Vent! Flaming School Uniform!

moggylover

Mupette wrote: »

Last year ds pe top which was another polo shirt but in dark green with logo embroidered on the chest.

Again i had to buy this at John Lewis, i was appalled by what i saw, the embroidery was a shambles, it was all snagged up in the top, i noticed this before i bought it so asked for another instead and showed the assistant why, they get another, its the same, so she gets another and another, they are all the same, John Lewis accepted these and they were all snagged, i felt because i thought i had to i bought one, even after a wash and a gentle push and pull i could not get it in a decent shape.

so not only was it over priced but a poor quality as well. :mad:

That is my exact point really: most of what we have to buy is a lot more expensive than it needs to be and is NOT good quality.

The school fleece has improved, but it was a really thin Fruit of the Loom one that wasn't even slightly warm for £25. I refused to buy this, and my lad wore his big thick one from the rugby club which is also black and only the logo was wrong. They didn't like it, but when I pointed out that the rugby club one was far better quality and only £18 they couldn't really give HIM the hard time, and had little argument they could put to me:D

The "school trends" stuff that we used to get at primary school was much, much better quality and cheaper but the senior school will not use them, even though they would then get money from school trends.

I suspect that whoever chooses the uniform has family who own or have an interest in one or the other of the small suppliers here, or possibly the wholesaler they get their supplies from:( It's the way a lot of things seem to work here I'm afraid.:(

hermanmunster_3

the problem with the costs of school uniform is that it is all relative - a £20 shirt may be several hours work to one parent while to another it is 20 minutes. Also often it is parents who can afford who are not afraid to buck the trend and send the kids in non logo kit .... as I have often done! - there is nothing a state school can do about it , unlike independents where it costs > £400 to kit out a 7 year old

moggylover

hermanmunster wrote: »

the problem with the costs of school uniform is that it is all relative - a £20 shirt may be several hours work to one parent while to another it is 20 minutes. Also often it is parents who can afford who are not afraid to buck the trend and send the kids in non logo kit .... as I have often done! - there is nothing a state school can do about it , unlike independents where it costs > £400 to kit out a 7 year old

I see where you are coming from, but I do think that when the school is in an area which is generally very poorly paid that the school needs to consider that the vast majority of the parents will not have oodles of dosh just waiting to be wasted.

My only comment around the cost of independents is that you pay for exclusivity much as you did for grammar schools and you know what to expect when you sign up for them. The parents should also have the power to change that within an independent the same as they do in private schools though, so more fool them for putting up with such stupid costs.

However, as I have said before, my cousins son attends a private school, and their uniform is less rigid and less expensive than ours.

It isn't that I can't afford the uniform either, although I wouldn't choose to waste money in that fashion, just that I object to the extreme items that they are beginning to demand so I might well just buck the trend myself except that I know neither of my kids will like the flack they will get from the headmaster, so it isn't me that suffers for my stand against the costs:(

*zippy*

We got away with a non logo jumper for a while, but eventually the school took it off my DD and put a logo on it themselves and charged us. Its the PE tops that annoy me the most, £13 for a embroidered white polo that gets ruined very quickly, why can't they have a more practical colour.

Moggy I think your best bet would be to get together as many parents as you can to protest at the new stuff, your local paper might be interested too if you really want to make a fuss...good luck x

Mupette

A few weeks ago i had to meet DS from school (actually we went uniform shopping before they run out, which is usually before term finishes at summer)

Anyhoo either every parent can't wash the white polo well... they were all grey.

I've beached, and soaked and all it does is make the logo go from navy to purple.. the white is gone.. and i have tried all sorts.

all the kids looked manky in their tops, all the parents can't be that bad.

Tigsteroonie

*zippy* wrote: »

We got away with a non logo jumper for a while, but eventually the school took it off my DD and put a logo on it themselves and charged us.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

hermanmunster_3

*zippy* wrote: »

We got away with a non logo jumper for a while, but eventually the school took it off my DD and put a logo on it themselves and charged us. x

I would send them a bill for damaging your property

Owain_Moneysaver

A Freedom of Information Act request on how much money schools receive from the "official suppliers" might prove interesting.

mumps

Back in the late 80s my son started at grammar school. We were quite lucky as the uniform was quite sensible, grey jumper and you could pay a fortune for one with a black line round the v neck or just a plain one, black blazer with sew on badge from school, tie from school and then white shirt and grey trousers, not bad at all. The pe kit was expensive I can't remember the exact price but know I was horrified when I heard what the rugby shirt cost. They got the pe kit at school so we sent in money first week and they came home kitted out. The great thing was the pe teacher didn't give them any choice and my sons rugby shirt was huge and lasted him 3 years, practice and matches, and then got passed to younger brother who wore it for another four years. In the end it was a bargain.

Ettenna

My DD2 changed school halfway through Yr 10. I had to buy a complete new uniform for her that cost £120. It was good quality though. But she came from a school that had sew on badges and nothing logo'd so it was a bit of a shock.

It doesn't get any better at college. She is going to college in September and has to have a sports kit for her course. It costs £105 for all the compulsory items.