School uniform.. ouch!

[Bevziibubble]

That is so expensive! I'm not looking forward to school uniform time!

I remember when I started high school you could buy the logo badge from the school and parents could buy a standard cheaper uniform from somewhere and sew the badge on.

 

[KayBea]

Geeeeeeez not looking forward to that!! I remember in school there was always a bit of stick for kids who had really old hand me down uniform (my school had a change of uniform so it was quite obvious who had the old style, which the school couldn't outright ban they had to let it phase out), kids can be so cruel. I never had the school logo tshirts my mum managed to buy us the jumpers and everything else could be your supermarket stuff.

Don't they do grants for lower income families to help them buy it?

not that i am aware of. you can talk to the school & see if they will help, but usually they wont..
as far as i know you can only apply for free school meals & help towards transport costs. xx

 

[KayBea]

I thought all schools provided them

nope
stupid thing is she cant bring home any books from nursery as they wont allow you to take them unless they are in a logo'd book bag. LO always moans she wants to take books home so may need to invest in one soon..

thankfully they dont care what trousers shes in so she wears £1 leggings from primark x

 

[hayz_baby]

Its funny how schools want everyone in the same as to avoid discrimination when in fact it just does the opposite and highlights who is the poorest! Not looking forward to that next year!

 

[Dragonfly]

For one uniform! :O
My sons is under 30 and it has the crests on the tops which every one complains about as they cant get tesco and asda stuff. Jumper £12. polo shirt £8 and you can get away with the asda trousers at £4. Secondary school would be dearer if I remember one of my school coats was £80. They give uniform grants here to disadvantaged so its paid for if you not working.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I thought all schools provided them

nope
stupid thing is she cant bring home any books from nursery as they wont allow you to take them unless they are in a logo'd book bag. LO always moans she wants to take books home so may need to invest in one soon..

thankfully they dont care what trousers shes in so she wears £1 leggings from primark x

Thats a real shame. I am really lucky with my childrens school. Lots f events like school fayre and quiz nights raise lots of money to enable free bookbags and drink bottles etc x

 

[Kate&Lucas]

Geeeeeeez not looking forward to that!! I remember in school there was always a bit of stick for kids who had really old hand me down uniform (my school had a change of uniform so it was quite obvious who had the old style, which the school couldn't outright ban they had to let it phase out), kids can be so cruel. I never had the school logo tshirts my mum managed to buy us the jumpers and everything else could be your supermarket stuff.

Don't they do grants for lower income families to help them buy it?

I think they got rid of it last year didn't they? A saw a few Facebook pages set up to trade old uniforms locally because of it, which I thought was a good idea.

 

[bubblychick]

DD's school only has uniforms available to buy through the school it's like 12 pound for a jumper, 9 pound for a polo, but her school isn't too strict you can just wear a cardigan or jumper in the school colour, we live in an area with high unemployment and almost entirely council houses and a high number of people on benefits, though so they know many of the parents don't have a lot of spare cash especially as many of them have 3 plus kids.

 

[R_x]

Geeeeeeez not looking forward to that!! I remember in school there was always a bit of stick for kids who had really old hand me down uniform (my school had a change of uniform so it was quite obvious who had the old style, which the school couldn't outright ban they had to let it phase out), kids can be so cruel. I never had the school logo tshirts my mum managed to buy us the jumpers and everything else could be your supermarket stuff.

Don't they do grants for lower income families to help them buy it?

not that i am aware of. you can talk to the school & see if they will help, but usually they wont..
as far as i know you can only apply for free school meals & help towards transport costs. xx

Everyone gets free meals from sept.

Just had a google and this might be worth a look.
https://www.gov.uk/help-school-clothing-costs

I haven't added up the cost yet. Not 100% sure if it needs to have the badge on or if we can get away with just the right colour. Would like to get some cheap ones for spares at least x

 

[Vicyi]

Geeeeeeez not looking forward to that!! I remember in school there was always a bit of stick for kids who had really old hand me down uniform (my school had a change of uniform so it was quite obvious who had the old style, which the school couldn't outright ban they had to let it phase out), kids can be so cruel. I never had the school logo tshirts my mum managed to buy us the jumpers and everything else could be your supermarket stuff.

