School uniforms

At the Junior school that my grandchildren went to 'plain shirts/blouses/PE tops/Sweaters were allowed - however, the school tried to get parents to buy the 'embroidered logo' ones as a way of boosting school funds. Apparently, the company that customised those items 'donated a % of profits' back into School Fund.

My daughter would buy ONE of each item with the logo - purely for school photo days - and the rest were all plain, for everyday wear.

However she began a Facebook-based 'School Uniform Swap' three times a year, via an organisation called 'C.L.O.U.D' (Changing Lives On Ur Doorstep) they are all over the country. It worked wonderfully in her home town - which is in one of the most deprived areas of the country. www.changinglivesonurdoorstep.com/who-we-are

The primary my girls are at everything is logo’d there are a few secondhand items but they usually look like something the cat dragged in. School shoes I find it false economy to but cheap supermarket ones. Plus the Clark’s ones are far nicer.
I am a single parent too and there’s no provision for uniform in my area.
I try and save all year. It’s galling though when a brand new labelled item goes missing. They also have to keep trainers at school so I need to buy two pairs for each child. As they are sporty children I buy new balance or quality trainers to keep their joints and impact damage to a minimum.
Then there’s the school trips, the photos’s, donation of x for y event, PTA event donations that aren’t really donations if you don’t donate your child us the only one in the school in uniform when everyone else is in their own clothes. This is a catholic primary.

The amount of required items with school logo for some schools is ridiculous. Our local school sells embroidered badges to go on plain black blazers. So much more affordable and easy to either iron on or sew. Why on earth do PE socks need logos!

Size 12 adult shoes ? Surely not

I know the shoe problem, our school after frequent problems with students footwear stipulated full leather shoes in black. We had students prior to this coming in black trainers , flimsy ballet shoes which offer no protection in technology or science classes. Unfortunately where a lot of people believe that if you can blame a school you can claim. Schools cannot afford compensation claims and yes people do try and do this

It seems that a lot of schools are adding to their own coffers by stipulating a particular design of school uniform and doing a cosy deal with the supplier. My DGC's primary school is aware that most of their students' parents may be struggling financially and charge very little for school trips etc. Similarly, they had a table full of donated second hand uniforms for a couple of weeks at the end of the school year so parents could buy extremely cheaply everything they needed for the coming year. AC kitted DGC out for very little money. If school uniform cost is a big issue the parent school governors and reps on the school board are the ones to contact to raise the issue and challenge the school policy. First of all though it's important to check if it really is an issue with the majority of parents - I suspect in Peasblossom's local school the vocal minority won the battle to introduce logos.

Some schools forget they are there to be accessible to all. My children went to both private and state school. All then had secondhand uniforms and I availed myself of that. My daughter couldn’t wear Clark’s shoes (broad fitting) - and the quality is not hard wearing. They used to be!
Buying uniforms- This is what granny’s do - we help the family.

Lucca

It’s interesting the pro uniform argument. I’m a bit undecided but that’s because if the competitive fashion conscious attitudes around.
In Italy they dont have a uniform but nor do they have students/pupils dressing as if for a nightclub. Jeans and polo shirt or sweater is what they go for , end of story !

The little ones have no uniform except a mind if overall thing which keeps them clean and us very cute.

This was my experience of having children in school in non-uniform Sweden - most wore jeans/black trousers and a t-shirt, jumper or shirt/blouse with trainers/walking boots or black shoes/ankle boots. Nobody went to school dressed for clubbing. In fact one of my dds used to go dressed almost identically to my 1970s school uniform (white top, black trousers, black cardigan)

The only thing that could have worked out expensive was that some gym teachers seemed to expect you to have a whole cupboard full of sports equipment at home (please send cross country skis, slalom skis, rink ice skates, long distance outdoor ice skates, a Silva orienteering compass, a sledge, ice fishing equipment ....). However it turned out that the school had a storage cupboard of these items to borrow for the lesson so it wasn't a problem. I think that we did have to buy the ice spikes for jumping through holes in the ice ... but they were only a few pounds.

