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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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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

OP posts:

EcoLady · 03/08/2012 14:44

DDs uniform and kit has come to about £250, including the calculator and French dictionary that they recommended. School branded polos, sweatshirts, PE kit including football boots, etc... it all adds up.

bizzey · 04/08/2012 16:13

Complete "clothes uniform"...£215.00(including mouth guard )...

Smiths....£40.00

Still need to get shoes...football/rugby boots never bought them before as not sporty ds.......and school bag ...ohh and ?memory stick !.....oh and labels ...

The look on my face when he goes in on his first day ....PRICELESS..

The look on my face when he comes home on his first not having lost anything ....PRICELESS

Mutteroo · 04/08/2012 22:56

DCs Primary school was fairly cheap for uniform, DD state secondary also fairly reasonable. DD Private senior girls school seriously expensive (in 3 years I spent £800 on various items. Shirts were £32, skirts £35-40, blazer £80 (got one 2nd hand for £50), plus PE kit, shoes trainers etc etc., DS Prep school was slightly more expensive than primary but not as expensive as state senior school, DS public school was reasonable when DS started but now much more costly.
DS will attend state sixth form college from September & I bet the cost of clothing will probably be just as costly as paying for a uniform!

conorsrockers · 04/08/2012 23:05

Cricket bat, armour (!), cricket trousers & shoes, new tennis racquet,, hockey stick, mouthguard, football boots, rugby studs, astro boots, new trainers .... £200? I did that in the sports shop alone - and that wasn't even the sports kit (and don't mention the uniform shop) ... god help us when the other two reach Year 5 . I probably wouldn't mind so much if he was really sporty

mockingjay · 05/08/2012 11:46

I can quite believe that... when I started at a comp in Lancashire about 15 years ago, the required school skirt cost 22 pounds - I remember my Mum complaining long and loud about it. And the PE uniform was just ridiculous. Who the hell needs special lacrosse socks for nearly 20 pounds a pair??

EdithWeston · 05/08/2012 11:59

If we had bought everything new, from the preferred supplier, it could have run to hundreds of pounds.

What we did was:
a) talk to a parent of a child at the school to discover what was really necessary
b) find out which items had look-alikes from supermarkets (huge saving on the trousers in particular)
c) found out date of the (termly) second hand sale and went in the summer term (too late for that now, probably) - huge saving on blazer.

We only had to get the tie and logoed sports shirt new, and brought the total bill down to under £100 (not including footwear).

microcosmia · 07/08/2012 01:03

£500 sounds very high for the uniform but as others said when sports gear is added in it mounts up.

We have 1st yr secondary school here (I'm in Ireland) and even in state school it is very costly - we've budgeted for ? 2000 but hope to get away with ? 1700. The uniform is ? 250 so far and I have to get sports gear still so I guess it will be well over ? 300 by then. Books are a big cost too as we have to pay for those here. Our book bill for DS is at ? 300 for one set and we have been advised to buy 2 sets one for school and one for home as he has SEN and will lose things and forget stuff on a daily basis. We still have the books for his options subjects to get in October plus sundry plays and resources to be bought from teachers in school. The total for books will be near ? 700 all told. Then we have the private bus service which is also ? 700 annually per child. Public bus service is half that but runs too late for school start time. We can absorb these costs but I do wonder how low income families with several children can possibly manage it.

gazzalw · 10/08/2012 09:24

Hi Mumwithtwokids!

Thought ours was expensive at about £300 and that was with finding a bargain pair of green flash plimsoll substitutes in Sports Direct (always avoided that shop like the plague but fast becoming a fan!) for £7.00 rather than £25.00 ;-).

Do agree that the sports component of the uniforms seems very expensive generally even for the comprehensives!

Mintyy · 10/08/2012 09:29

I've spent £133 so far and still need to buy

Tracksuit bottoms
Shorts
2 pairs of trousers (all of these I will get from M&S rather than the more expensive uniform shop ones)
Shoes

Its going to come in at over £200.

We are lucky in that we don't have a blazer or uniform coat. A neighbour has given dd her old coat, so am really chuffed about that.

CouthyMow · 11/08/2012 22:26

In Y7, I bought DD's blazer so large it went to her knuckles. She still grew so much that year that she ended Y7 in her 3rd blazer. She needed another at the end of Y8. Hopefully that one is big enough to last another two years, as I sure as heck am not buying her another one for Y11 when I will be buying a totally different uniform for a different school for DS1 going into Y7 at the same time!

gazzalw · 12/08/2012 07:47

DS still has an awful lot of growing to do so his uniform was bought with that in mind. In Year 10 they change blazers and jumpers anyway so we are hoping that current jumpers and blazer will last him until them.

But maybe not!

hoodoo12345 · 14/08/2012 09:56

I must of spent at least £200 already and still need to get, black coat(not that she'll wear it),school bag and shoes
The PE kit is the killer, the rugby shirt on its own cost £28!

bubby64 · 16/08/2012 13:34

So far just over £200 (X2, as have twins!), but still have to get shoes, trainers, football boots, and tracksuits. I have told them I cannot afford trendy designer bags, they will have to make do with their current backpacks! I have also got to get some new stationary items, so i rekon the total will be ver £300 each, and thats with some 2nd hand items from another parent. And yes, the sports kit claimed a large part of that total.
After primary school, where the only expensive thing were 4 school sweatshirts @£8.50 each (all the rest came from Asda's), this has caused a big dent in the family budget, even though I started buying things in March!

newpup · 16/08/2012 14:28

DD is at a private girls senior school and the uniform cost about £700 for everything , including hockey mouthguard,swimsuit,shoes,astro trainers etc. That was in Year 7, she is now going into Y9 and we just replace items as she grows out of them, thankfully not all at the same time! She only needed new tracksuit bottoms and shoes this time but at xmas she needed new shirts,jumpers and games tops.

