School Uniform Grants

jules372

Hi,
i'm in Lytham St Annes (Lancs) and my son is starting High School in September. We have been told we are eligible for a uniform grant of £90, but you only get it for year 7, nothing available after that. After reading previous posts, suppose I should be grateful he's getting anything.
Jules

Smiley_Mum

Me too....

princessmoneysaver

I think we got £25 last year, just got my new form this year so will see how much we get then. She's in Infant school, should that make a difference?

Savvy_Sue

Kimberley wrote:

The Blazer for my middle son would cost £54 for a designer school motif one or there is a budget one for £38..

Now i believe that i should buy him the designer one as kids can tell the difference and my son is shy and he would be vulnerable to micky takers.. what would be the best way to go?

If you are even considering designer I would definitely see if there is a second hand shop at school where you could get a designer one in good nick. But my older two boys both sound similar to yours and have never had any problems with micky taking, despite being in BHS blazers and trousers, Clarks shoes Cico trainers. I guess it would depend on the school.

I drew the line at buying my son a girl's blazer when I was having huge difficulty finding him one which didn't drown him last year! There is a massive leap from 'Age 13' size to where they start selling them by chest size, and as he is a skinny little 'apporth, with arms as long as a gorilla, it's quite a problem!

Another question is are both styles washable? Tumble-dryable? I wouldn't buy a blazer which I felt I had to dry clean! Also check quality: if the budget version seemed better made I'd buy that, they can be very heavy on their clothes!

PS you are lucky you have a choice, I believe our lea gives vouchers which can only be spent in a very few shops, and they're cheap shops!

Kimberley

Savvy_Sue wrote:

PS you are lucky you have a choice, I believe our lea gives vouchers which can only be spent in a very few shops, and they're cheap shops!

How tight is that at least i got a cheque, so i can use what i don't spend on his other things like his locker and tie :rolleyes:

Savvy_Sue

Kimberley wrote:

How tight is that at least i got a cheque, so i can use what i don't spend on his other things like his locker and tie :rolleyes:

Well, I suppose the reasoning goes that if you give vouchers which can only be used in shops which sell school uniform or at the school itself (which I think is the case with our vouchers) then the money will go to the purpose for which it was intended, ie school uniform, rather than on anything else. There are many families who wouldn't necessarily see the school uniform as a priority if there were other bills to be paid, and would worry about what the kids were to wear to school nearer the time ...

sockospice

When I was at school (not that long ago) my mum got all the basics (skirt/trousers, blouses/shirts, gym kit) from places like b-wise. The quality is not that much different to the stuff you get in BHS (we never had any problems) but the price difference is huge. We found that with a little bit of searching, you could pretty much replicate the school's suggested purchases with stuff from cheap shops.