Haven't the government tabled a bill to do something about this yet?
When I was at school, they insisted on a school branded sweater and tie only. The rest, such as PE kits and shirts were just colour guides and you could buy cheap unbranded stuff. There was controversy when they allowed us to not wear ties in the summer months but only if you bought a school branded polo shirt.
Now they're insisting on expensive blazers, full branded PE kits (including socks and shorts), separate boots for rugby and football (as football is played on astro) and it costs £hundreds. The boys aren't far apart in age and size, and my daughter will obviously be smaller and need to the female equivalents, so I can't even rely on hand-me-downs.
How do less fortunate families than mine afford all this?
They have yes, not really a new thing either at this point:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-to-drive-down-cost-of-school-uniform-for-families
The Department for Education (DfE)
cost of school uniform guidance means schools in England must ensure that school uniform costs are reasonable, and parents get the best value for money.
This is not happening. Not in secondary schools. Granted some changes have been made, a school near me had striped shirts for decades as part of their uniform and in the last couple of years changed to generic white shirts that can be bought from anywhere. So that’s progress I guess. Still need an expensive branded blazer, jumper and pe kit though.
My daughter’s school apparently went from skirts with branding on, to plain skirts. However the skirts still have to be specific ones bought from specific shops with one skirt costing the same as a multipack equivalent from a supermarket.
I also think with some schools, they try to price certain demographics out via their uniforms. They don’t want the ‘riff raff’ bringing their results and reputation down, they can’t outright say that, they do it in a more subtle way.
The kids get punished in the form of detentions, eventually escalating to isolation for having incorrect uniform. No parent wants that for their kid so of course we all comply, with gritted teeth and a sense of resentment. Only way to stop this is if all parents band together but I can’t see that happening.
This is presumably how many schools are getting away with it:
To support families, schools will have to make sure second-hand uniforms are available
They just say “well you can buy second hand to save money”. Problem being all parents can’t buy second hand because there isn’t the second hand stock available to kit out every single child. My child is on the small side, most things at the second hand uniform ‘shop’ the school puts on is way too big. Also it shouldn’t have to come to that, uniforms should be affordable in the first place. I should be able to walk into Asda who sell a wide variety of school uniform items at a very reasonable price and get everything my child needs.
The contrast in uniform requirements between primary and secondary schools is stark, my younger child goes to school in all generic unbranded stuff in school colours, my older child goes to school looking like a walking advertising board for the school and it’s academy trust. I don’t really see a good reason why that needs to be the case.
To me it gives the impression that the school is more concerned about their ‘image’ than the welfare and education of the kids.
