Parents complaining about school unform costs

Katie-Kat-Kins

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

KatP wrote: »

The school my nephew goes to will sell on second hand stuff to new starters before the begining of term. School uniform is rarely worn out before it is outgrown so this works well.

I do think though that when setting school uniforms the emphasis should be on practicality. Sweatshirts, polos and trousers, with an option of shorts for summer for boys and a dress or skirt for girls. Separate sew on badges could be supplied, should only cost a few pounds. Blazers, shirts and ties are impractical and unnecessary.

There should be no need for pe kit or other sundries to be branded as long as they are colour coded. Black grey navy and white can easily be bought from any store.

The biggest con is craft/cooking aprons, no need for the "special" ones they try to make you buy, just buy the kid an apron, or better still term one of their first year at secondary school get them all to make one. My mum did this, they had to make aprons before they were allowed to do cooking or craft then they used them for the next five years. I used that apron that she made when I started secondary school. The skills they learn doing this mean that they can sew their own school logo badge on their uniform. Important skills learnt. Same with PE bags, we made bags like that for brownies aged seven they could do the same at school, we learned how to sew our own badges on at brownies too.......[/QUOTE]

I remember sewing my badges on my brownie uniform KatP

I am trying to teach DS (nearly seven) to sew his Beaver badges on to his top (he picked up 8 new badges at the end of term)
After hours of pinning, sewing his sleeve to the top and lots of huffing and puffing we managed to get them on in the right places - however when he went to try the top on to admire our joint efforts we realised that it is getting really tight and he's in to the next size up! :eek:
Now have the job of transferring his 13 badges to the new jumper! :mad:

Ah you've missed a trick there!!! My mum made me wear the same brownie uniform for the full three years of brownies because I had loads of badges and she wasn't prepared to take them all off and resew them! Sooo I started brownies aged 7 in a huuuuuuuge dress, and finished aged 10 in one that probably would have made lolita blush! The sleeves were three quarter and it was very "mini" luckily i was skinny then so could still get it on. Then she had to take them all off so that she could repeat the process with my little sister!

I have to say my mum was great at sewing things when I was young, I learnt how to sew and I'm fairly neat at handstitching but she used to take great pride in making my brownie badges look neat, they were very straight and evenly spaced, and you couldn't see the stitches. I had an armful and they were the neatest in the pack. :cool: She also did a fab job of sewing my name on my pe kit for school. We used to have to have our names embroidered on the front of our polo shirt and skirt. I have a very long name and was quite thin, my mum did a very neat job of chain stitching my name on but I didn't realy have enough chest to fit my first name on one line....:rotfl:

freyasmum

divadee wrote: »

if you have a boy its a hell of a lot cheaper, they wear plain white shirts and grey trousers from anywhere.

when they changed the girls uniform a few years ago everyone kicked off about the cost of girls stuff, but they went ahead anyway.

i just hope the government hurry up and pull there finger out to stop the anti-competition that you can only buy from one shop.

Why did they change the girls' uniform and not the boys? Isn't the point of a uniform to have everyone the same? :undecided

Katie-Kat-Kins

Could you get footie boots cheaply from ebay???

Don't understand why schools insist upon separate rugby/football top in addition to a polo and tracksuit unless the kids are on the team, all that should matter is that the children are safe and warm.

I'd seriously consider a complaint to the school about the cost of all this and whether it is necessary.

jellyhead

becs wrote: »

I saw the piece on TV this morning as well and think the parents complaining about the cost of the uniforms are of children who have to buy uniform through designated supplier rather than being able to buy the supermarket uniforms. Some of the shops that only stock the specific school uniform are horrendously expensive and I think the parents are just frustrated that their kids can't just have the grey trousers/skirts etc that the supermarkets sell.

Also that the sweatshirt etc. you are paying through the nose for is absolutely terrible quality and before the first half term holiday looks like it was a hand-me-down that's been through a dozen cousins before arriving at your child, even though you bought it new.

We pay £12.50 for a sweatshirt that's inferior to the ones the supermarkets sell for a couple of pounds. I suspect that most of the parents who complain about the cost are doing so because it would make more sense to buy better quality elsewhere.

