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Secondary education

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Original poster

Cost of school uniform

80 replies

mumwithtwokids · 01/08/2012 11:14

Hi all,

Apologies if this has already been covered in great detail but my first DS is starting secondary school in September. We purchased the final bits of his uniform yesterday and can't believe how much everything has cost. We must have spent in the region of £500 - I'm still shocked Shock

OP posts:
tinytalker · 01/08/2012 22:41

WOW! Is this private or state?

SparklingGoldMedals · 01/08/2012 22:44

That is a lot. Does that include everything? I hope so!

Snowfire · 01/08/2012 22:49

That's incredible for school uniform! I've spent just over £200 on DD's new uniform, that includes shoes & new trainers Grin
Admittedly I did get given a couple of jumpers & PE tops my friend's DD had grown out of.... Still wouldn't have been anywhere near £500 though!!

BackforGood · 01/08/2012 22:53

OK, so my dd is now at the end of year 8, but it was well under £100 to kit her out - what on earth are you buying ?

SparklingGoldMedals · 01/08/2012 22:53

mum can we have a breakdown to see what cost what?

DSs sports kit cost 80 pounds, and his blazer 35.

Groovee · 01/08/2012 22:55

I spent £32 on dd's uniform from the school. She got new skirts etc in march and I bought them black rather than grey. Probably under £100 all in

AuntySib · 01/08/2012 22:57

Gosh, that is a lot. DS3's cam in at under £100, but I am v cheapskate so Asda shirts etc.

marriednotdead · 01/08/2012 23:05

DS going into Yr 11. Blazer £33, trousers £18, 5 shirts and a plain jumper from Primark £26, Kickers £70. Last years tie ok. Bag @ £20-25. Quite enough to be going on with.

RaspberryLemonPavlova · 01/08/2012 23:37

There was a thread about this a little while ago and I was shocked then by what it cost some people for state school uniform.

Mine was considerably less than a £100, plus shoes and bag(s) for DD. When he started DS1 was a little more expensive as boys have to have a rugby shirt which was £20.

However he is going into Y10 and it will still fit him this year which is the last compulsory year

Original poster
mumwithtwokids · 02/08/2012 08:43

Yup state school and we've bought everything now minus the shoes. The sports kit and mouth guard was the most expensive totalling nearly £300 as we had to buy the normal and house kit.

Will try and get the complete breakdown.

OP posts:
CeCeMazycktowinparaolympicgold · 02/08/2012 08:55

I have spent about £100 in the official uniform shop and then about another £10 on shirts. The shoes will be about £40, so I think it will be about £150 in total...

The shocker for me though was £20 for a years use of a locker!

tiggytape · 02/08/2012 11:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KitKatGirl1 · 02/08/2012 12:12

That does seem a lot for state. For year 7, private school, we've just spent £350 on all the compulsory stuff (blazer, tie and 1 jumper but 4 x Sports kits being the most expensive) plus approx £50 on trousers and shirts, £33 for shoes (outlet purchase for first time!) and mega cheap branded trainers and footie boots at just £10 each (outlet store again). Oh plus £30 for a decent waterproof to wear over blazer (yes, he will wear it, he's autistic and not bothered about being cool!).

Am really hoping the Sports kit will last at least 2 years if not 3 (he won't be in any teams!) but blazer will probably only last one year!

BackforGood · 02/08/2012 14:35

You need to buy things like blazers and sports kit with growing room though. All Yr7s walk around as if they have no hands due to growing room in the sleeves - it's the law. It would be ridiculous to buy uniform only expecting it to last a year.

KitKatGirl1 · 02/08/2012 15:05

Some school uniform shops won't let you do that, though, BackforGood; though I was pleased to notice that it's actually the opposite at ds's school - lots of yr 8s/9s walking around with very small blazers!

BackforGood · 02/08/2012 15:26

eh?
What a customer chooses to buy, is not down to the shop to dictate. I don't understand how they could "let" or "not let" you buy whatever size you want to Confused

CeCeMazycktowinparaolympicgold · 02/08/2012 21:10

The man in our uniform shop was positively encouraging us to buy blazers big enough for "at least 2 years use".

Poor DD only has fingertips when she wears hers. Grin

Ketuk · 02/08/2012 21:21

Our uniform shop also encourage lots of growing room, advising us to sew up the sleeves shorter for a year or so on the blazer that is over £80 a pop.

CeCeMazycktowinparaolympicgold · 02/08/2012 22:33

At least ours are only £32!

BooksandBrunch · 03/08/2012 00:51

Sounds like you've been done somehow!

£200 so far, probably another £70 max. In the queue at me ds school, when being a bit nosey, no one's bill exceeded £225, that included Rugby kit, coat trainers but not shoes.

Nuttyprofessor · 03/08/2012 01:02

£500 here too. Sports kits running shoes, football boots, indoor trainers all bump it up.

crazygracieuk · 03/08/2012 02:06

I've spent £250 and need school shoes, rugby boots, bag, white shirts and trousers.

School has given us a very vague equipment list so am expecting scientific calculator, language dictionary and other equipment to be required in September.

KitKatGirl1 · 03/08/2012 09:01

Well it's the school shop attached to the private school so they can do what they like. You obviously can't buy the stuff from anywhere else (I know state schools are not allowed to have this practice but some do too) and they measure your child and bring out the size they think. I wanted him to have a blazer that fit to start with and actually couldn't have bought the one bigger anyway as it looked ridiculous on the shoulders (very skinny ds)!

But equally at the state school I work in no-one seems to have blazers too big, either, again it is more common to see yr 8s/9s in blazers too small!

KitKatGirl1 · 03/08/2012 09:02

But they did encourage and even 'let' us buy the sports kit very big and since that was by far the most expensive part, that was fine by me!

nagynolonger · 03/08/2012 09:16

The only thing I've had to buy this year is 4 new school shirts (£22). We've got everything else which still fits or passed down from older brothers.

I will need to buy shoes and he wants a new school bag but there's nothing wrong with is old one so he'll buy that himself.

I hope it's our last year of school uniforms. Until now post 16 have been able to wear their own stuff but there is talk of year 12 & 13 wearing uniform as from 2013.

£500 is a lot but it soon mounts up. Even at our state comp logoed jumpers are £26 a time. Plain navy blue aren't allowed I am grateful DS didn't lose any kit last year.