The uniform is expensive but I have to say well made and everything can be worn again by DD2 when she starts at the senior school next year.

Ragwort · 16/08/2012 14:31

Shocked at some of these prices - have just spend £80 on DS (state school) - and then just found a rugby top (vgc) for £2 in a charity shop .

Sonatensatz · 23/08/2012 10:36

OMG, I can't believe how much school shoes have gone up this year I've just spent £111 on 2 pairs of shoes for my Ds's the younger ones were £60 because he needs to have boot style to support his ankles thats at least £15 more than 6 months ago when he had his last pair. I'me so relieved I didn't have to by new shoes for my DD too as hers still fit.

kindleholicsannonymous · 23/08/2012 10:55

I've held off on getting uniform as DS tends to stretch during the summer. He needs everything since he shot up from 5'5 to near 6th in the space of 4weeks Have to take him for shoes, blazer and jumper which will prob be near £150.... At least his shirt and trousers can be bought in Asda etc. Don't even want to think of PE kit.... He's going into Yr 11 so will wait and see what his PE timetable will be. If they start off with swimming then I won't have to get it for a month or so, which means I can hit the second hand sale.

hoxtonbabe · 25/08/2012 14:34

Hmmm, thinking back, mine would have been around the £350 mark, the Blazer alone was £70! I had to buy mine a size or 2 bigger than the average 11 year old with his trousers and as the trousers get bigger the more they cost, then I wanted him to have a good strong pair of Clarks shoes, they were £50, but did last a full year.

That £70 blazer has lasted 3 years so far, not sure if it will fit him in Sept, my ongoing costs are shirts and shoes, they are usually an every 6 month jobby, due to general growth and ink stains on the shirt?!?

SoggySummer · 25/08/2012 17:52

Well over £500 probably very close to £600.

Thats private though - would like to add that we are not rich though, DD goes thanks to the educaton continuity allowance for service families.

That total included all shoes and trainers (bought at an outlet) a second hand blazer, 4 second hand blouses and 1 second hand kilt from the school shop, so it could have been even worse.

The school brought out a brand new sports kit (and there is lots of it) this year so there was no second hand stuff to be bought there.

I could have wept at the £28 cycling shorts and the 2 x £44 jumpers. The £9 odd games socks (2 pairs).

Luckily I started buying as soon as DDs place was confirmed in June but even so its porridge and beans on toast for us for a few weeks now!

LJ1boy1girl · 02/08/2018 17:12

If you live in Bedfordshire you could try our Facebook Group for trading or free cycling used school uniform #recycle #reuse #schooluniform #ecofriendly #savemoney #bedfordshireschools m.facebook.com/groups/417117702135762

reluctantbrit · 03/08/2018 08:22

I went through this now as well and I am astonished how much schools can’t get away with.

DD’s blazer is more than twice the amount the linked boys secondary charges (2 single sex secondaries but same trust). We have to buy special skits, they can just get any black trousers.

DD’s school also changes the blazer after two years to a jumper and two years later to a cardigan.

PE top needs to be embroidered with the full name, no hand me downs.

All PE kit comes only online, I already had to exchange the skort she has to have as well as shorts, causing postage I could live without.

All in all apart from shoes I am over £300and that are just the mandatory bits, all so call optional ones are often worn regardless by everyone if I believe the rumours from mums who have their children already at the school.

I come from a non-uniform country and even after 7 years Primary I can’t see the point. But if the “need” is there why not keep it simple with a plain trousers/skirt and a blazer who does not cost 2x what an adult would pay for one to wear for work.

LaLaLolly · 03/08/2018 14:00

Both DCs starting school this year (P1, state school in Scotland).

£1000 (£500 each)

We did get 5 shirts/trousers (DS)/pinafores (DD) each, so uniform laundry gets done once a week.

Dixiechickonhols · 03/08/2018 15:07

Nhs Dentist did dd a mouth guard for free for yr 7.

668neighbour · 04/08/2018 03:07

We have a few years to save up before DS starts, but for a five year old new entrant at our local prep school, new uniform costs £800. Secondhand is about £400. Weirdly, the uniform cost is eyewatering, but the school fees are only £1000 a year.

Local state schools have no uniform, which i think is sensible, but they are monumentally crap at actually delivering worthwhile teaching... so we go with the poncey uniform and will have to teach DS to tie shoelaces and a tie when he's all of four years old.

AuditAngel · 04/08/2018 10:00

DD1 starting year 7. I managed to get a free second hand blazer, saving me £89.

I still paid £288.50 that’s did not include any blouses, socks/tights, shoes or trainers. WE already veg a mouth guard.

The only items I doubled up on were sports socks and ties.

I did not buy a second skirt at £35,but will if I have to.

I have also separately purchased stationery and a scientific calculator

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