How much did it cost to kit out your Yr7 for state secondary?

[YogaDrone]

DS is year 6 and moving to secondary in September. We are very lucky that we were offered our first choice (and closest) school.

I'm doing a quick add up of how much it's going to cost and it's coming in at almost £1000 I'm not complaining - I knew it would be expensive - but with uniform plus PE kit coming in at £300, plus shoes, football & rugby boots, winter coat, compulsory iPad (£400), locker fee, iPad apps, text books, set reading texts plus Rumsfeldian known unknowns it's all adding up quickly. I'm very glad DS can cycle to school and doesn't need a £300 a term bus pass.

AIBU to ask how much it cost to get your child all of the kit and caboodle they needed to start year 7?

And, do you think this is a reasonable amount to spend for a state school?

I'm sorry greenelephantscarf I missed your post yesterday. Yr 7 PGL trip sounds fun but what if you can't afford it?

DS's new school has a two day event in the school holidays where all the new Yr7's go in and meet the teachers and get to know the school layout etc. This is not compulsory but is encouraged, so I just hope it isn't when we're on holiday as I think it's a good idea.

I also missed a couple of replies about embroidery - yes I think it is a good idea from a lost property perspective as long as it's not too expensive. If you can unpick the embroidery in order to hand it down to younger siblings or to sell it on then it makes sense.

Someone, apologies, difficult to scroll on the phone, asked about percentage of pupil premium. Answer is - I don't know for sure, I can't find it on their website. My guesstimate is approx. 20-25%. This is based on the 2 closest primary schools which are the main feeders.

As I said before, I did know about the iPad but I assumed there would be a rental scheme. Perhaps there still will be and we just haven't been told yet. Early days still.

I'll get DS some decathlon football boots because they are different from his rugby boots which have metal studs. He plays rugby for a club anyway so uses these a lot and I doubt they'll let him play football in metal studded rugby boots!

I'm picking up missed replies because I'm on a train going to a client site and just doing a quick add-up for a mean average (I am sad)

Okay, taking 39 replies:
Approx. mean average is £325,
Median average £300 and
Mode average £400.

I am liking the idea of having DS' name embroidered on the collar of his blazer ShaggyRug. Apart from the iPad the blazer is the most expensive item although nowhere near as expensive as some have said. £80 for a state school blazer

CMOTdibbler your son has size 10 feet at yr7? Goodness, I hope he's in the swimming team DS takes a 5 at the moment which is a bit of a pain in the butt size because lots of children's sports boots seem to stop at size 4 and then the adult sizes start at size 6

Anyway, thank you all for your replies, I've found them enlightening

This whole thread has shocked me. At my school, uniform was compulsory - but it wasn't specialist. We had blazers, but you weren't required to wear one and they cost £90. We had embroidered PE polos but again, they didn't stop you from wearing a different shirt. Only truly compulsory thing was the tie. Everything else was bought from high street retailers. And there certainly were no iPads!!

This was 2007-2013 in a Scottish state secondary.

Many wear coats to school at dd's comp. I see lots of coats if i drop the dc off.
Blazer is £30 something

I should have said that we are a middle school area, so ds started secondary in Yr8. But he is very tall (predicted to be at least 6'5) and has corresponding feet! It's a PITA and he is just shooting up so am v jealous of people with children in the same uniform year on year - even with the longest trousers I could get he's on the next size up already this year as there was an inch between trousers and shoes..

My older son had similar shoe problems YogaDrone, there is an odd gap between children and adults shoes for some things.

Looking at other's prices, my first thought was that the £26 for blazers at my daughter's new school isn't looking as bad as I had thought...

Currently having to buy everything on the quick, home ed transfer to state school in Year 7 later this month, so this is pretty much from scratch within the last couple of weeks and so far it's been:

~£60 on the stuff we have to buy from the uniform supplier like blazer, PE kit, and tie (and likely spending 26 for another blazer when they get them in and maybe a bit for picking up PE socks which I didn't know were a thing until I started doing this and isn't listed in the school's uniform policy),
~£65 for the rest of the uniform clothes that I bought from Sainsburys.
~£80 at Argos getting her a phone & alarm clock (kids keep phones downstairs so she'll need both).
And later today I'm probably going spend about £40 or so for new school supplies including memory stick and fresh art stuff + whatever for a suitable unbranded backpack.

