How much for a new school uniform?

Bublin1

Hiya

My dd starts school in September so I need start thinking about buying her uniform and school shoes.

I'd like to have an idea how much you spent on your child's first set of uniform and what you bought ie how many shirts/polo shirts? How many dresses/skirts?

Thanks in advance.

balletshoes

its a fair while ago now (her secondary school uniform costs more to be honest), but when my DD stated I think I had 2 dresses, one pinafore, one skirt, and then for winter 2 pairs of trousers. At primary school they wore polo shirts and the school logo'd jumper or cardigan, so I had 2 jumpers or 2 cardigans bought from the school (whichever she preferred to wear that school year). I bought 2 packs of 3 white polo shirts to start me off, and replaced them as and when they needed replacing.

One pair of school shoes as their feet grow so fast at that age.

Cycling shorts and t-shirt for PE.

Book bag bought from school, and hundreds of pairs of white socks .

I used Matalan for her school dresses (2 for £7 or something like that), polo shirts, skirts, trousers, all the rest were usually from Tesco, Asda or Sainsburys (all bought when they had offers on schoolwear, which will start shortly I'd imagine).

Shoes were Clarkes, we used to have a Clarkes outlet store nearby which was great, but also keep an eye out in August for sales in Clarkes, you might find shoes in the sale which are fitted to her size.

Tenyearstogo

I have boys so I buy 3 pairs of trousers, five shirts and 5 jumpers. I could get away with less but i wash it all ata the weekend, they have One set of pe kit.

I only need that many jumpers because those tend to get left at school or dirty easily. My boys never lose uniform because they have to pay to replace it.

I don't buy logo-ed items as they're usually of worse quality than they Matalan/tesco ones.

I would suggest you under buy rather than over buy. School uniform is easily available throughout the year so you can always top up if necessary. I know my friends with girls have more issues as the girls are more fashion conscious and like to have the options of dresses, trousers and skirts.

peachyprice

Primary school, not much.

Ideally you need
3 skirts in the right colour from Sainsbury'sTesco/Asda/M&S £10 or less on 3 for 2
5 Blouses/shirts/polos £4-5 a pack
1 or 2 jumpers depending on the child £5 each
Tights and socks. £3
PE shorts & Tee-shirt £4
Plimsolls £2

That'll get you started and most places have 3 for 2 on uniform, you could probably get the whole lot for £20-£30. The most expensive thing is the shoes, £30-£35 for a pair of Clarks or Start-rite.

You may need less or more depending on how dirty your child gets during the day, I only ever had 1 jumper for my DD and that did all week, they're usually off after registration, but she did like a clean skirt every day, other children may not be so fussy so you could get away with less, blouses 1 a day, but if you're organised you can get away with less but they come in packs of 5 anyway.

Edit:
You might want to pick up a summer dress or two now in case it's still warm in September.

balletshoes

theres a grabbit on Tesco now for polo shirts at reduced prices (the Grabbit board is always a good read for school uniform deals) -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4635149

mrsbb_2

I would go for two sets of everything to start off, and if you can buy multi-packs of polo shirts etc, all the better. I would get more shirts and tops, but less skirts or trousers.

Why not get her measured for school shoes in Clarks or M&S (maybe wait til August, she might have grown by time school starts!), and then buy exactly the same shoes online on ebay for half the price?

get lots of tights and socks - no doubt they'll get torn or lose them when they do PE!

dizziblonde

How often do you want to wash? I wash every day so could realistically (mine are a couple of years away yet but I used to teach reception) get away with one set on, one in the wash - but if you only wash a couple of times a week you'll probably need more stuff.

Work on the assumption they'll emerge each day looking like they've lost a cage fight with a yoghurt, paint pot, whiteboard pen and all the mud on the school field is a usually good assumption.

Name EVERYTHING, a loop of ribbon or a novelty keyring or something hanging off book bags is always a handy one for them to find them out of the pile quickly (especially before they can read their name), and putting an arrow with marker pen in the soles of each shoe so they can line them up on the floor with the arrow tips pointing together (or half a smiley face in each shoe if you're artistic) like --> <-- to get them on the right foot after PE helps them be independent.

Trousers are often handier than dresses or skirts for after PE as tights are trickier for them to manage - but that depends on the school really, pinafores protect polo-shirts a bit but there was one supermarket brand (think it was Asda) that I used to find a few of the girls really struggled getting on and off as it was skinnier cut than the others but they might have redesigned them now as it's a few years since I've taught in a school near one. Plimsolls the velcro fastening ones are much much easier than the elastic ones - especially when there's a day when they're starting to get tight fitting anyway, and the child comes in in thicker socks than normal and you're trying to get a shoe on with visions of it pinging off into the air!

You might want to buy a spare polo shirt while the back to school offers are on and keep it stashed away for school photo/concert day when all the others are starting to look a bit battle scarred.

Spendless

5 polo shirts I had, especially useful if you go out to work every day, so you aren't needing to put a wash on because you've run out mid-week. I also found pinafores 'saved' the polo shirts. The pinafores I had had a zip at the front with a ring pull at the top, so plenty of room to go over head and back on again if changing for PE and not too difficult for little fingers. You could also leave the zip part undone.

Bublin1

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply. This has been very helpful for drawing up a list and budgeting my costs.

I like the idea about searching on ebay for Clarks shoes. I've just done that and alot of the size I would want are sold out but I still have a couple of months left.

Ah yes, the pinafore would save alot of stainage!

Saving a new polo for the school photo is a very good idea and the arrows in the shoes is ingenius and I completely forgot about name tags.

flipper_72

If your school has embroidered polo shirts and you are going down the pinafore route then I would suggest buying plain ones in the same colour, you can't see the logo and on the odd occasion my dd wears them together she complains the logo rubs. Because she wears pinafores we only need a polo shirt every other day too. Summer dresses seem to come home dirtiest, we have 4 now although set off in reception with only 2 and added them as we went along, my dd would have worn them all year round, I had to ask her teacher to announce it was winter uniform time in November of her first year to get her out of them!
Tights are the worst I find, you need loads as they don't seem as well made as normal ones and she ends up with holes in them either at knee or crotch.
To start I would get
1 skirt
1 pinafore
2 summer dresses
3 -5 polo shirts
2 -3 cardis or jumpers
Maybe 1 pair trousers but my dd doesn't wear them
Lots of socks and tights
Shoes
PE shorts, tshirt and pumps with Velcro
Pump bag and book bag and lunch bag if packed lunches

Once she starts you will find out what she prefers to wear and can add another skirt/pinafore/trousers as appropriate - saves stuff being stuck permenantly in the wardrobe.

flipper_72

Oh and for shoes try the start rite website as they often have school shoe offers. If she is measured with a Clarks gauge and is say 9 then you will need a 8.5 as they come up bigger