Teenagers uniform costs?!

[JessLouise]

Just bought my dd's uniform (14) for this year. Two sets of PE kit, she can never keep one properly, 2 new blouses to add to our collection, one jumper, a fleece, a pair of socks, two pairs of trousers and two or three vests. Cost? £160-£170. Her school only allows one website to be used and the 'jumpers' are more like t-shirts and the blouses are ridiculously thin, and no hoodies allowed inside the building. Even with a vest this leads to extremely cold winter months, with many children getting colds. Anyway. I am still to buy a bag, trainers, school shoes, underwear or socks. This is going to cost at least £250 and its ridiculous. Ds goes to a private school, £125 for a blazer! He needs shirts, shoes, rugby boots and underwear, that's another £150. Just wanted opinions on this and how muc you're spending this term?

It's a nightmare. 2 pairs of school shoes for my 2 DS = £90. I still have to buy trainers. But must have spent £100 on trousers and shirts, plus my ex spent £40 on a blazer for DS13.

£300 and we have two teenagers needing uniform. Eldest son is in the sixth form so no uniform as such but we have spent money in his " smart business wear" as well as a child in primary school.

We must have spent in excess of 1k on uniforms and school equipment, also have uni expenses for DSS.

Expensive times.

It makes me cross, actually. It's a ridiculous, unnecessary expense. It has cost over £165, even buying carefully and limiting the number of new items: £35 for 2 trousers and 2 shirts; £70 for badged school jumper and PE kit; £60 for shoes. There is hardly anything second hand at this age, because they wear it out before they outgrow it... I'm a single parent earning about the national average and I feel it's a waste of hard-earned money. I can't imagine how families on lower incomes manage. Our LA has just abolished the vouchers that were at least a small contribution to costs for low income families.

Ds' school have also started that single-website ordering thing - I think it is very wrong, our area is well known for having a lot of low-income families. The school bangs on about the quality of the items but actually it's really poor - very thin trousers and jacket, buttons falling off and stitching coming undone within days.

I have so far refused to buy the pe kit because he only has one hour per week and the kit costs over £30 - he wears the old one which was a simple blue polo shirt and navy shorts that could be bought in any supermarket for under £10 all in. Trouble is if it becomes an issue I wouldn't want ds to be scapegoated so will have to pay up.

The only expense I didn't mind was £80 for shoes earlier this year - they are clarks goretex, I think if he's walking to and from school in the rain he deserves something decent on his feet.