School uniforms

lemongrove

Supermarkets sell school clothes very cheaply.
There is no requirement to buy Clarks shoes.

but the problem is that many schools esp academies insist on branded items only, even sports socks at over £12 a pair for 11 year olds.
they will not allow pupils to wear supermarket items.
but try shoezone for cheapo shoes. they grow so quickly.

In the school that I taught the only item that had a logo was the school blazer. The rest of the uniform could be bought cheaply from supermarkets. Blazers for children on free school were subsidised by the school. The only specification for shoes was that they needed to be black.

should have read free school meals.

Where we live, in the south, Skoolkit have the monopoly on uniform with the badges and hence approved, they can charge what they like. It’s very wrong.

School uniforms have become ridiculous. One local primary to me now requires not only logoed jumper/cardigan/book bag but logoed polo tops. And it’s £6 per top! So to last a nursery child that gets messy you need £30 in polo shirts alone. DD doesn’t go there fortunately, her primary allow plain polo shirts, so I’ve spent £10 in comparison on M&S ones and have 6. It’s just absurd.

I work at a secondary school and the PE kit has to be purchased from 1 supplier, all with the school logo on. It comes to £60 just for the pe kit (tracksuit jacket, top, shorts and socks) and then they have to buy two different types of trainers on top of that (one particular type for use on the astroturf). So £100 at least, just in PE kit. Blazers have to be logoed as well, you can’t buy a badge a sew it on, so it’s nearly £40 for that as well. But apparently it’s essential. I work in a deprived area, some of the families just cannot afford it, especially if they have more than one child, and the students end up in detention. Schools need to reconsider their priorities.

When my DDs were about to leave their first school - I was amazed when I was asked by other parents if they could buy their uniforms, especially the Winter duffle coats.
At their next school there was a used uniform shop where the red, gold and green striped blazers were in great demand.

I wonder how many parents/children wouldn’t contemplate buying second hand though?

With climate change and going green so much on the agenda now it should be compulsory for all schools to have second hand shops and for it to be perfectly acceptable to use them. People really need to change their way of thinking.

there is a school near here that has re-invented itself, complete with fancy expensive uniform.
it seems it is a way of filtering out the less desirable=poorer pupils.
also they insist on children wearing every item, even in hot weather.
things seem to have gone backwards. like gradgrind.

Chestnut

With climate change and going green so much on the agenda now it should be compulsory for all schools to have second hand shops and for it to be perfectly acceptable to use them. People really need to change their way of thinking.

The trouble is that some uniform (especially boys' trousers) is only fir for the skip after it's been worn.

if i ruled the world: uniforms to be optional, and where used to be minimal, supermarket style with one cheap distinctive item, maybe a tie/cravat.

The only items really worth recycling are blazers.

welbeck

if i ruled the world: uniforms to be optional, and where used to be minimal, supermarket style with one cheap distinctive item, maybe a tie/cravat.

Same here! I didn't wear a uniform at primary school.

I can remember having to buy my daughter a regulation swim suit amongst all the other uniform items when she started high school one September.
She didn't go swimming until the summer term, by which time she'd grown out of the swimsuit and never wore it.
My husband had been made redundant that year and frankly it was money we just couldn't afford to waste.
My Mum was a teacher and she was horrified at the cost of my daughter's uniform at a state school.

I said I would pay for my twin granddaughters first uniform. I was told it was nearly £500 it was more than I expected but I paid it. A totally disgraceful amount of money for parents to be expected to pay out for primary school uniform. I didn’t have uniform until senior school.

They are certainly very expensive, especially the blazers. Most schools do have second hand uniform shops but in these Covid times they do not always function. My grandchildren’s school insists on full uniform even when they are home schooling. One boy got told off because he only had the top half on, he must have stood up ! A new full uniform is around $ 500 round here. That is without the compulsory sports gear and the laptop!

A couple of years ago I went into our Clarks shoe shop and asked assistant if the shoes were still made in the United Kingdom, she didn’t know and said she would go and ask, she came back with the reply that they were designed in England but actually made in Vietnam. We used to have a Clarks factory in my town…

This is all news to me and completely ridiculous! I’d be interested to know if all these schools with expensive uniforms are in the south ? Or all over the country

Both my brother and I had to wear ‘state’ school uniform 66 years ago. I don’t know how people managed as there were no supermarkets that sold cheap clothes. My father earnt under £10 per week. Admittedly there were no logos on blazers, coats etc but there were leather lace ups and sandals which had to be bought. Every year my mother knitted jumpers which were unraveled at the end of the year and the wool reused.

Someone on MM said that they bought a secondhand blazer for their child and when it was outgrown, transferred the pocket with the logo to a cheaper blazer.

Lucca

This is all news to me and completely ridiculous! I’d be interested to know if all these schools with expensive uniforms are in the south ? Or all over the country

It’s certainly in Hampshire, West Midlands, Derbyshire and Lancashire. We’ve donated to 4 lots of school uniform. The latest is, “pupils should buy their laptop through school. It will come preloaded with the programs they need. They may then use the laptop in school and take it home for homework. Pupils using their own laptop will have to download the programs at their own expense. They will need to use a school owned laptop in school and take work home on a pen drive.” Cost? Nearly £1000!
This is a local grammar school!

My grandson is due to start high school in Cheshire soon where the uniform is very specific in its requirements. The school used to be a grammar school so it has a good reputation, making places there in great demand. I can’t remember the exact cost of the uniform package but my SiL and I agreed it was a deliberate policy of selection by pricing out poorer families.

My grandson lives in shorts all year round so is not happy about the requirement to wear long trousers!

welbeck

maddyone

Parents have always bought school uniforms.

that's not quite the case.
when i was at school it was unusual to have a specific uniform for infants or juniors.
we generally wore plain dark clothes, navy or grey, the only uniform for juniors was the addition of a tie.
many secondaries did not have uniform in London, even those that did, it was minimal, usually only the tie and a sew-on badge was specific.
now so many schools seem to ape private schools in having very expensive, single-supplier items. why branded sports kit.
i think it is a way of deterring poorer pupils.

The local Academy has uniform, only stipulations are blazer, school colours for sportswear, all supplied by local outfitters, who deal with all the schools in our area, all children wear trousers, white shirts which can be bought cheaply at Asda, Tesco etc, shorts for games and PE. No stipulation re Clark’s shoes. Not aping private schools, surely more inclusive, no vying for the latest Nike,or other designer gear, and many parents not being able to afford the latest styles. If there is a problem outside at least you can identify the school the child came from. School has second hand shop, as does a volunteer centre in the village, for school swaps. Not sure how having a uniform excludes poorer pupils, help can be had if needed. Most schools do not stipulate designer shirts or trousers, so can be got from Primark, Tesco etc who sell cheap school wear, even school colours so choices can be had.

Help?
What would that be?

Not sure how having a uniform excludes poorer pupils, help can be had if needed

Such help is not universally available in England, according to this:-

www.gov.uk/help-school-clothing-costs

Ashcombe

^Not sure how having a uniform excludes poorer pupils, help can be had if needed^

Such help is not universally available in England, according to this:-

www.gov.uk/help-school-clothing-costs

Essex County Council doesn't provide help with the purchase of school uniforms, apart from a handful of very specific circumstances.

All the local schools have strict school uniform. Even the trousers have a stitched logo on the waistband, so that they can't be bought from a chain store.