How 'usual' is this?

[exLtEveDallas]

Local Secondary School has sent parents a letter today informing them that from Sep all school skirts and trousers need to be logo'd and bought from X supplier.

School has the usual Logo ridden jumpers, blazers, ties, sports kit etc but I've never heard of trousers and skirts being obligatory.

Local FB page is full of ranting parents. Trousers are around £15/pair, skirts are £12. Apparently no consultation with parents.

Sounds bonkers to me.

You can get a pack of two pairs of normal plain black boys school trousers for £10 at Tesco. So it is quite a difference to kit them out entirely from one supplier compared to being able to get parts of it at cheaper shops.

Well the petition has disintegrated into comments slagging off the head and the quality of the teaching. That was to be expected. 300+ signatures now.

Its hard on some parents but lets face it, its a consequence of to many parents not giving a s**t about rules and sending their kids in wearing all sorts of crap.

Not a week goes by, there isn't an article in the Mail about a parent demanding the right for DC to have red hair, beard, earrings, trainers etc

4 children in 3 secondary schools at the moment

DD1 and dd2School (co ed non church)
shirts can be any type (but blue not white)
Logo jumper
Specific skirt or trousers (can't be bought in that blue colour anywhere else but at school)
logo sweatshirt
PE kit now fully logoed All you need is 1 shirt and 1 skorts (wasn't when dd1 started)
Total of £64.75 (this includes the specific shirts that I struggle to find elsewhere)
for boys a elasticated tie.. £9.75(rugby shirt is not a has to have)

For 6th form no uniform code what so ever (dd1 goes in in jeans and T shirts)

Ds is in a boys school
Expect

Logo PE uniform and rugby shirt
Blazer
Tie
Total £116.15
(6th form wants suits for boys and business clothing for girls - they take girls in 6th form)

DD3 school (church and co ed) requires

Logo shirts
Logo blazer
Logo v neck
Specific skirt
Logo PE kit
Guild shirt
Total £185.00

There is a summer dress for girls if they wish £38.95

(boys need tie and rugby shirt too at £6.95 and £24.96)

6th form wants smart business dress for both boys and girls

Interestingly by far the nicest uniform is DD3's school and also the school who takes care to ensure students are looking smart and gets pulled up on it all. I don't begrudge paying it. Ds school looks smart and has a uniform card so despite most of it can be bought from supermarkets the simpleness of the black uniform with white tie. and blazer makes it smart and smooth looking.

The 1st unifrom and also the cheapest well it never looks smart or proper even when completely clean and sorted. Something looks a bit " thrown together"

The 3 schools are within 30 minutes drive of each other So very different.

All normal set up IMO

One of the schools in my area have the school logo on skirt waistbands to prevent girls from shortening the length of their skirts bu rolling the waistband over.

There would be uproar here too. I don't see the need for trousers, skirts & plain shirts to be logo'd.

Buying big not good strategy for us. DS was very annoyed about wearing too big blazer for almost 2 yrs (yes he was there when we first bought it). My kids have never grown as predicted, though.

Yeah, I have one like that lljjk, DD is currently wearing a fleece that is too small because she kicked up such a fuss when I wanted to buy a 'too big' one last year that I acquiesced - but now won't buy another just for a couple of months.

Petition is at 500 sigs now. I wouldn't want to be the HT today.

Several of the schools here do it, one has the school name embroidered vertically down the side of the skirt and the rule is that the entire name must be visible, apparently to prevent the skirts being rolled up.

One of the other schools specifies grey, pleated skirt, no other restrictions, but must be worn with wooly grey tights.

Another has just informed all students that shoes must be polished every night...

Its pretty normal round here to have one dedicated shop for uniform . My DD skirt costs £ 36.50 and blazer £ 49.50 but to be fair she in her 2nd year and they still look like new. Think £ 12 is pretty good in comparison TBH but appreciate that if parents are used to being able to shop around they may not like the enforced change

£36.50 for a skirt!!!

pmsl at the polishing shoes every night edict.

No logo, but they do have a regulation skirt that has to be bought from one supplier

Dd1 has to wear a kilt that doesnt have a logo but you couldnt get it anywhere else. Then just for laughs it cant go in the dryer, cant be washed at over 30 and you cant use fabric conditioner with it, so they have to be washed by themselves.

They cost about £20. The girls look ok actually.

that seems ok a price for secondary school uniform. Even dd's skirts for her old state primary school were £10 maybe even £12 each from m&s.

ds2 is at local grammar and I pay £17 a pair for his non logo'd brought from anywhere formal black trousers. Cheapest I have seen is £14 in asda to fit him, but he is 6'3" at 14.

If they were £20+ an item then I could see a complaint. Its all indicative of how those parents who pander to little chloe/kyle. Make them stick to the uniform rules and there wouldn't be this issue. My children may want to wear skinny jeans style trousers or too short or tight a skirt but that's what weekends are for, we buy regulation uniform and expect them to wear it.

I'm not actually a fan of uniform especially at secondary school, but as we have no options here as all schools wear uniform and I made the choice for them to go there, and the dc had some choice in the schools they attend, that therefore we abide by the rules no matter how silly they may seem.

