Page 15 | To be amazed that people still haven't bought their school uniform?

llamajohn · 2024-09-01T12:35:24+00:00

Kids go back on Tuesday. WhatsApp Group is alive with "argh, I can't find X item" or "where can I get the book bag"? As if it's been a complete surprise that their child is joining reception and the uniform shops and supermarkets have been closed since June... Why would you leave it to the last moment?

mnahmnah · 02/09/2024 21:45

Horsemum40 · 02/09/2024 20:36

Bad mum here who left it till last minute......can't find age 6/7 black joggers for pe anywhere, and my 15yo is going back to school in leggings as no black pleated skirts available online or any supermarket locally 🤣🤦‍♀️

Next have both online! With next day delivery

ineedtogwtoutbeforeitatoohot · 02/09/2024 21:53

Because not everyone is a fabulous as you !

NickyT64 · 02/09/2024 22:35

Maybe they want to get it as late as possible to rule out their children having a growth spurt and nothing fits by end of August. Maybe they’ve been budgeting. And what uniform shops shut in June?????!!!!!!

littlejlr · 02/09/2024 22:41

My daughter goes back to school on Wednesday, on Sunday night, a parent messaged to ask what the homework was and did we think there would be added extension time on taking the homework in.

lilkitten · 02/09/2024 23:17

NickyT64 · 02/09/2024 22:35

Maybe they want to get it as late as possible to rule out their children having a growth spurt and nothing fits by end of August. Maybe they’ve been budgeting. And what uniform shops shut in June?????!!!!!!

When working in Clarks, isn't wasn't uncommon to have people who'd bought school shoes in July come back at the end of August as they were now too tight, so I totally get it

ladykale · 02/09/2024 23:19

Kids grow a lot in 2 months...

Saschka · 02/09/2024 23:23

They might have been hoping for a waiting list place in a school they ranked higher?

I know of at least one family who bought the uniform of School 1 in June, convinced they would get a place offered from the waiting list over summer.

Of course they didn’t, and their DD had to go to school on day 1 in School 2 in the wrong uniform. Parents then held out for another week or two hoping people wouldn’t take up their places at school 1, before caving and buying the correct uniform for the school their DD was actually attending.

steff13 · 02/09/2024 23:26

I think you are easily amazed.

HurtingSister · 02/09/2024 23:44

I made a mistake before of buying uniforms in July. By the end of August my kids had grown. Never again. Now I buy uniforms a day or two before school starts.

Tinymrscollings · 03/09/2024 00:07

I’m assuming the OP isn’t brand new to having children in school as they feel experienced enough to tell us all off, but is new enough to still enjoy the novelty of buying small grey and insert primary colour items for her children to model for door photos on the first day. She hasn’t yet noticed that every year they walk into school and immediately present their first weekly offering to the uniform monster, who must be appeased with meals of expensive logoed fleeces, but never Asda shorts.

Come back to us in a few years OP, when your kids are moody and grow inconsistently and you’ve worked out that if you hang back long enough the alpha parents will put all of their beautifully laundered outgrown uniform on the Facebook page for a couple of quid. You can well bear the judgement when you fill in the gaps in the last week of the holidays having saved a couple of hundred quid.

My son came home today from his first day back with no blazer and no ruler. The beast has been sated and it only cost me a tenner from the second hand stall.

FlatWhiteExtraHot · 03/09/2024 10:06

pebbles8811 · 02/09/2024 18:41

I buy my kids uniform the week before as their known to grow over the summer and I cba with returning and rebuying

So what do you do when they’ve grown out of it by the end of November and there’s none in the shops?

Putmeinsummer · 03/09/2024 11:40

FlatWhiteExtraHot · 03/09/2024 10:06

So what do you do when they’ve grown out of it by the end of November and there’s none in the shops?

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There's always school uniform available all year, it's just not on promotion and they might restrict the range from 4 types of pinafore to one type.

CatMum10 · 03/09/2024 13:01

I usually have it sorted in July. This year ex didn't send any money at all and I have struggled. I haven't got all of it. I haven't personally eaten in days to afford the £38 skirts. I am setting up a payment plan with the uniform shop for next year. Most people get paid at the end of the month. Just a bad year for us.

Veryoldandtired · 06/09/2024 11:00

My personal pet peeve is that a lot of our uniform is branded. Polos, PE stuff, jumper. Everything else is really heavily regimented. Only light grey shorts, grey socks and black shoes, not trainers, no bling or thrills. I’ve just spent £117 on 2 jumpers, 3 polos & 2 pe t-shirts. And the quality of these is absolutely horrible!!! Sizing is all wrong, jumpers shed like crazy, polos are scratchy and pe t-shirts are too short. Oh well… we saved up for a couple of months and waited until summer is over to see how much my son has grown.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 06/09/2024 12:09

When we moved from Essex to Scotland, ds1 and ds2 moved from grammar schools with strict uniform policies, which cost us a fortune (ds1's PE kit alone cost £125), to a Scottish high school with a far more sensible policy. The kids could wear a blazer if they wanted to, but it was not compulsory. There was no branded uniform (apart from the school tie) - they wore black trousers or skirts, white shirts, and a black jumper/fleece/zip up sweatshirt - no hoodies, and they had to be able to see the top of the tie (so no high round necks, basically). The PE kit was shorts, t-shirt and trainers/football boots - they had to be plain, and no football colours, but anything else went.

