Vent! Flaming School Uniform!

SallyForth_2

Yeah it's like this at my son's school too, but at least the stuff has lasted. He is about to start year 9 in september, and after inspecting his polos and sweatshirts, I think I will just about get away with not replacing until half term in October, so that's 2 and a bit years of wear. I had to replace the Tesco/Asda ones much more frequently when he was in those. So I know I am fortunate.

The other thing I have noticed is that as these items are expensive, and I have made sure he knows it too, we don't seem to have as many things go missing, or get damaged as we did with the cheaper stuff. They seem to take a bit better care of these clothes.

fluffnutter

Join the PTA, canvass opinion from the other parents, and take a considered and dispassionate plea to the Board of Governors that they review the school uniform policy to make it more flexible and affordable.

Googlewhacker

Those prices don't seem that bad compared to normal clothes and also bear in mind it is economies of scale and a school will only require a limited amount of product from it's suppliers and as such the costs would be higher than if they were a major retailor.

mandi

My youngest finished school in May .

For his last 2 years I refused to buy PE kit with the school logo on , instead sending him with a polo shirt, shorts & socks which were exactly the same minus the logo.

He was excluded form taking part a couple of times, but his PE teachers soon got the hint .

Even if I could have a afforded it , it was a matter of principle for me . I refused to be ripped off by the retailers extortionate prices.

Mupette

mandi wrote: »

My youngest finished school in May .

For his last 2 years I refused to buy PE kit with the school logo on , instead sending him with a polo shirt, shorts & socks which were exactly the same minus the logo.

He was excluded form taking part a couple of times, but his PE teachers soon got the hint .

Even if I could have a afforded it , it was a matter of principle for me . I refused to be ripped off by the retailers extortionate prices.

I'll be doing similar this year, someone stole his PE bag earlier this year and i was fuming as the school does not provide lockers, well only for the first 2 years and that is it. It's not the first time some light fingered person has stolen off my son.

So his decision was just to wear a pair of tracky bottoms and tshirt, said not to worry about it. I worried he would be told off for not wearing PE uniform considering yr 10 PE kit changed so they stood out as older !!!

So no PE kit this year... just had school report and nothing mentioned from PE teacher.

lolly1981

i remeber starting high school and needing all sorts of things (luckily no blazer) for P.E we needed the most things....socks, wrap around skirt, P.E briefs and white polo shirts. or normal uniform was shirt, tie (not a clip on one a real one hehe) skirt and sweatshirt. we never had any logo uniforms growing up mum refused to pay the money for them...we either went in jumpers we had or not at all.

she did buy the PE kit but they lasted me the 4 years in high school, embaressing wearing a P.E skirt that just got shorter and shorter every year lol by the time i left in yr 11 you could almost see my briefs without me bending over

i bought my son a logo'd jumper for his reception year but it bobbled and looked awful very quick so i now just get him asda ones in the school colour! and he has teh option to wear shirts or polo shirts...we opt for shirts they look smarter,

moggylover

slummymummyof3 wrote: »

I buy M&S jumpers etc and take them to a business that does embroidered logos. They charge £3 to embroider the logo on each piece of kit - substantially cheaper than using the only supplier that the school uses! I thought it was supposed to be bought in that uniforms were not supposed to be from only one supplier to give parents a choice and to prevent them being held to ransom, so to speak.......or was that a figment of my imagination????

Unfortunately, the one business around here that used to be willing to do the embroidering on your own items has now gone (the lady retired) but they got an awful lot of hassle from the school regarding the "logo" belonging to the school and "copyright infringement" which I thought was disgusting of the school.

Further unfortunately, the shade of red the school uses is hard to come by and their regular polo is only reliably made by one supplier "Papini" whose quality is absolutely dreadful! The plackets have little reinforcement and only two rows of stitching which unravels within a short time, and the neckline always seems to need re-stitching, as do the underarms. The polyester also bobbles in a way I have not had with anything else of the type. They are seriously far worse than any "cheapies" I have purchased from Tesco whilst they were in little school.

Fortunately neither of my lads likes wearing sweatshirts/jumpers so we haven't had to buy those.

I've not tried trousers from Primark, Mupette, but I did buy two pairs of smart grown ups trousers from Matalan last term (at £12 each) and these have proved excellent. The school uniform ones are £22 so a good saving on those. The others I have found good are some I got on line made by Innovation and they are really excellent (although I have had a couple of occasions when the hem has come down but I suspect that is just my heavy footed oaf:D) and come in a half-elasticated waist which both my very active lads like for comfort.

The Government guidelines for uniform DO indeed say that they should be both accessible and affordable, but I begin to think that school teachers and LEA's need to go back for reading lessons;)

moggylover

9217niall wrote: »

For four years of secondary school, we had to have branded jumpers (£18) and branded polo t-shirts (£12), PE Top and Shorts (£12) etc...
For my final year, the school became an all-through academy and so new uniform. They gave us all free uniform, which is good for me. However, £30 for a blazer and £5 for a clip on tie is pretty expensive. Plus parents now need shirts which went 'grey' a lot easier than the polos we had. Rant over. I feel sorry for the parents who have to fork out all this money. My brother will wear my blazer next year because I've kept it in good condition and we just don't have this sort of money.
At least for sixth form it's "smart business wear". A BN George suit from a car boot for £4...who needs to know! :P
My mini rant over.

As a parent I really don't mind paying for the actual uniform so long as they ensure that things like the blazer are good quality and actually "worth" the £30. What I object to is specialist kit at high prices just for sports lessons! As I said earlier, I can fully understand the need for those kids that make school teams to have the school logo and so forth, but for the rest of the time I really don't think that the item they are wearing on the field/course/track/pitch/court will make one iota of difference to how well they learn the subject and I do wonder if it is the need to have special kit that makes some kids whose parents just can't afford it, less willing to participate in sports lessons. Perhaps it is just easier to say "I've forgotten my kit" than to say: "Mum can't afford to buy me the kit":(

moggylover

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

I remember my mum when I got too big in the fourth year senior school refused to buy the uniform any more, back of the assembly hall we had to stand most mornings and be singled out for the ritual trouser session.

Still how they wanted us when it came to playing football for the school!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I should love to be that strong about it, but I don't actually object to buying the extra kit for DS1 as he is in the school rugby team, athletics team, cricket team, etc. and does go off campus in his stuff. I'm going to make a bit of a fuss about the rugby top being so expensive and that I am willing for him to have one for matches but NOT just for coaching sessions though.

DS2 says I don't need to get it for him, he doesn't care if they won't let him do sports:eek::eek: but he actually needs the exercise more than his older brother so I'm torn.

They both think that the actual waterproof jacket is allowed to be worn as a day to day school coat not just for sports so I shall be less annoyed about that if that is so.

lincroft1710

When I passed 11+ and went to "grammar" school it cost my parents about £30 to kit me out.

Not bad I hear you say. But this was getting on for 50 years ago and that sum was nearly 2 weeks salary for my father.