trainers outside of school. The rules on what they're made of and exactly what style/shade of black they need to be make them pretty much useless for anything else. They are an additional expense. If there was no uniform they could just wear the regular trainers they already own for evenings, weekends and holidays.

DS14- 6'2", size 14 feet. Adult clothes, and I'll basically pay any price for school shoes, trainers and football boots that we can find that fit!!

He's in the largest size blazer, with 2 years left at school

Including shoes, his high school uniform easily cost £420! Lay year,

But they're not useless, you decide that. A lunch box and bag is still needed though.

Why do kids needs 3 blazers and 3 jumpers

surly you can reduce costs by buying only one outer layer as these are not directly against the skin or worn for p”playing out” and PE.

only need 2 or 3 bottoms and 5 tops?

I'm confused why you all buy so many items.

Also do school really expect 3 different shoes for sports?

I think possibly the parents of primary i school children, may not appreciate how quickly teenagers grow!

Also do school really expect 3 different shoes for sports?

At high school, at least football/hockey boots and trainers is pretty normal IME. I'm resisting the need for cricket spikes.

Also do school really expect 3 different shoes for sports?

At High school, yes they do. Normal trainers for athletics, football/hockey boots the exact type depending on whether they play on astro, and rugby boots are standard.

Ds school only expect trainers for PE and normal school shoes. When they do football I believe they have a supply of boots which can be borrowed but they don’t expect children to provide their own

How is it ridiculous? Your children must not get dirty or are you washing clothes several times a week?

My oldest is SEN comes home almost every school day with something on his clothes. Youngest is better but the knees of his trousers and sleeves of his jumper are always a sight. I usually use a wet cloth to get the stains out but if that doesn’t work, straight to the laundry basket and wash their uniform stuff, once a week or every 10 days in the Friday evening.

Many adults who have to wear uniforms for their job have more than one or two sets so why wouldn’t it be the same for children.

I've just spent £100 on uniform for DS who starts Reception in September, and I still have school shoes and trainers for PE to get.

School insist that their jumpers and book bags have to be the ones with their logo on that you can only get from one supplier. Everything else I've bought from Sainsbury's or M&S.

@LittleMrsPretty - I can’t imagine getting away with owning only 1 jumper for any age child tbh. My 3 year old will often get one wet or dirty whilst at nursery, so is changed. That’s 2 jumpers before lunchtime.
School age and teens will still get food/ dirt/ sweat etc on jumper, so 1 for a whole week seems optimistic. I think 3 minimum to allow for wearing one, one waiting for next wash/drying and spare.

I also don’t wash all clothes daily. So a white top would wait several days until enough whites for a fuller load.

Sorry I've missed if this has already been mentioned on the thread - in Ireland parents have to buy all textbooks every year at a cost of a few hundred euros (as well as uniform!) Does this generate the same debate there regarding families for whom this is unaffordable? Genuinely interested.

As said previously I don't completely disagree with uniform per se but it's the monopoly of suppliers and having a multitude of logoed or branded items that bumps the price up (not the fact that parents are buying 5 shirts!)

Eg At my DC school, boys must wear black trousers - these (thankfully) can be bought anywhere and I buy 2 x 2 pairs from M and S. DS is fairly skinny and the slim fit ones fit him well.
Girls however can wear navy skirt or unflattering trousers which must be purchased from the school supplier at £25 each. Why can they not wear generic black skirt or trousers?

For PE there is a branded polo shirt (fair enough) but then they have to wear a branded base layer (£28) or school fleece (around £28) or Rugby top (£38) if you require long sleeves. What's wrong with a plain base layer if you already have a branded polo shirt?
Socks are branded and cost £8/pair. Sports direct sell the same type and exact colour for £2/pair (I had the SD ones for DS when he was at primary and DD had the school ones and I often confused them in the wash) only difference was a stripe and school initials.
Girls had to wear school brand leggings (about £28) They are probably no more expensive than DDs reebok leggings that she wears for gym and dance....but instead of having 1 pair she could wear for both in and out of school, she needs 2 pairs.