One of mine is changing school and I bought 4 pairs of trousers from asda @ £8 each
3 school polos, 1 school jumper, 1 school hoodie, 1 school PE shorts, 1 school PE top, 1 school PE hoodie, 1 school PE trousers which came to £142

He has some black hi top basketball boots which he thinks he can get away with wearing and a bag from last year and coat. Hopefully that will last him the 3 years until sixth form/college...well apart from the trousers and shoes

I think the issue is as well, if you are poor you can afford to buy less and afford to WASH less. I feel I can get away with just 1 pe kit or even a couple of polos as I can just wash and dry them without much bother. If you have to plan to do a full wash or dry on racks, washing it all becomes much more long winded so you need more uniform.

I mean if you are not on a budget r watching the pennies, you can buy more but you also wash more too or don't have to think about it. I know what I mean, I am just not making sense today

Where I live the local Freecycle group very often has parents offering outgrown uniform for the local school which is really handy if only to have an extra as a spare.

I often read about people’s children being lone parents or single parents. I know sometimes the other. Parent could have died or be ill but otherwise isn’t the absent parent expected to contribute to family finances ?

I favour school uniform it levels the rich and poor and saves the home clothes for just that, home BUT this expensive logod stuff is a nightmare, especially when they often change names, colours, and logos
When I was at school we did have strict uniform and were meant to be bought from a special shop however you could buy lookalikes and the badges were able to be sewn on and the hat badges were metal brooch type
The logos now all come made in the items so cannot be changed and it’s so expensive and your child wants to fit in and be the same as their peers

I think the demand for expensive school uniform has increased since the advent of Academies; uniform is important but it does not have to be exclusive. If you look at the composition of the Governing body you will find 90% of Governors are business people, who do deals with suppliers; the schools have little say.Governors claim not to have payment for their role, but they do not do it through altruism, as previously people did, and the money for these conglomerates has to come from somewhere.

Aldi and Lidl selling complete school uniforms for £4.99.

Worth a try maybe?

mrsgreenfingers56

Aldi and Lidl selling complete school uniforms for £4.99.

Worth a try maybe?

Most schools specify the uniform has to be their own design, this is the issue. If they accept generic supermarket uniform it all becomes much more affordable.

Most of the infant/junior schools around here allow generic uniform items with just a logo on a sweatshirt or jumper but they sell the badge so that it can be sewn on at home. The comps and high schools allow only generic skirts and trousers though.
I can vouch for the sturdiness of the Aldi uniforms. Amazing value for money; they wash and wear exceptionally well.

I quite agree with this we also live where the cost of uniform is ridiculous. It’s bad enough that secondary school uniform with logos and colours has to be from specific school shop - we as grandparents helped out with the costs last year when one gd started. This year youngest gd is starting school- way too early in my opinion at just 4 y but dont get me started on that - apparently so far my D has had to buy a specific jumper ,
T-shirt,school bag and p.e bag from The School shop at extortionate cost . It’s all v well saying you can buy school clothes cheaper in supermarkets but most schools around here seem to think they are private schools in disguise and everyone must wear what they say. I despair of this country.

I can remember when I went to secondary school after passing 11 plus, the uniform was too expensive for my parents in 1964. I bought an old school blazer from a jumble sale detached the top pocket which was embroidered with school badge and then replaced the pocket on a blazer from the co-op with the embroidered one. The Co-op blazer was 10 shillings: the proper school blazer would have cost 13 Guineas. No one ever noticed!

son had a daughter at private school... uniform essential. after GCSEs she transferred to a state school,
He explained to a friend that this was in part due to the cost. The friend laughed and said that with incidentals, her own daughter had cost more at a state school than in a fee-paying day school. One school trip alone to south America for those learning Spanish cost more than £3,000

Usually school PTA’s run 2nd hand clothes shops at schools. Also many charities now take in used uniform, clean it, and then give or sell at affordable prices.

My DDs went to a state school with a very expensive uniform. Nothing was available to buy in a chain store. I gave my name and number to all the local charity shops and managed to get quite a few items, especially blazers which were often as good as new after being dry cleaned. Just a thought. Also with social media it might be possible to contact families with uniform they no longer need.

None at my boys school, and his junior school made such a song and dance out of their SECONDHAND school uniform sale, I expected a fanfare of trumpets to announce my arrival for a rummage.

Aepgirl see my post about charity shops and uniforms in my area

I bought a lovely unworn pinafore from a charity shop for my granddaughter

I saw plenty of other grey school clothes in the charity shops - why buy new if you don’t have to?