Cost of school uniform

[Pinkpoodle44]

So my child is starting high school in September:

Note this list does not include fitted shirts, trousers, socks, underwear, coats, school bags, school shoes, trainers, football boots, stationary, lunch box

The below total cost is for 1 mandatory school logo item that cannot be bought elsewhere.

1x jumper £24.99 (I'll probably buy 2-3 of these),
1x tanktop £22.99
1x school tie £8.99
1x Blazer £34.99
1x PE polo shirt £18.50
1x PE shorts £17.99
1x PE socks £11.99
1 x Rugby shirt £25.99
1x PE Hoodie £31.99

Total £198.38

I almost cried coming out of the uniform shop one year, they’d just changed from trousers, shirts and black jumper the year before, to a full on list like yours.

This is sadly not usual… my daughter who is in year 10 we had to buy a Chromebook on top of everything else which was £300!!! And yes we had to no choice pupil premium children were given them. It’s become ridiculously expensive!

I think that year we must have spent close to £800 on transition

@northernerinthesouth2000 what would have happened if you couldn't afford the Chromebook?
Genuine curiosity.

@Needmorelego I think you had the option to pay in instalments. Imagine having twins or triplets!! One of my daughter’s friends is a twin!!

The start of secondary school, when you have to buy everything at the same time is hideously expensive. When eldest started 5 years ago, it cost us £750, roughly £250 uniform, £250 Chromebook and £250 bus pass. All of these things have gone up in price since but at least after yr7 you can spread it out a bit and not needed everything all at one. Some uniform particularly pe kit/blazer might do them 2 or 3 years etc.

Child 2 had some hand me downstairs from eldest

Child 3 goes to a different school so no Chromebook or bus pass required (though I do wish they did have Chromebooks!) and our list for this one was pretty similar to yours.

At our school, you can go to the library each morning and sign one out, then return it at the end of each day. I'm not sure how it works if they need it for homework ??

I've got twins. The uniform was ££££. We managed to get the skirts (£45) at the second hand sale.

I don't even what to add up what we spent on the rest. PE uniform was really expensive.

I would abolish uniform if I could. I hate it for what it is and I hate the expense.

Schools in France, Germany, Netherlands seem to manage fine without it, you just have a basic dress code.

The clothes are awful, polyester crap. The kids look awful. It's a weird throwback. But parents like it!

I spent £160 on school uniform for my eldest son. It then did his younger brother so 8 years in the end. The school also lent him a Chromebook thankfully. Its not an easy thing though.

Ds school - and at least two others locally - provide year 7 starters with a blazer, skirt or trousers, tie and PE kit. It’s one of the things they fundraise to do throughout the year as it means all children are starting on a level footing in the having uniform sense at least. They also very much promote donating old uniform!

@qwertyqwertyqwertyqwerty I agree with you. So expensive for such ugly horrible quality clothes 🙁

It is a big outlay, I think mine was about £1k all in including Lap top when eldest started y7....but...she's in year 10 now and I've hardly had to buy anything else, a few new white shirts but just get them cheap from M&S.
so, if it's decent quality and you do the typical of buy a bit bigger for blazer etc, it should see them through.

It's disgusting! I used to be a big advocate for smart uniform (this could still be cheap without blazers and special check skirts) but there is definitely no need now, workplaces just dont dress that way any more.
I think a 'uniform' of plain joggers and polo shirt is enough.

That’s not ideal at all. Looking back although I was initially annoyed at the thought of paying for a Chromebook it has been brilliant, especially during those COVID lockdowns.

I think it would be a lot more expensive if our kids were wanting a different outfit for every day of the week.

Good quality uniform does look good, and lasts a long time (so long as they don't grow 😁). Most schools have second-hand uniform sales, though I get that the year 7's want new stuff.

@mizunderstanding not really. All you need is about 2 pairs of trackies/trousers and 3 basic tops for a week of school. Go to Primark a couple of times a year - done.
(Kids can want different outfits but doesn't mean you have to buy them)

It's really not more expensive, unless you have raised your kids to be brand conscious fashion victims. If it were so bad, all countries would have uniforms - and they don't. When your kids go out into the real world, they'll either end up in workplace that has a uniform (and will supply it) or one which has some kind of dress code, in which case they will just have to learn to budget.

The world of work is becoming more casual, not more formal. Schools are going in the opposite direction - probably because their uniform deals with sole suppliers bring in some £££. It needs to stop - uniform should be affordable to all and available on the high street. The law needs to be given teeth so that schools who break the rules are instantly given an OFSTED Inadequate. That should focus minds.

I hear what you're saying but children want that anyway on top of a school uniform. I see why some like uniforms but personally I have never been convinced by the arguments for them.

My DS started yr7 last year. We bought a pe hoody - has never bloody worn it!
Also - got 1 jumper only. Wears it under blazer (not wearing it this term as too warm), and we wash the jumper Fri night so dry for the next week. However, he's not really sweaty! So you may be able to get away with 1 or 2 jumpers and see how you get on. Do you need the tank top too, or is it either tank top or jumper?
Also got 2 ties (in case 1 got lost). Fingers crossed that hasn't happened.
Have another DS starting Sep 25, but he's about the same size already, so not hopeful to be able to use hand me downs

Ours is pretty reasonable in terms of the "mandatory" logoed stuff - blazer, tie, PE t-shirt and they tell you to get the rest from wherever has the sales on.

We bought optional logo cardigans (they are nice quality and still look like new after a year to be fair), PE leggings (they're allowed any as long as logos are less than credit card sized) and a PE long sleeve warm top - but we really didn't have to.

They're even polling parents on toning it down a bit more next year as fashion means more and more school shoes are teetering over into black trainers in style so they're considering just allowing them. We had the first uniform letter of the year last week which basically went as gentle as "the skirts that fitted in Autumn 2023 might not be up to the job in Summer 2024"

For a school where even the school dog wears the school tie (I'm not joking - they made her her own version) - it's very relaxed about uniform rules, but the kids don't look scruffy as a result because they just don't do the ridiculous logoed skirts etc.

Also really unethically produced too.

Compared to what we paid that's cheap.

it is illegal for there only to be one stockist. Make a fuss.

Our blazer is made from recycled plastic bottles.

That's amazing wish all schools would do stuff like this. Out of interest how much does it cost? As if it's cheaper or the same price as other blazers that would be fab!

The cost of some of our items went up when another stockist was added because bothe stockists sell fewer items and they lost the economies of scale.

On the upside, I suppose at least two local businesses are now being supported rather than one.