School is getting so expensive

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

I genuinely don’t know how we can afford this.

We’ve just spent £600 kitting out the 3dc for the new school year. Fine. It can be pricy.

But now we’ve just had an email from school, due to COVID our boys need a school tracksuit to travel in on PE days. That £50 for two.

Now ds1 need Alevel text books at £180 and a recommended scientific calculator is £100.

We are reasonably lowish earners but not low enough to be eligible to claim anything.

How do others manage this? Nearly £1000 is just so much money.

My ds did A level maths and he did need the £100 calculator. But his school supplied it (very small A level class in a 'poor' area so I think they chose to invest in this for the kids ). In all honesty I would buy the calculator and not get the logoed joggers. The school are changing their arm with that imo.
You could contact the school and see if there's a way to but second hand calculator's from last year's students.

Was it a typo re The price of a calculator.
They are more likely to be £10

I don't know everything about your life.
I have dc of both sexes. My 3 went to single sex schools too. I've never replaced the whole uniform in September.. 2 of mine also went to different 6th forms, so only slightly different in that 4 yrs in their Junior school then 5 years in the one (different) secondaries then moved for 6th form. So can compare.

They're NOT more likely to be £10!
A level maths requires a sophisticated calculator!

When ds started they gave three options. The main one they recommended was about 35 pound. Then they said if you were feing rich this other one was super duper and it was 100.
He got the 35 quid one and he lost it and we had to buy another

That's ridiculous re the calculator - my son has just done A level maths and the one his (grammar) school recommended, and we could buy through the school, was about £15.

@BackforGood

I don't know everything about your life. I have dc of both sexes. My 3 went to single sex schools too. I've never replaced the whole uniform in September.. 2 of mine also went to different 6th forms, so only slightly different in that 4 yrs in their Junior school then 5 years in the one (different) secondaries then moved for 6th form. So can compare.

I haven’t replaced their whole uniform every September 🤷🏻‍♀️ They have new things that either they don’t currently own or have grown out of.

I agree, we've just kitted out one child for first year at a the new secondary school & it's come to about £400 plus £600 for the bus pass.

Can't walk instead, single track 60mph roads with no pavement.

I feel your pain @GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat

I’ve just bought Ds a new calculator for A Level Maths & Further Maths. Cost around £20 from Amazon. CASIO FX-991EX

We have several others in the house but he claimed they were only ok for GCSEs.

Mutters darkly about log tables...

My DD did A level Maths and Further Maths and Physics and got top grade in all 3. We got her calculator from a car boot sale, think it cost £1. It wasn't the one the school recommended so she had to work some things out for herself.

This is getting a bit like the 3 Yorkshiremen but truly she did have a £1 calculator.

We've just kitted out our twins for starting school and I couldn't believe the cost!!
School shoes, trainers and plimsoles alone came to over £100 and we've had an email this week saying we need to buy logo tracksuit bottoms and hoodies for them to wear in on PE days.

Even primary school uniform is expensive now , at my youngest child's primary they even have to have to have PE shorts , t shirt and track suit with the logo. That alone was £50 then you have the actual uniform which has to have the logo and can only be bought from one shop. This is a state school by the way.

@BackforGood If 1 dc has shot up and outgrown the blazer (which you would obviously buy over sized for Year 7), then that blazer goes to dc2, and dc2's blazer goes to dc3. Ditto virtually everything else, from PE kits and football boots to shirts and jumpers. Yes, shoes add up, and can't generally be passed down, but I've never spent a fraction of that between my 3 on uniform.
It doesn't always work like that though. I have 4, they went to 2 different senior schools. With the first two lots of stuff got passed down. With the younger 2 it didn't work like that at all, for a start off they were different sexes and the younger one was bigger than the older one so even unisex stuff couldn't get passed down when he started as he was already bigger than her. She didn't have football boots to pass down and he just wouldn't wear her swimming costume, awkward so and so.

The calculator is probably a graphing one- mine both needed them. You can pick up second hand versions in CEX.
Used in physics and further maths

Backforgood Depending on the quality of uniform schools use, some school suppliers don't manufacture uniform that is fit to be passed down after a year or two's wear. Ds only had polo shirts & a sweatshirt, after being washed a couple of times a week for the last two years they were so faded that they were only fit for the bin when he finished Y11. Not forgetting that some schools change the design or colours
of uniform on a whim.

I am surprised that the school are letting blazers be worn this year. I don't know a single school doing this because they are not washed frequently so can harbour germs. Any chance of returning the blazers?

Shoes are expensive. I am with you on that, but that is just part of the cost of having kinds.

The school logo tracksuit is ridiculous. E-mail the school and say you can't afford it this year and you will be sending him in wearing a plain tracksuit in the same colour. If they want him to wear a school one they will need to provide it.