It's all very well saying there are laws preventing schools doing that but the experience of this thread shows they are either not being adhered to, or are more like guidelines that schools interpret as they wish. And I'm not sure if academies are exempt ? DC primary school brought in branded uniform including pe kit when they joined a MAT.
I complained about the local supplier having a monopoly, on a town sm page. It's quite a well off area and most people were happy to pay expensive prices without question, they were all saying the shop was a family business and had been there since the beginning of time. And some had fond memories of getting their own school uniforms there, so apparently this made it OK!!

Completely agree with the comment about school skirts... why do they have to be an odd course or specific tartan? Would the world really end if they wore black or grey skirts?

We don't have a school uniform and my DD basically wears leggings and a t-shirt and jumper (shorts in summer). We do not spend £400+ on her non uniform.

I did say it was cheaper and easier imo. Most teens girls I know wouldn’t want to wear leggings and a t shirt every day.

Where exactly is my 15 year old going to wear leather office shoes outside if school? Of course they're useless. We aren't allowed to choose comfortable, practical shoes because they don't meet the uniform requirements. Also, I was that kid who had to wear my uniform outside if school and it was humiliating. I've never understood this idea that uniform is better for poor kids. It isn't. If my mum hadn't needed to spend so much on uniform she could have bought 5 times as many regular clothes in the local charity shop, which would have been infinitely better. Non uniform works just fine all over the world

Honestly, it’s crazy isn’t it. I don’t get all the nonsense around uniforms.

When ds was at secondary, a new
secondary school opened in the area. It had a swanky uniform, blazers, ties. I mean it looked good, but uniform isn’t the be all and end all.

But parents were vying to get into that one over ds school (which actually had the highest attainment rates in the borough), and so many parents I spoke to said it was because the school ds went to looked a lot scruffier with polo shirts and jumpers.

Polo shirts and jumpers at secondary are a godsend! Especially as the polo shirt was a dark colour! Kids should be comfortable.

The year after ds left, his old school switched to shirts, ties and blazers to keep up with the other school.

It was an incredibly snobby area though, so I think that had something to do with it.

When DD was at school (she stopped wearing uniform in 2016 when she went to sixth form) we were easily paying that. She had to have a specific school coat and that alone cost £80 - if they wore any other coat they were put in isolation. It was a crappy thin thing too with no hood and they weren't allowed to wear hats, scarves or gloves with it. DD's three mile round trip walks to and from school were hellish in winter but there was nothing we could do.

She also had to have two of everything else bought directly from the school. Only school-issue skirts were permitted and they were £30 each. And two polo shirts, two sweatshirts, full PE kit (or kits - separate ones for gym, football, netball, cross country, etc), regulation school rucksack which fell to bits after six months so needed constant replacement...

Added to that football boots, trainers, school shoes and stuff like apron for crafts (again school issue) and tights (you guessed it ...school issue because they were a very specific colour). It was neverending. DH wasn't earning much in those days and we had to forego things like trips/birthday parties to be able to afford the bloody uniform.

According to the school website it's still as strict and of course more expensive. The coat is now £119!

They even had a colour coded system so each year had a specific colour on the school crest on their uniform so items couldn't be handed down from older DC. Dickheads.

Some schools you have to buy from a certain store as the skirts etc are not like anything sold in other shops. Not everyone is lucky enough they can just go to marksies etc for stuff like that

https://www.waltoncharity.org.uk/news/cost-of-school-uniform-act-one-year-on?format=amp

Schools should be making uniform affordable - sounds like some aren’t compliant - contact the governors.

While the act is as woolly as “As part of the guidance from the Department for Education, schools are encouraged to keep branded items to a minimum and give parents a choice about where they buy clothing.” it’s simply not going to change everywhere.

encouraged - not compelled.

Told to consider - again not compelled.

Lots of primary schools near me seem to have swapped to pleated checked tartan style skirts so only available at uniform shop and around £20 each not the generic any grey skirt £7 in next/Asda etc.

The only way to make this stop is to put teeth in the legislation. All schools to allow high street/supermarket clothes. Logos to consist of sew on or iron on badges provided at cost. School non compliant? Straight into OFSTED special measures. Nothing else will work.

DD’s state school for years 7-11 sell a blazer £45 or a premium blazer £80-90 (depending on size) 99% of kids have the premium it’s a different fabric and different buttons. Not sure how that is allowed as it obviously visibly singles out poorer children.