The school still had a cohesive identity, good behaviour, and excellent results (it was 7th in the Times league tables, the year we moved there) - and not only were the children comfortable, the parents weren't having to buy expensive kit, and it was all easily washable, unlike the dry-clean only blazer from ds1's previous school. All three of our boys flourished there.

Uniform is one way to instil good standards and behaviour in a school, but it clearly isn't the only way.

MrsSunshine2b · 06/09/2024 12:13

Tinymrscollings · 03/09/2024 00:07

I’m assuming the OP isn’t brand new to having children in school as they feel experienced enough to tell us all off, but is new enough to still enjoy the novelty of buying small grey and insert primary colour items for her children to model for door photos on the first day. She hasn’t yet noticed that every year they walk into school and immediately present their first weekly offering to the uniform monster, who must be appeased with meals of expensive logoed fleeces, but never Asda shorts.

Come back to us in a few years OP, when your kids are moody and grow inconsistently and you’ve worked out that if you hang back long enough the alpha parents will put all of their beautifully laundered outgrown uniform on the Facebook page for a couple of quid. You can well bear the judgement when you fill in the gaps in the last week of the holidays having saved a couple of hundred quid.

My son came home today from his first day back with no blazer and no ruler. The beast has been sated and it only cost me a tenner from the second hand stall.

To be fair, OP posted this in September. The "alpha parents" you mention are usually donating their uniform to the PTA in July. If you want to save money, rushing around the night before school starts for anything in your child's size, and having to pay whatever it costs, is probably the worst strategy.

You did make me laugh re "the uniform fairy" though- it took my daughter until day 2 to come home missing one hair bow, pretty much the only thing she was wearing that didn't have her name on it!

Gogogo12345 · 09/09/2024 14:30

MrsPositivity1 · 02/09/2024 18:58

I wanted to wait to make sure my teenager got the grades to return to do A Levels

For 6th form? That's unusual isn't it?

Gogogo12345 · 09/09/2024 14:32

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 06/09/2024 12:09

When we moved from Essex to Scotland, ds1 and ds2 moved from grammar schools with strict uniform policies, which cost us a fortune (ds1's PE kit alone cost £125), to a Scottish high school with a far more sensible policy. The kids could wear a blazer if they wanted to, but it was not compulsory. There was no branded uniform (apart from the school tie) - they wore black trousers or skirts, white shirts, and a black jumper/fleece/zip up sweatshirt - no hoodies, and they had to be able to see the top of the tie (so no high round necks, basically). The PE kit was shorts, t-shirt and trainers/football boots - they had to be plain, and no football colours, but anything else went.

The school still had a cohesive identity, good behaviour, and excellent results (it was 7th in the Times league tables, the year we moved there) - and not only were the children comfortable, the parents weren't having to buy expensive kit, and it was all easily washable, unlike the dry-clean only blazer from ds1's previous school. All three of our boys flourished there.

Uniform is one way to instil good standards and behaviour in a school, but it clearly isn't the only way.

KEGS perhaps? Sounds similar prices to CCHS

Sartre · 09/09/2024 14:45

Always find it astonishing that so many shops sell out of uniform, why don’t they recognise it is most likely to be bought in huge amounts across the country between August and early September time and stock up accordingly?

People leave it late for all kinds of reasons but they shouldn’t be in a situation where they can’t find any black trousers by early September. Such a basic uniform item, shops should have the stock.

asdfgasdfg · 09/09/2024 14:54

Mine used to grow before my very eyes during the holiday so I'd wait till the last minute incase they outgrew what I bought in July!!

pumpkinpillow · 09/09/2024 15:18

asdfgasdfg · 09/09/2024 14:54

Mine used to grow before my very eyes during the holiday so I'd wait till the last minute incase they outgrew what I bought in July!!

I swear my 15 yo is taller every time he leaves his bedroom (which to be fair can sometimes be quite a stretch of time!). April 2023 he was about 3 inches shorter than me when I'm wearing really high platforms (looking at a photo taken at a wedding). He is now about 2 inches taller. I'd say he's grown about 8 inches in 16 months.
No wonder I have been muttering "how can you be hungry again" so much this past year. He's not even done yet!

MrsPositivity1 · 09/09/2024 15:35

Gogogo12345 · 09/09/2024 14:30

For 6th form? That's unusual isn't it?

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We are in NI. For my son to get back into his school (Grammar) you need to have a minimum number of points (plus usually an A in the subjects you want to study for A Level)

DappledThings · 09/09/2024 16:05

Sartre · 09/09/2024 14:45

Always find it astonishing that so many shops sell out of uniform, why don’t they recognise it is most likely to be bought in huge amounts across the country between August and early September time and stock up accordingly?

People leave it late for all kinds of reasons but they shouldn’t be in a situation where they can’t find any black trousers by early September. Such a basic uniform item, shops should have the stock.

They do it on purpose to force everyone to do it early so they can make room for their Christmas stuff and force you to panic buy that early to make room for Easter.

Nobody is allowed to buy stuff at the actual festival or time required. It's bullshit and utterly infuriating.

pictoosh · 09/09/2024 17:00

"Nobody is allowed to buy stuff at the actual festival or time required. It's bullshit and utterly infuriating."

Agree with this.

Gogogo12345 · 09/09/2024 19:16

MrsPositivity1 · 09/09/2024 15:35

We are in NI. For my son to get back into his school (Grammar) you need to have a minimum number of points (plus usually an A in the subjects you want to study for A Level)

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I meant needing uniform for 6th form.