So my guess is nicely average 300-350 by the time we're done + the costs of music tuition & rental which will depend on which instrument she picks. I've not heard anything yet about locker or equipment deposits or anything else yet other possible option trip costs later this year.

Uniform around £275. Blazer, shirt, skirt and trousers can only be bought from the school, no supermarket alternatives allowed. Shoes and coat were probably over £100 of that but when you have to wait 30 mins in the rain in winter for the bus with no bus shelter, she needs a good coat! She wears her coat every single day.
Chromebook £175, if you don't buy one you can sign out out from the library each morning and return at the end of the day. However most of their homework is accessed through Google classroom on the Chromebook so unless you have another device you can use at home.......
Termly bus pass £200
So around £650.

Just double checked the Chromebook costs. It was £265. So brings my total up to nearer £750.

With ongoing £200 a term for bus pass.

Would have been much cheaper had she gone to our local comp though. No bus pass, no Chromebook and supermarket uniform is fine. But it was our/her choice to send her 8 miles away to a school that is a better fit for her.

No compulsory iPad here.

I think the uniform and PE kit including blazer was around £120, only plain trainers required not football boots or owt. Trousers and shirts are just supermarket plain ones, I got him hush puppies school shoes which were £80 - that was the biggest outlay but he's walking a mile there and back every day so I considered that an essential... Um... Rucksack, pe bag, pencil case, another few tenners. The winter coat was just a small mens coat from Asda so that came in around 30-40 quid.

His school provide laptops (similar sort of tech academy) I've never heard of children having to buy their own textbooks - a sign of the times perhaps - maybe I've lived a sheltered life! He walks so no travel costs thankfully...

Not remotely close to £1000 so yes your school is a dear one - my lad's school is Outstanding so just goes to show you don't need to fleece the parents to be a good school!

DD is year 9, hers was about £500 in year 7. Everything has to be from the school shop.

2 years on the uniform looks bloody scruffy, had it been £15 skirts from Sainsburys I would have bought her new ones, as they insist on £45 pleated tartan skirts she can wear them until they fall apart.

If the school insists on such expensive uniform (£98 blazer!!) they just end up with kids who look smart in year 7 and complete scruffs by year 9. All her friends' parents feel the same.

I think we spent about £400 on kitting DS out for year 7. The PE kit is extortionate and, even though they play rugby, DS never wears the rugby top I had to buy for £23 as either it hasn't been cold enough for long sleeves or the teacher didn't tell them that they were playing rugby.

We have a compulsory Chromebook in his school. When DD started year 7 it was an iPad but they have a contract with a company who you can buy them from (including insurance and tech support) and pay monthly, spreading the cost over 2 or 3 years, so that definitely helps. The kids whose parents can't afford to buy a Chromebook have to hope that the teacher has been able to book the school's spare Chromebooks, otherwise they are left out. I don't think they use them that much for class work though.

NeverSayFreelance you are way younger than me (not that I'm jealous!) and I've been trying to cast my mind back to when I started secondary. We did have a lot of items which could only come from the uniform suppliers but the only compulsory items were jumper and tie. Things like blazers were optional. No skorts in my day, we had gym skirts and gym knickers but these were black and readily available. PE tops were bog standard white polo shirts.

I have included text books and set texts but these aren't compulsory (apologies for misleading you all) it's just that I had to buy mine at school because otherwise the option was sharing or trying to get them from the library. I also liked to annotate my books so I liked to have my own.

CMOTdibbler - ah growth spurts! DS is quite tall (5'2") but takes after my side of the family - tall but small feet. He's still just about okay in his 11-12 extra long M&S trews. I then stick him in shorts for summer term! I have a friend who took size 14 at school and had horrible difficulties getting school shoes. I hope it's easier to get the larger sizes now.

