Friday 16 August 2013

School Uniform - Without the Debt

I personally like school uniform. Many parents I know especially with bigger families like mine also like school uniform. The main reasons have nothing to do with education, pride, etc.

The first reason is cost of personal clothes for the school week if uniform were abolished. Take my 4 lads.  A few years back when I had all 4 in school would have amounted to 4 pairs of trainers (obviously fashionable ones so as to keep up with the trends and not be the odd one out in class) accompanied by an array of "personal taste" type clothes. For my eldest who went through a Goth and Punk phase, it would have been clothes from the specialist little shops in Liverpool where I remember spending £40 on a shirt for a birthday once. For my second son the "fashion pony" the latest styles and trends of whatever happens to be in Topman and River Island at the time. For my third sporty son, all the latest Adidas, Nike type sportswear and for my 4th quirky son a few shirts and quirky styles from Joe Browns.

The result: a huge bill for us their parents. You know kids, especially teenagers. New clothes and trends must be kept up with. I can only guess at the horrendous bill for girls and after the sad deaths recently of children being bullied on social media sites, I could forsee bullying on a large scale if children were picked on by not conforming to the latest styles. Those from low income families would find the playground a place to avoid at break times as their classmates assess who is wearing the "correct" trends and who is not.

The second reason is ease of knowing what each is wearing Monday to Friday. Those parents having to race out on the school run are quite happy knowing their child has one choice only. The school uniform! Imagine trying to get out of the house with a teenage daughter wondering what to wear that day!

So yes I am all for school uniform but I would like modifications. Far too many schools, like my sons have a school blazer with school crest embedded on, a school jumper again with the school logo and a school tie that has to be bought from a specialist store. Lets get to a base in state schools where we can buy generic school uniform. Plain coloured jumpers, blazers and ties with no logos and easily bought at any shop from Matalan, Asda, Tesco, M+S and co. Any state school and the new free schools and academies should now all be going to a generic uniform that can be easily bought, and thus avoid debt for the families on low incomes. I know when all 4 of my sons were in school,from primary up to secondary school, August came with basically a wallet/purse warning. I started buying shirts and bags in June before they even had the chance to break up from school! Larger families with 3+ kids can have bills of £250 per child once you include coats, bags, and stationery equipment. Lets try to soften that bill by having generic uniform.

Credit unions are also a great help in the month of uniform need as people can take out a small loan to cover some of the costs. But why not let's try to get this cost and burden down now by making our schools more aware about the burden of debt parents are getting into just to send their kids to school. Remember a lot of these parents are currently visiting Foodbanks to feed their families, so school uniforms are an added terror at this time of year. Many people in my local community are donating good second hand school uniform to the Foodbank, so it can go directly to those most in need of help
But let's start off by lobbying the Heads of Schools and getting an acknowledgement that educating our children shouldn't be resulting in debt for parents.

6 comments:

  1. I absolutely agree with you! We have certain items of uniform and sports kit that have to be purchased through school- at 4 or 5 times the price of the supermarket equivalent - not fair in my mind! And I too think school uniform is fab, in fact even my eldest agrees now, as she is in 6th form she gets to wear her own clothes, and it takes her far longer to get ready in the morning!

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    1. I agree. I think older teenagers can reason that wearing their own fashionable clothes would cause endless worry about conforming and fitting in at school. I forgot to mention children with special needs. They could be easily singled out if they did not wear the latest fashions and perhaps even photos posted on facebook etc by bullies could see their lives made unbearable. Schools have for to start to play ball though by using generic uniforms due to cost and sports kits should be basic plain colours to be bought anywhere.

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  2. Yes - standard colours of jumpers, blazers etc, then the schools can sell their individual crests for parents to sew on if they want.
    (Looking at equivalent embroidered badges, this would be ~£5 each if they include metallic thread).
    I remember parents at my school passing around tips for which supermarket/department store had clothes closest to the school's demanded standard, because it was so much cheaper; they shouldn't have to do that!

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    1. Parents should be able to pick up a basic generic uniform and sports kit in all the supermarkets. My boys school insist on the pale blue shirts and these are harder to get in supermarkets than white ones.

      Schools could issue school crests even on iron-on badges if they so wished to help reduce costs, but they seem reluctant. Schools and governors need to wake up to the costs especially those with 2 or more children.

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  3. When I opened a new school we visited supermarkets to see what colours they stocked & gave that range to parents to choose from. The first jumper was given free & had the school logo on. After that, it was up to parents which they choose. Having a cheaper alternative meant I could insist on uniform!

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  4. Hi Julie

    If only all heads followed your lead! I find Heads and Governors tend to focus on the schools identity a lot by insisting the uniform is logoed up with school crests on many items. Yesterday I paid £44 for 2 school navy jumpers with logo. Without the logo a navy jumper can be bought for £10-£12 in shops. That's a big price difference for just a jumper. And that is what makes parents annoyed!

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