If the point of uniform is to make the children look smart if seems daft to put them in such scruffy logo'd clothes.

galvanizersbaby

KatP wrote: »

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

Ah you've missed a trick there!!! My mum made me wear the same brownie uniform for the full three years of brownies because I had loads of badges and she wasn't prepared to take them all off and resew them! Sooo I started brownies aged 7 in a huuuuuuuge dress, and finished aged 10 in one that probably would have made lolita blush! The sleeves were three quarter and it was very "mini" luckily i was skinny then so could still get it on. Then she had to take them all off so that she could repeat the process with my little sister!

I have to say my mum was great at sewing things when I was young, I learnt how to sew and I'm fairly neat at handstitching but she used to take great pride in making my brownie badges look neat, they were very straight and evenly spaced, and you couldn't see the stitches. I had an armful and they were the neatest in the pack. :cool: She also did a fab job of sewing my name on my pe kit for school. We used to have to have our names embroidered on the front of our polo shirt and skirt. I have a very long name and was quite thin, my mum did a very neat job of chain stitching my name on but I didn't realy have enough chest to fit my first name on one line....:rotfl:

:rotfl:DS grows so quick I don't think he could have the same top for a year let alone 3 - it would be skin tight - can't do that to him - he will look like one of the village people! :rotfl:

He seemed to quite enjoy the sewing (that won't last) but my mum is a good seamstress like yours and she has retired so I'm sure she will help me out with the sewing - I don't mind but it is very time consuming!

jellyhead

skylight wrote: »

There is this fascination with sending a child to school with everything new in September regardless of whether or not the stuff from July still fits!

I know - last September my mum was cross with me for sending my boy in his old uniform! She thought he should be going back in new things. I replaced his sweatshirt, because they look terrible after half a term anyhow, but everything else was fine.

It's still warm in September anyway, so he wants to wear the short sleeved shirts he'd been wearing in July. I gave her his white shirts to wash in biological washing powder, and they looked like new anyhow.

This summer she has bought him trousers 'just to see if they fit' from asda while doing her own shopping. Her excuse is that they often don't have the right size in stock so you have to buy things when you see them.

I've talked to him about replacing his PE and Rugby shirts because he's had them for 5 terms now (he lost his kit after the first term so I had to replace the lot, costing over £100) and they look awful, but he says they still fit so please don't bother!

elisebutt65

KatP wrote: »

Could you get footie boots cheaply from ebay???

Don't understand why schools insist upon separate rugby/football top in addition to a polo and tracksuit unless the kids are on the team, all that should matter is that the children are safe and warm.

I'd seriously consider a complaint to the school about the cost of all this and whether it is necessary.

Rugby Kit
Cricket whites
Athletics kit

And the list goes on......

delain

In my local secondary school it all changed. I left in 2001 and was in the last year group that wasn't required to have a blazer (£50 nasty crimpolene jobs) now the girls have to wear particular skirts, blue pinstripe shirts that cost almost £20 each :eek: and i dread to think about the PE kit because that was a lot of money when i went, never mind now! The boys get off easy, the only thing they can't get from tesco is PE kit and blaer.

When i went there it white shirts and woollen jumpers with the logo which were pricey but not as much as the blazers are now, and at least they kept you warm!

My personal (very MSE) trick was to approach my favorite teacher (who was also head of year at the time) and say 'i've lost my jumper and it didn't have my name in it' and i would be taken to a lost property box in a staffroom to basically take whatever i wanted i think he knew what i was up to and that we didn't have much money but he didn't mind. He was a legend

galvanizersbaby

delain wrote: »

In my local secondary school it all changed. I left in 2001 and was in the last year group that wasn't required to have a blazer (£50 nasty crimpolene jobs) now the girls have to wear particular skirts, blue pinstripe shirts that cost almost £20 each :eek: and i dread to think about the PE kit because that was a lot of money when i went, never mind now! The boys get off easy, the only thing they can't get from tesco is PE kit and blaer.

When i went there it white shirts and woollen jumpers with the logo which were pricey but not as much as the blazers are now, and at least they kept you warm!

My personal (very MSE) trick was to approach my favorite teacher (who was also head of year at the time) and say 'i've lost my jumper and it didn't have my name in it' and i would be taken to a lost property box in a staffroom to basically take whatever i wanted i think he knew what i was up to and that we didn't have much money but he didn't mind. He was a legend

:rotfl:Isn't that stealing though!

delain

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

:rotfl:Isn't that stealing though!

He said it had all been sat there for years :rotfl:and he obviously wasn't bothered!