School uniform suppliers should be investigated by one of these TV programmes like Panorama. They often make cheap acrylic clothing that is uncomfortable, doesn't wash well and charge more than expensive high street brands. Ours had sweater with holes that were too small for my kids' heads one year. I confess I have a very good sewing machine that can do embroidery so I bought some cheap sweaters from Fruit of the Loom and copied the logo myself. No one ever noticed. I am fairly sure the suppliers are buying from the most disreputable manufacturers in developing countries and are not making sure that the factory employees are paid a local living wage.

DSs is doing alevel maths and physics, his calculator was £30. £100 is ridiculous!!

I'm doing a maths degree with the OU - my calculator was about £20.

So if I do contact the school what do I say? I’m poor can you help?

Yes, point out your eldest can do A Levels at the local FE college and not need uniform.

All my local schools seem to be wearing blazers with the exception of the school that doesn't have them in the first place.

I have one DD and she has to wear a different jumper this year. £36 each.

New shoes, £80, Doc Marten Mary Janes. I hope the last three years until Y11.

The blazer bought in Y7 is still holding out, but if she needs new, it'll be £65.

She'll need new skirts soon, holding out until half term to save the money, but they are also £36 each.

A specific white open collar blouse, found in the uniform shop or on Amazon, £18 for 4.

PE kit is holding out, but it's about £100 for the top, tracksuit bottoms and hoodie. All school logo branded.

On top of all this, underwear, tights, new coat from H&M, specific hair ties, and a school bag, with a logo (£27).

If we try and substitute anything the headteacher can see it at 100 paces, and the child gets a detention.

On top of this we are expected to pay for some art materials and school trips that are hideously expensive.

This is a state secondary school in a mixed socio-economic area of South London.

There was a reason in the past why children often left school as soon as they reached legal leaving age. Before WW1 it was 12. Between the wars 14. Post WW2 15. It was the cost. Many families simply couldn't afford the costs. Especially for children who passed the 11+ to go to secondary school but never got to go because their parents couldn't afford the uniform and equipment. My mother in law passed her 11+ and was very proud to go to the Grammar school. She was made to leave at 15 though by her parents because she was now working age. They couldn't justify the costs of staying at school when she could be earning a wage.
Families shouldn't have to struggle financially for their children to get an education. It's all so wrong.

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8414/ gives the government statutory guidance on school uniform. It is not legislation, but then most of the Covid look down measures were guidelines and not legislation too. It doesn't mean they should be wilfully ignored. Uniforms should be affordable.

"No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to, or attend, a school of their choice, due to the cost of the uniform. "

"When considering how the school uniform should be sourced, governing bodies should give highest priority to the consideration of cost and value for money for parents."

"Governing bodies should be able to demonstrate that they have obtained the best value for money from suppliers."

Now compare your school's uniform costs with the costs of supermarket uniforms. Tesco have a logo service available to schools and it does not affect the price:

www.tesco.com/zones/clothing/school-uniform

That should read lockdown. If any of the uniform is more expensive than a supermarket then you have reasonable grounds for complaint.

In general, for A Level Maths you will need the classwiz casio fx-991ex. It costs anything from £21 to £30 depending on where you look. Don’t listen to people telling you about £10 calculator that they did whatever degree with. The requirements of the new A Level spec expect students to have the Classwiz. You could get away with not having one but you have to be an absolutely brilliant mathematician and you might be able to do it without one.

The £100 calculator that you have been asked to buy is more likely to be a graphical calculator.
Some graphical calculators, generally ones that can’t do algebraic integration are allowed in A Level exam. They do give students a huge advantage if they know how to use properly. The problem is most Maths teachers don’t know how to use one so they can’t teach students to use them. If they are doing IB Maths, a graphical calculator is quite essential.

Check with school to see if they really need a graphical calculator.

There have been a lot of comments in this thread. Some of them sound like the poster is an expert on the matter. You can choose to believe or not but having taught Maths for a long long time across 4 exam boards, I do think I know a little bit.

You can have a look here
qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/mathematics-2017.news.html?article=%2Fcontent%2Fdemo%2Fen%2Fnews-policy%2Fqualifications%2Fa-levels%2Fmaths%2Fspecial-discount-on-casio-calculators

You can see the graphical calculator mentioned. I can’t be bothered to find the document from Edexcel but do a bit of research and save some money.

Op just looked up the calculator, that is INSANE!!! We got an awful shock this year with books, couldn't go second hand and the cost!!! Also 1 school uniform and bits of the others'. It all absolutely knocked us. I don't know how people manage

@Lockdownseperation

£200 each for the clothes that they will wear for just over half the year isn’t that much. It’s a little under £1 a day.

But alas cannot be paid that way

Just be thankful you don't have to buy the books also OP...here in Ireland we buy EVERYTHING! The only thing the school provides is the teacher technically. We also then have to pay for photocopying and art fees too! €300 for books for my 5 yr old and 7yr old, €80 fees, and then uniform also.