Don't they do grants for lower income families to help them buy it?

No I've never heard of grants for low income. I'm sure our school would make allowances (ie Tesco clothes) but you would def stand out.

I thought all schools provided them

No book bags ect aren't provided here either they cost £5 each and pe bags £5 each.

Surely polo shirts don't need to be logo?

Polo tops can be any under a jumper (as long as they are the right shade - which in itself is practically impossible) but without jumper, in warmer weather you need logo.

I thought all schools provided them

nope
stupid thing is she cant bring home any books from nursery as they wont allow you to take them unless they are in a logo'd book bag. LO always moans she wants to take books home so may need to invest in one soon..

thankfully they dont care what trousers shes in so she wears £1 leggings from primark x

That's so sad your LO can't bring home books my DSs nursery gave out free bookbags at the beginning of the year. He'd be devastated being the only one not bringing home books

And sorry just to make it clear the £380 is for TWO children, DS is due to start school in sep. £380 for one would just be mega crazy!

 

[Wriggley]

Im really not looking forward to sorting out school uniform next year!

when i was in secondary school our school had blazers which the logo embroidered on but you could also get a plain blazer and a patch with the logo on that you had to sew on yourself it worked out less then half the price! but i remember all the kids that had the blazers which the patch sewn on got picked on kids can be so cruel to each other!

my son currently goes to a private nursery atm and luckily the uniform is optional so i didnt bother because its stupidly expensive and is yellow polo with a burgandy jumper lol

 

[morri]

Each year i cant believe that even 3/4/5 year old have to wear uniforms , but thats the Uk I guess ..

 

[R_x]

Each year i cant believe that even 3/4/5 year old have to wear uniforms , but thats the Uk I guess ..

Lol my 4 year old will be wearing a tie (on elastic)

 

[Pearls18]

When I was in school people under a certain income got help with their school uniform, I remember because it was a bit of a contentious issue, some parents would moan that "the poor kids would look better than the ones who has parents who worked" deeming it "unfair", these ARE NOT mine or my family's words at all, I disagree with the statement on many levels I remember people arguing about it vividly, but it's just how I remember there used to be help. We were in Wales if that makes a difference.

 

[Pearls18]

Oh and my DS will be going to nursery until he turns 5 so no uniform for him until proper school, UK.

 

[Kate&Lucas]

Lucas' nursery has a uniform from age 2 but it's a navy jog suit with a polo shirt, (they chose a jog suit to make it easier for the newly potty trained). They look well bloody cute running around in them!

 

[Rachel_C]

The primary school here asks you to buy a cardigan or jumper with the school logo but anything else is just 'white polo shirt', 'grey trousers' etc, although you can buy polo shirts, book bags, fleeces etc with the logo too. They also have regular second hand uniform sales that the PTA run after school - worth checking if your school does it too.

 

[emyandpotato]

That is ridiculous! It just alienates anyone who is struggling financially. What about those who need free school dinners? How can they afford £400 a year per child? It really upsets me that this happens at high schools let alone at primary. Is it even legal for primary schools to enforce a uniform?

 

[Pearls18]

That is ridiculous! It just alienates anyone who is struggling financially. What about those who need free school dinners? How can they afford £400 a year per child? It really upsets me that this happens at high schools let alone at primary. Is it even legal for primary schools to enforce a uniform?

One of the arguments for having uniform is to help make children equal, so they all have to wear the same and it doesn't become a thing of whose wearing what, whose got the nicest clothes etc etc. I agree with this as I think poorer children would be alienated more at least by secondary school anyway. But I agree with you with these kinds of costs it's probably not achieving this, I remember my PE kit being one of the most expensive parts of the uniform.

 

[Tasha]

It is stupidly expensive isnt it?

Marinewag, it varies place to place. Here you can get it once in year seven and once in year nine if you are on certain benefits or get CTC/WTC with an income below £16k. That's £60.