Private school - uniform cost

[FrancyFancy]

I'll start by saying its 50/50 as to if my son will actually go to a private school, we haven't decided yet.
This morning I was at the local play park with my DS (2) he befriended a little girl. I got talking to her mum, I'm pretty new to the area and don't know anyone local yet.
Was asking about schools, her DD is due to start at one of the several independent prep schools, my son is registered for this school (doesn't guarantee a place). It has a distinctive very sweet uniform, which I mentioned, she told me it was £1500 including shoes etc. She said if you didn't buy as many duplicates you could probably get it down to £1000.
I had a look on the suppliers website, blazer (for all years including Kindergarten(equivalent of Reception) was £110, the duffel coat/winter coat, £130, hats at nearly £40 each (girls need summer and winter). Then a full games uniform, with its own coat costing another £40, summer dresses nearing £40, pinafores over that. Blouses £22-£26 depending on sleeve length/size
Seems like for boys it would be a lot less but still stupidly expensive.

AIBU to think this is totally ridiculous??

Private school parents - Is this the norm? If not how much do you spend? Has the uniform costs put anyone else off of private?

They don’t have you over a barrel at all, because you choose the school and there are plenty of others. I’ll save the over a barrel comments for some state school uniform prices which are cheaper, but relative to family affordability, can be more expensive. With zero choice.

I love a silly uniform, ever since a friend went to Christ’s Hospital! I would happily pay big amounts for a silly uniform, I love them!

TBF I didn’t chase up and I’ve budgeted for new now so…

I clearly live in a different world from the posters on this thread. DD's blazer was £32. I can't remember what her PE shirt was and I could buy everything else from standard shops.

There seems to be an awful lot of unnecessary "extras" on that uniform list that no state school pupil would ever wear.

@Testina i got some stick from my university friends as my son’s prep school uniform involves a cap!

And the uniform at Christ's hospital is free (loaned)

You aren't wrong about some state school uniforms @Testina. Fortunately the only compulsory things DD needed was the blazer, tie and PE shirt.

I'd have said individual item cost sounds about right but I'm not sure how it would add up to £1500 though? Second hand all the way too!

I wouldn't even call this uniform particularly 'Silly', it's very classic, but the caps/boater hats/winter girls hats make it very cute. The girls do wear lovely little collared blouses with trim which is quite suite.

Experience of four senior private schools which normally come out at about £400-£500 per child. When the eldest had expensive shirts we only bought two.

This particular mum said she had bought 4 pinafores/4 long sleeve blouses/ 4 short sleeve/ 4 summer dresses/ 4 cardigans. I guess you could get away with less, but she mentioned that her DD manages to get everything messy and she doesn't have time to do washing in the week.

It's a feature, not a bug. They don't want the hoi polloi turning up, and will spin you some bullshit about there being a second hand market as well so it doesn't cost that much as a token effort.

That said - do a drive by at pick up in December and see how many are actually wearing duffel coats etc.

@derekthe1adyhamster yes I know - but the point is, I fell in love with it and would happily pay top dollar for my kids to wear a similarly whacky uniform! There are clearly plenty of parents who will pay high uniform costs. Some because it’s small change to them, others because like me they want the distinctive uniforms and will choose to pay for that. Like the OP said initially - the one she’s talking about is sweet and distinctive.

As it happens, I can’t afford school fees so my kids are in a shiny cheap black polyester blazer and £6 clip on tie (both free in Y7 from the Academy Trust) and Asda everything else.

But nobody is forcing anyone to choose a school with separate branded winter and summer hats!

DS's was £600ish including shoes/trainers (breakdown is similar - blazer, coat, hats, pinafores, summer dresses, socks, blouses, jumpers, PE/games kit etc). This goes up in cost in prep when more kit is required due to different sports etc. to about 1k.
Second hand uniform shop is heavily used and encouraged!
As PP have mentioned, fees go up as they move through year groups. As well as school year increases (generally low in infants but get gradually bigger) you also have annual fee increases. We just had ours which is an eye watering 10% 😧there can be lots of extras too, so the uniform really is small in comparison. Be sure to factor that in to any financial plan.
*Having said this, we are at a small independent school in the north that is in no way similar to the famous public schools who I suspect probably charge a lot more

“This particular mum said she had bought 4 pinafores/4 long sleeve blouses/ 4 short sleeve/ 4 summer dresses/ 4 cardigans. I guess you could get away with less, but she mentioned that her DD manages to get everything messy and she doesn't have time to do washing in the week.”

🤣 but she can wear the least messy from the week on Fridays? Sounds like a silly cover for, “meh, I can afford it so 🤷🏻‍♀️”
You certainly don’t need 8 shirts in the same week.

The private school we're planning to send DS to allows any brand shirts, shorts and v-neck - M&S the favourite. Only blazer, socks and sports gear need to be branded and from what I gather all are readily available at the school thrift shop. Should be able to kit him out for less than £200 not including shoes.

I think they wear games kits on games day, so it actually works out to fresh uniform everyday, I definitely wouldn't be getting DS a fresh set for everyday, the short sleeve blouses will hardly be worn I imagine, they spend summer term in dresses, so maybe just a few weeks before it turns cold in October!! Crazy !

I have 4 kids who have been at 3different private schools and I have never paid more than £350-450 for initial kit out. There are lots of items you don't need eg you don't need a running top, a rainjacket and a coat. The local state secondary initial total kit out is also around £400. You can get some of it second hand if so inclined. Maybe Eton orsp.ewhwre but standard preps and secondaries I'd be amazed if more than £500 for full initial kit out.

I've never seen a private school with uniform that expensive. It isn't the norm. My ds wears ordinary white shirts from anywhere and ordinary black trousers from anywhere (secondary). Only thing that he needs branded is blazer which was 65 and tie, which was about £6.

We’re at a private prep and that sounds expensive.

If I’d bought it all new I’d probably have spent £500 -600 when we joined and then again when we needed extra sports kit (from pre prep to prep) it would have been another £500 if new. But, the second hand shop does a roaring trade and the school are fairly relaxed on buying elsewhere. Eg shirts from M&S, tights can be any, skins for sports we do on the cheap.

Most kids are in 2nd hand stuff, if not 3rd/4th/5th hand. It gives me a weird pleasure to count the number of other old name labels I can find on an item.

P.s our blazers are also £110 and dry clean only

@SaltyGod this would also give me great satisfaction!

Ours were about £500 per child - tbh I think two thirds of that was the insane amount of sports kit they need. But we managed fine with just one summer dress/one winter dress - at £40-50 each, one was fine!! No need to have one for every day - just wash overnight when needed. Buy big blazers - they will do 2-3 years if looked after. Also there will be a second hand shop of some sort - they're very popular because even people with loads of money prefer to buy half price in the second hand shop.

This

It’s a private school. What do you expect? My DD is starting at a normal secondary in September and the uniform cost will easily reach near enough £500 including shoes and coat.

This is prep by the way. I'd expect senior to be more expensive/more kit