Part of growing up is realising what is worth rebelling about and when to follow the rules and tow the line.

My poor 14yo DD has had 4 senior schools (lots of house moves). All local state high schools 3 out of the 4 have had school only skirts/tousers.

The best one was the £27 skirt that had to be worn closer to the ankle than the knee - at least I felt I got my moneys worth in fabric and how bloody refreshing it was to see girls all looking the same without bum skimming skirts.

Sadly the school shes at now was £22 for a skirt the size of a handkerchief thats worn rolled up the minute my back is turned. Thats a whole other thread though.

Based on my personal expreience I dont think its that unusual now to have school issue/stipulated skirst and trousers.

A couple of secondary schools local to me have logoed skirts.

It does solve the problem of completely inappropriate skirts which besets the school where I work - very tight and very short. They are banned but still bought by parents - a logo skirt would sort it. As I see the ever-sagacious noblegiraffe has already said.

£12 for a skirt is about what I pay for DD from M&S anyway. £15 for trousers sounds OK too. Mine only have one of each, washed each week or midweek if needed. DD has had the same skirt for two years now :)

It's hit the local newspaper today, and the petition is up to about 700 - although from the comments I would suggest a good half of that number will be the kids themselves. A few parents were moaning about it in the playground today (our primary is a feeder for this school), but TBH it was the parents I expected to complain that were doing so.

The HT has made a statement saying they'd had 29 calls about it (bit of a difference from 700 signatures!) and that they would investigate the possibility of a cheaper supplier.

I won't sign a petition or complain about it. I think the school has given plenty of notice for people to be able to budget for the change. I understand the money issue, and do sympathise with those families that will struggle, but I think some parents need to think 'outside the box' before rushing to condem the HT and refusing to entertain the change.

It's normal here. ( state school .. Northwest) Dd is in fact on her second design of logo skirt . This one has the logo at the top with no waistband so there no rolling over of skirt as logo must be visible

You might want to look at the DfE guidance on school uniform and the gov.uk page on school uniform.

DD's school have regulation skirts and trousers, no logo but a specific style from a specific supplier. It mean they're all the same style and shade of grey for the skirts, and no possibility of trying to get away with black jeans for the trousers. £16.95 for a skirt, a little steep, but no regulation blazers offsets that a bit (£20 from M&S).

I do have a bit of a problem with them telling the supplier to stop selling the shortest length. Fair enough you don't want strapping year 10s in micro-minis, but it's a bit unfair on sub-5' year 7s.

two jumpers, two trousers, two PE shirts, two socks

Depending on what the jumper is made of, one might be ok - dd1 had a v-neck sweatshirt which took a long time to dry (no tumble dryer) so she had two. The younger dd's have an acrylic jumper, which can be washed and dried really quickly if necessary during the week so I only bought one.

And I only ever buy one PE kit - if they're muddy or smelly for the second PE lesson of the week, I don't really care, I'm not there to witness it!

DS is in year 7 and has trousers with the school name embroidered on. This is the first year of doing that and I think there hsve been some issues due to only one supplier and time to supply etc.

I'm on the parent council and it has been discussed there. One thing that's happened is that a lot more girls wear skirts than used to.

Our state school (Academy) doesn't do this. Pupils have to have the blazer and tie and the PE kit - comes to less than £50 per child - and everything else you can buy where you want as long as it meets regulations. They do check, but they're sensible about it.

It's not a leafy school by any means, a mixed catchment with some very challenging areas. If they don't need to rip parents off this way neither does any school.

The schools that do this will be getting big fat cashback out of this.

Our school is the same. It's an academy.

Logo on shirts, skirts, trousers, blazer, 2 PE tops (a summer and winter one) PE shorts and socks.

Tights have to be more than a 40 denier.

We also have to buy it from one shop. Tbh it doesn't bother me at all.

But it's cheaper than quote here. £25 per blazer. Can't remember the prices of everything else, exactly.

Dd has been there since September. The only thing I have had to buy is two new skirts as she seems to have grown but got smaller around the waist. So I got 2 smaller skirts. The bigger ones have gone away for later.

There are a few reasons for this. One of them is the the other uniform shop that sold the uniform was cheap but crap and people were complaining to the school. It was a lot of hassle for the school when it wasn't their choice.

Secondly, so many parents just didn't care. It used to be more relaxed but people were taking the piss a bit, black trousers were become black jeans or jogging bottoms etc.

The logo on the skirt is top and bottom so they can see at a glance if you have rolled it up.

Also our school gives ever pupil going into year 7 a full PE kit, one blazer, 2 shirts, one skirt/trousers and a tie. They have a night at the school where you have a slot, you try it on and they order you the size, then you order extras if you want. All delivered to the house.

I won't be buying dd a full uniform in September, will just replace it in bits as she goes along. Where as ds will get new primary stuff in September.

The quality is really good too. All non iron stuff. Still looks news after several months of wearing

Logoed trousers, skirt and blazer here. But I still reckon it's a lot cheaper than no uniform. Was £28 for blazer and £12 for trousers. DS is growing like a weed so will need new ones next year ( think he is heading for well over 6 ft ) . But I spend more on his non school clothes, luckily he doesn't need many.