Just because we manage to scrape the fees together....

[JulieF]

why does the principal of dd's school think we can afford to shell out £22 a time for a red striped summer dress? It can't be any old striped dress it has to be a certain one. DD is 3 for goodness sake and the dress was the most expensive in the shop, even more than the £15 dress for the VERY exclusive prep school a few miles away.

When she goes into reception her blazer will be £75! The uniform doesn;t even look anything special, you don't look at it and think independant like you do at some schools, its pretty bog standard looking.

i should think a lot of parents are in the same boat. We could afford fees for the kids but just not all the trappings that go with a private school

Uniform is stupidly exspensive for any school i think.

The cardigans for Dd's school are £14 which imo is too much.

I currently home ed my two, but we are looking into the possiblity of flexi-schooling at a tiny local montessori. The school looks lovely, and they appear to be very accomodating. He would be going one, maybe two days a week, but the unifom (which is very old fashioned, and IMO hideous, although the girls one is worse - navy pinafores with huuuuuge white collars) comes from Peter b**y Jones, ffs.

Nightmare, just hope ds changes his mind when we go to visit

Do they not have a Thrift shop or 2nd hand sales ? Definitely would not fork out for a new blazer as it just won't get the wear. Does she have to have one - for many schools at that age it would be optional.

Some schools have a sale where you can get 2nd hand stuff that other parents have brought along that kids have grown out of...

Our uniform isn't too bad pricewise, but I'm a firm believer in using the second-hand shop. When my boys started at the school 2 years ago, it cost me £120 for 2 full uniforms and games kits for a Y5 and Y7.

Apart from my very first school uniform which my grandparents paid for(grammar school but not private), all of mine came from the second hand clothes sales they had. Where a lot of the parents had more money than sense anyway, a lot of the clothes are like new still too.

The problem with the 2nd hand shop (or swap shop as it is called) is that the nursery and pre-pre department only opened in September, before that the youngest children were aged 7, so we are the first parents with children that small.

And yes, the blazer is compulsory.

That's what happens at private schools though - its not just the fees, its holidays and books and out of school activities you have to budget for

I went to private school, and every yera was kitted out in new balzer, skirt, blouses, jumpers etc, my school also had summer blouses for when we were older,and summer dresses and panama hats for primary girls. We had harris tweed winter coats, and our raincoats were green Burberries. God knows how my parents afforded for both my brother and me to go to private school.

I also did private oboe lessons. God I owe my parents so much

eek ,see your problem Julie F . Still think it is ridiculous to make Reception wear blazers though. Any chance you and parents in similar postion could request for it to be phased in.

Waiting for our lists to come through - will have 2 to kit out and much of it is only available from school. Whether the 2nd hand shop would have anything small enough for dd I'm not sure but have a friend on the case !

I suggest that you shell out for the stuff then flog it on next year - you will probably get 50% of your outlay back.

Schools are like political parties - you sign up for the whole deal, even if there are bits you don't like. IS the PTA worth a go if you want to get things changed?

Message withdrawn

Well my friends who is on the parents association is trying to question thehockey sticks we are supposed to buy for year 2's.

Nursery parents are not allowed to join the PA. The bit that is annoyins is that we were told that they were quite lax in nursery in that it could be any grey pinafore, not just the school design as long as they wore the sweatshirt. The girls currently wear a mix of Asda, Tesco, Mothercare etc.

We were told they would have to have the summer dress just before Easter. I assumed it could be any old dress as lopng as it was red striped but apparently the principal has said becasue some of the children will still be wearing their summer dresses when they move into reception in Sept all nursery girls have to have the official one.

I am currently scouring ebay in case any other schools have the same design.

I will probably be able to get a blazer from the swap shop as she doesn;t go into reception until sept 2006 and it is unisex so will come in for ds.

One of the reasons I though we could afford this is because they made a point of the fact that all food, trips and after school care is included.

We'll grip our teeth and do it, it just goes against my thrifty nature.

Year 2s with their own hockey stick??? Isn't that just concussion waiting to happen??

Bad luck on the secondhand shop - we had a similar problem when DD started as it was a new school and secondhand uniform wasn't around. But it's got much better as she's gone through the school - I can often pick up secondhand stuff and sell it on again.

Officially you're supposed to do it through the school shop but they take 40% (!) commission on sales as fundraising for the Parents' Social Association and so lots of people by-pass it, using the 'school gates' method!

I've been talking to parents from another private school recently and their secondhand shop sells everything, including hockey sticks, riding gear, etc.

I would say don't buy any of the extra bits until they start to send letters home that your child is missing something. Our school uniform stated you needed all sorts of things and most of it has never been worn or asked for. I didn't buy the cricket kit, swimsuit (she still wears her own) or the red tracksuit bottoms. Our uniform is pretty reasonable in cost, the hideous grey summer dresses cost £15 new but we do have a 2nd hand sale twice a year (a stall I always manage to help on!) so I've been collecting the junior uniform for DD age 6 for ages!!

My kid's school has a second hand shop. I was lucky enough to be 'tipped off' by a mate that a child was leaving the school after only a term and I bagged most of the uniform second hand. I muct say that unless my kids have grown out of things they don't get a new one each year. Dds duffell coat lasted her 3 years and her brother another 2. So although it was very expensive at £70 it ended up being a bargin.

We got our hockey sticks in the Sports Soccer (Donnay) cheapy shop! They were very reasonably priced