When my 12-year-old daughter, Ella, started secondary school last September, we were hit with the reality of just how expensive education really is.
At her state school, kitting her out with the compulsory, branded logo parts of the uniform cost just shy of £200. This consisted of a full PE kit – including a skort, T-shirt, jumper, and socks – as well as a blazer, tie, and polo shirts.
One of the biggest rip-offs was her school skirt, which cost £22 from the school uniform supplier because no high street or supermarket versions were allowed. As a result, she had to make do with just the one, as the sheer ridiculousness of spending £44 on two skirts for a child was too much.
That’s why, at a time when every penny counts for families, I welcome the Government stepping in with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. It promises to ‘ban schools from requiring parents to buy more than three branded items as part of the school uniform’.
But while any savings that can be made will help – the Government reckons parents could save £50 per child each year – it isn’t enough and more really needs to be done to take the pressure off families.
School uniform matters and I am fully onboard with children wearing one. Uniforms can be a great social leveller, reducing the pressure to keep up with fast fashion trends, while creating a sense of belonging, equality, and community.
As a parent, I like the simplicity of it; no early morning battles over what to wear.
However, school uniforms are currently yet another hidden cost of education that is hitting parents hard. The system is broken and this proposed policy won’t fix the real problem; the strict, overly specific uniform requirements.
Because – even if a school now limits its branded items to blazer, tie, and PE top – parents still face a mountain of hidden costs on non-branded items, alongside the usual stationery, bag, and other similar items.
For both my children, I can look to be spending £300 just on the branded logo items and up to £500 for everything.
Sure, many schools allow you to shop around for the basics. But while the high street and supermarket retailers might technically fit the bill, the reality is that children and their parents are often quietly pressured into buying the more expensive versions from the school shop to avoid being reprimanded by teachers or standing out from their peers.
Skirts have to be a certain style and length, shirts have to be the right fit, and trousers have to be a certain fabric. This is something I know all too well about.
In August last year, I did the usual school uniform shop before term time. I thought I had the specifications in the school’s policy all covered, but six weeks into the new term, Ella was pulled up during the weekly uniform inspection alongside her peers, for the wrong fabric for her trousers.
Thankfully, there was no punishment, she just came home and told me. Even though it was the school’s error in not being clear enough with their policy, they would not allow her to keep those trousers, so we had to buy more.
We found it tricky to find suitable trousers that she felt comfortable in and that fit properly, so we ended up with just one pair, which was the same cost as two of the previous ones.
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The new trousers were £50 in total, but that wasn’t the full extent of the damage. The whole ordeal left my daughter feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable at a crucial time where she was trying to adjust to life at senior school.
Ever since, I try to be as prepared as possible.
However, as children get older and more self-conscious, not all are comfortable wearing second-hand and no parent wants to watch their child feel embarrassed because their school jumper is faded or a slightly different cut compared to everyone else.
How Kirsty saves costs on school uniform
I am a huge fan of buying second-hand where possible and it’s saved me a few hundred pounds. I do this by:
- Buying non-branded uniforms (where allowed) cheaply off secondhand clothing sites like Vinted
- I’ve even bought branded items from parents whose children are a couple of years older than mine
- There are also Swap Shops too, which is where parents swap uniform items for ones that they need
I think that recycling clothes in this way is not only important from a sustainability perspective, but a brilliant way of easing the financial burden – especially as kids grow out of their clothes at a rate of knots.
If the Government really wants to make school uniforms affordable, they need to go further and tackle the culture of exclusivity and ‘one supplier only’ rules – which is where parents can only buy from one supplier who the school dictates.
They also need to properly regulate the prices of uniforms and force schools into accepting cheaper alternatives, without punishing children who wear them.
It means recognising that affordability isn’t just about the branded logos. It is about giving parents real, practical choices because uniforms shouldn’t be a financial burden that adds another layer of pressure onto them. It certainly shouldn’t make children feel awkward because their clothes aren’t quite right.
This reform is a step in the right direction, but it is nowhere near enough.
Until rules are properly enforced and schools are made to accept real, affordable options, uniforms will stay an unrealistic, unfair cost to families.
No one should be forced to fork out hundreds of pounds a year just so their child can fit in – or not be called out.
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