To think school uniform is too expensive?

[Loveheart1133]

Secondary school is going to cost in excess of £200.

That’s just for one child. That’s for 2 sweatshirts, 1 full PE kit, tie, 2 x trousers, 5 x shirts, shoes, stationery.

The £200 is not including school bag, coat, trainers for PE.

I know that the government were supposed to be making new rules about limiting the number of branded items. But as far as I can tell the school require logo jumpers, PE kits which consists of shorts, top, socks, and tracksuit. Plus Summer polo top.

I’m lucky in that I do have the money, but I can imagine for some families especially with 2 or more children it’s completely unaffordable.

Items get lost despite being labelled never to be seen again.

I know people will say they get a lot of use out of them etc etc but honestly I begrudge paying all that money for polyester clothing to dress my child like a mini adult going to work in a bank.

Isn’t it about time that uniform has an overhaul and was actually comfortable and affordable.

Look more closely at the uniform list - branded pe items might be listed but if its a state school /non fee paying it will say somewhere, however small, that some of those branded items are 'optional'. It will say something like 'school pe shorts with logo OR plain black unbranded sports shorts'. Government have said schools cant make more than three logo/branded items compulsory with the exception of a tie so most schools have said blazer, tie and a pe top with logo are the compulsory bits that must carry logo.

I long for primary school uniform prices 😭

It’s definitely not cheap, but at least you’ve got plenty of time to save for it. Even putting away £1 a week for a few years beforehand would help! I do think more schools should allow badges to be bought separately and sewn onto generic jumpers, sports tops and polo shirts. Personally, I think blazers should be done away with altogether. The only extra thing needed could be an official school tie. Kids can still look smart and feel like they’re in uniform without it costing parents a fortune.

@Loveheart1133 yes, the English system is mad. For a long time in Scotland they have always been conscious about the cost of the school day. Edinburgh Council has now told schools to not make blazers compulsory. Blazers are useless in Scotland, too warm in the summer and not practical for colder wet weather. Most Edinburgh secondary schools were just black and white. White shirt, black bottoms, black top and all black footwear. No compulsory logo stuff. So you can kit out you kid from supermarket. PE used to be black shorts, plain white t shirt. Parents bought what they can afford. Absolutely no need for logo on everything. Surprisingly, what they wear does not determine how well the do in school.

@AliceMcK or we (society) could be better at teaching children how to behave in public 🤔

I went to a school where they had no uniform.
Rich kids stood out and set the trend.
The less well off kids put pressure on their parents to keep up with the rich kids. Some could and some couldn’t. Parents hated it.

The poorer kids looked untrendy and boring according to everyone else.
Then you have many families who buy their kids non branded clothes to wear to school and keep the branded items as home clothes for going out in.

Then we moved to a uniform school which made everything easier and cheaper for my parents. No one was in competition to set any trends.

No matter what way you look at it, buying clothes is expensive. Uniform is great leveler. All my local state and private (yes private!) have second hand uniform sale set up by the PTFA. In couple of nearby school they have a uniform bank for those who
are struggling.

Its a shame the government cant force schools to just sell the school emblem patches so you could sew/glue/iron them on. Instead I have had to pay £50 for a blazer with an embroidered emblem. A high street blazer (probably better quality) is under £20. The school pe top is £20, luckily i got one second hand. Its a complete rip off!

@VaccineSticker I also went to a secondary that had no uniform from 4th Year (Year 10 in new) so I only had to wear uniform for the first 3 years of secondary.
In the non uniform years - no one cared what others wore. Seriously. No one did. People just wore what they wanted.

Except if I buy clothes they can be worn anywhere, school uniform is restricted in where kids can wear it. If my budget is such that I can only afford one pair of shoes, I’d rather they were more versatile than a pair of leather school shoes, I’d rather buy a jacket than a blazer because he’ll get more use out of it and it’s more practical.

It became law in Scotland that schools were no longer permitted to force branded embroidered uniform on people and you can buy cheaper plain jumpers etc yourself.

It's bullshit. If uniform really is necessary in order to access education, schools should provide it. Not tell parents to spend money on it.

Ignore this ridiculous poster you replied to. They are rage baiting.

It’s ridiculous that anyone would suggest parents save a pound a week for years to buy clothes to send their child to school. School uniform should be affordable and practical. I’m very glad, yet again, I live in Scotland, where there’s real efforts to lower the cost of the school day.

What the hell, how on earth is it rage baiting to point out it’s much cheaper to buy one set of clothes that serve multiple purposes than one set of clothes for a specific location that aren’t practical for another location/purpose?

I only ever bought everything at once for reception and year 7. Then I just replaced as and when needed. My ds’s didn’t just conveniently grow every August!

Also I just bought the bare minimum to start with and then topped up as we figured out what was really needed.

school socks? Forgot it, sports direct had something more or less the same for a fraction of the price. Tracksuit? Never ended up buying one.

many schools have second hand uniform shops or Facebook pages, I used them lots too to keep costs down.

ime lots of people buy everything new every summer when it’s not needed. Even moving up to secondary, bags, pencil cases, lunch boxes, shoes etc can be carried over from primary.

Exactly.
I agree with you @Jellycatspyjamas.

It is too expensive, but it is what it is. My daughter had to transfer schools mid year in March, and her logo uniform cost £215. We didn't have much time to save because it was an emergency transfer.

Saying this, DD is very good at not losing her things. I can't afford to keep replacing jumpers etc, so I explained that to her and she always puts her jumper in her locker if it's not being worn.

I have seen primary school kids in Scotland on tiktok going back to school. Most state schools. Plenty of them with smart kilted skirts and blazers that you have to specially but yet my English primary school my kid attends they can wear supermarket polo shirts and jumpers. Scotland isn't quite the utopia some think on here.

I was being sarcastic 🙄!

I don’t understand why they have to be branded? Back in the day, we used to buy plain blazers and sew a school badge on the pocket. Why can’t they just sell badges? Or better still, just accept plain clothes!

I agree with you @Jellycatspyjamas

When did you go to school?

I’m not really arsed about the cost of uniform because they wear it all year but the problem is that all the kids at my daughters’ school are in Nike socks, black Nike/New Balance trainers, Nike leggings etc.

Its difficult. I want them to fit in so I let them have some bits and pieces but some of these kids are in designer t-shirts etc 5 days a week. School says no visible brands but they don’t enforce it.

My DDs primary school had the choice of a grey/black skirt or pinafore, or a skirt/pinafore in the schools tartan. The tartan kit was more expensive but there was a second hand uniform swap in the school - there was a pretty even split between kids who wore each option. The important thing being it wasn’t compulsory nor were kids looked down on for wearing something different.

Where do you report state schools that are flouting these rules and are there any consequences?