Connieston this school hasn't had it's first Ofsted report yet but the others in the MAT have Outstanding ratings and I imagine they want the same. I don't doubt that some of the uniform and tech requirements are about putting on a show.

xyzandabc DS's current primary is a google school. They do so much on their chromebooks and tablets. DS has a chromebook at home which is really helpful. He can use his school account and then has the benefit of the filters and protections of the school network. I hope your daughter is enjoying her school, and FuzzyShadowChatter I hope your daughter enjoys her school once she starts. Such a big move from HE to a secondary. I hope all goes well

I'm meeting a friend on Saturday who has a daughter in Yr8 at this school so I will find out more then about what it really compulsory and what is listed as required but isn't really required. DS's primary requires them to send in a pair of wellies each year but I swear they never get worn. I didn't send any in this year and it's now March and no-one has mentioned it!

I think it was about £450 to £500

Uniform
PE kit
School shoes
Stationery
Calculator
Bag
Lunch money for first few weeks
Bus fare for 1st term
Locker deposit

My Ds goes to a none uniform school so about £50 for ruck sac and pe kit

All in I reckon I spent about £400. I spent £280 in the school shop - the school skirts are an eyewatering £40+ each. Shirts and jumpers have the school logo on them as well so all have to come from the shop.

Then on top of that I bought rucksack, sports kit bag, hockey socks, two mouth guards as the first one turned out to be too big, school shoes, lots of tights, trainers, pens, pencils, calculator, etc.

We didn't need to supply a ipad or similar but she does have to do a lot of printing and that is another cost. They can do this at school but it helps to have access to a printer at home. We have one anyway but it is another potential cost to bear in mind.

I could have saved money by not buying her a school sports hoodie and maybe the leotard, although I don't think that was very expensive.
I saved money by embroidering her name on her PE kit myself - this is a requirement of the school.

On the positive side, she hasn't actually lost anything yet. Unlike my nephew whose sports kit with his brand new football boots got mislaid in the first term and didn't turn up until Christmas. By which time they'd had to buy him new boots!

Times have certainly changed

I think it just varies from school to school. I went to secondary school in the 1980s. It was a state grammar, but in a grammar area where everyone sat 11+ in their primary.
We needed (from memory) the following, almost all of which (especially the skirt, blazer and shirts) could only be bought from one supplier:
Blazer, skirts, shirts, cardigans/jumpers, long navy blue winter coat
Blue lab coat with your name embroidered (white lab coat in 6th form)
Blue and white cookery apron with name embroidered
PE: school tracksuit, hockey shirt and shirt, hockey boots, trainers, blue scratchy leotard (aaarghh, bad memories!), those horrible unflattering athletic knicker type things, optional hockey stick and tennis racket. Almost all PE kit had to be embroidered with your name!
Then the usual school stuff: shoes, opaque tights, socks, stationery, scientific calculator, oh and French and German dictionaries. Probably other stuff I can't remember.

I believe it cost my mum around 350 quid if I remember correctly, excluding the Winter coat (hand me down coat from someone). I just had a look on the website and it's barely changed, though they do now allow trousers as well as skirts. The lab coat is no longer compulsory but an A3 art folder is! The stationery list is much longer than I remember! But there is no compulsory iPad listed

I think iPads are going to become more common.
They decrease (to the school) costs of books, paper, printing etc etc. Schools I know who currently have them, either run loan schemes, or monthly payments, or buy your own, depending on the type of school, and the demographic of the students.

I am sure we felt the same about the first calculators !

Great stuff Starlight. I have found no-uniform sixth form such a relief after the years of clean shirt / lost tie tiresomeness.

Uniform cost about £200 (although have spent more now as he lost his whole PE kit).
Bus costs us £900 a year (but thats cause we chose a out of catchment school)

Under £100. They didn’t need iPad or blazer. Two school jumpers at £14 each, £4 for a tie and a PE top at £12. Everything else generic in black from Tesco. Shoes in the sale. Coat they already had and would have needed anyway. Trainers they already had and would have needed anyway. £3 for a locker key deposit and £8 for a stationary kit with everything they need in it including pencil case and calculator direct from the school. And a pocket dictionary from amazon.

No bus fares needed, they walk. And take a packed lunch.