to think branded school shirts are criminal

[uniformscrooge]

Looking at a secondary school for DD. They're allowed a max of 3 branded items as per gov rules.

One of the "items" is the shirt - and they're sold by the school supplier for £45 for a pack of 2! I'd probably have to buy 2 packs at least, and they'd probably not last the year. Is that not fucking crazy? I was expecting blazer, jumper, PE top or something, things i'd be able to just buy one of, not the fucking school shirt!

I know having teens is expensive but this takes the piss.. I probably won't send her there for a few reasons, I was just gobsmacked.

What are your mandatory branded items? Is this normal?

YABU - stop being so cheap and pay for the shirt
YANBU - fuck that, I want to buy shirts for a fiver from a supermarket

DS is in primary and they don't make anything mandatory- just generic black jumper and grey trousers though you could buy the branded shirts and jumpers. We have a few... that haven't been lost.

The attached secondary (it is an All-Through) seems to have mandatory blazer which they use to encourage good behaviour in the community. But nothing else from the looks of it.

It is a mixed income area and we appreciate their approach!

Blazer tie and pe top here, but they have been sneaky and said the pe fleece is optional (although nothing else if allowed and they do outdoor pe in all weathers) and the normal pe top is wafer thin!

The school I used to work at has this. They say it’s because they want their pupils identifiable as members of the school when they take their jumpers off. However, the jumper and the shirts are the only branded items required and the shirts are £19-£23 for a 2 pack depending on size and the jumpers are £20. No blazers or tie and generic PE kit. The teams competing at events etc wear school-owned strips that is obviously washed between matches!

once they grow out, cut the label out and resew it on a new shirt. look for second hand items on FB marketplace. buy larger sizes so they last longer.

not ideal and I agree with you OP. It's not fair.

Oh, and one of the schools I’m looking at for DD has special shirts (striped), blazer, special skirt/trousers and a branded PE top so clearly have just decided to ignore the new guidance…
the others are all either blazer or jumper and a PE top. Some also have a specific skirt.
Our primary has nothing branded compulsory. Just plain navy blue/white with the option to buy branded if you want.

My dds are adults now but when they were at secondary school the only thing they didn’t have to have from the school shop was the shirts! Blazer, tie, skirt/trousers, full pe kit including socks, school bag. They even sold bobbles and clips because they had to be school colours. Unless it’s a branded polo shirt for summer it’s madness to have to buy shirts from school!

£16 for a pack of sock (2 pairs). I’ve since cut the ribbon part of the socks and attached them to plain coloured new socks. I refuse to buy the school regulation socks. Luckily our school has regular second hand uniform sales for other items.

That’s ridiculous. My DD is in secondary and wears plain white ones. Plain jumper as well. It’s just the blazer that’s logo-ed

Our branded items are blazer, pe top and tie. There are other items available but they are optional

My son’s school has uniform trousers! The jumper is supposedly generic but it has to not just be a grey v neck, it has to have a specific maroon stripe on the next. Guess what, nowhere does an equivalent apart from the official uniform shop. Bastards.
My only slight comfort is that his younger brother will get some use from his outgrown stuff but it’s still a fkn rip off. And don’t get me started on the mandatory blazer which is dry clean only 😡

Our 3 items are (secondary)
Blazer £36
Tie £8
PE top £18
When mine were at secondary you could buy a blazer from anywhere and just buy the badge at the school shop and sew it on yourself.

That’s fucking disgusting. We have only one mandatory branded item and that’s the house T-shirt for PE. It’s £7 and they provide one for free! Most s1 wear the blazer at least for the first couple months but it’s not mandatory. I think it might be mandatory for s6 but I’m not sure.

We have school jumper and PE top at primary school (and tie but thats just striped). I quite like the PE top as it's dark so it hides grass and pen stains (unlike the white polo shirts).

The secondary school I like for DS1 has polo shirt, jumper, and PE shirt plus some optional stuff. It also has a lot of PE kit (not branded). DS1 loves sport he will use all the football socks/boots/shorts anyway but it would be a bit annoying if I had a DC that didn't like sport.

At least there's no blazer! DS1 instantly discounted the one local school that wears blazers.

That's all very well if you have kids who are interested in and very good at sport; but if that's the main reasoning, it's pointlessly expensive for all the kids who hate PE and are never in a million years going to want to or qualify for a school sports team.

At our DS's school, they have to have the PE kit, plus extras like shin pads and gum shields, which are never going to be remotely needed by the many kids who are only doing PE because they have no choice - even in Y10, when they've had to drop some academic subjects that they enjoyed and were good at, but are still forced to turn up for PE lessons and go through the motions. They did try to tell them that they needed football boots AND rugby boots, as well as their trainers, of course; but we refused and got one pair of cheap, used football (or were they rugby? who knows?) boots, which have been used a few times, each of which a pair of trainers would have sufficed.

Can you imagine if every subject they did at school demanded that they have a separate uniform and multiple pieces of equipment that are never needed? Even the ones they want to do; never mind the hated filler ones like PE (for the many teens like my DS, at least).

The legislation actually mandates against things like this jumper scenario. It specifically states that non-branded items must be available from a range of suppliers otherwise they count towards the limit. Might be worth pointing that out to them!

Every secondary school will have a second hand uniform shop. A lot of these items are nearly new.
Find out when they are selling it - usually by the PTA. If your child is PP you can ask for help.
And think how much you will save, not having to buy all those trendy clothes.
its common for parents to complain, then spend a fortune on the latest bag, Nike trainers and iPhone. £22.50 is not bad for a shirt….

Ours are all branded, including socks! The only things not are the boys and girls formal shorts. I’ve only ever seen a couple of girls wearing shorts and it’s a big school, they all wear skirts. All uniforms have to be bought through the school, nothing generic from department stores. I think uniforms should be optional.

What makes makes the school shirt branded? Doesn’t have the school badge?

you are allowed to 3 items so my school is the jumper / tie and PE top the rest can be bought from any store?

trying to think how they can make shirt branded as it would be under a blazer or jumper and would be absolutely pointless

One of the schools where I live, luckily not my son's, has a different tie for every school year which is ridiculous. I get they are not expensive but it's not necessary and stops hand downs to siblings

That's ridiculous. Our branded items are blazer, tie, jumper and p.e top, which seems quite reasonable to me. There are other branded items available, coats and fleeces but almost no one buys them. The tie is about a tenner so not ridiculously priced. Primary tried to go on with branded polo shirts and very quickly lost that battle as not one parent in the school was willing to stump £20 a shirt for primary aged kids. We do live in a very deprived borough though

I’m guessing it’s not just a logo, there is a school nearish us that wear blue & white striped shirts. Definitely not something you could replicate from anywhere but the uniform shop.

A state school nearby has wool blazers. I think they are about £120. Far from making kids look smart, i often see (usually at the end of term) kids squeezed into blazers that are way too small and getting tatty, presumably because the parent is trying to eke it out as long as possible! And they are a pain to wash and dry
My own kids blazers were much cheaper and could be washed easily.

Quite why schools don't bulk-buy a fabric badge and sell these to parents instead. They might even get the older kids to sew them on at the beginning of term. And, yes ... that's exactly what we used to do (1970s).

Im pretty sure the schools must get a % from the uniform shops

It’s three branded for primary and four branded for secondary, £45 is ridiculous, but least it’s only 4 ridiculously expensive items not everything!