school uniform illegal?

[mollykins]

Is it illegal for a state school to only have one supplier for their uniform?

I don't think so, as wouldn't the school find the cheapest place in the area, but its been going around that because we can only get it from the one shop, its illegal as there needs to be at least two for competition.

But i don't think that this supplier who the school have been with for five years now is the cheapest anymore, its £18 per jumper and £12 per polo shirt.

[brenda]

I don't think that is probably illegal, but most savvy parents will shop around and get the items elsewhere.For example all the state schools in my area have a sweatshirt top , grey trousers / skirt, white shirt/blouse.The sweatshirts are red, green, navy,and black according to which ever school it is.
All the local supermarkets gear up at unifom time as do the market stalls to offer the items for sale.
Each school has a named supplier , but the parents in my area shop as mentioned earlier, thus saving loads of cash.
Blazers are optional as is a school tie.Makes good sense to me especially when there are a number of children in a family who all need kitting out at the same time.

[buildersmate]

A marginally more entertaining question than the one about the colour of underwear worn at school.

[factor-fiction]

The hoodies and track suit bottoms worn by kids at my school can be bought from numerous suppliers.

[mollykins]

Yeah but the jumpers we wear have to come from that shop because they have to have the school logo on them. and as i say they're £18 a jumper and £12 per polo shirt, and i'm sure that there are places that would do it cheaper, but they went with this place because it was cheapest, when they brought the uniform in, about five years ago. BM, this isn't trivial, even though my school isn't as rough as that other one, many of the people from both live off low incomes or benefits, as this is a deprived area and parents are starting to complain that the one supplier is pushing prices too high and they can't afford to buy it.

So the only thing you can shop around for are shoes and trousers.

[mollykins]

I am revising, don't worry sprinter. I get bored if i do a solid hour of revision so i do fifteen minutes at a time and have a few minutes break to go on something like ab or facebook, which means it lasts an hour and a half, but at least it sinks in.

[boxtops]

I would expect that the shop providing the items with the logos has had to bid for the work, so it has a contract with the school or the local education authority to provide your uniform for a given period of time. Where I work we are allowed to use single suppliers for certain items but we have to be able to show that the contract's been awarded after considering other suppliers' offers - this is perfectly normal business practice. You would expect an item with a logo to cost a bit more because of the extra work in providing/stitching the logo. Cheapest is not always best, the contract has to look for value for money, washability, durability of fabric, etc. Cheapest clothes often don't last very long so are a poor investment for a hard-wearing item like school uniform.
I believe that there are sometimes arrangements for families on low incomes, through the schools - and a couple of schools here have arranged uniform swap shops so as children grow out of garments, they can swap them with someone else for the next size up, or else buy them at a second-hand price.
There should a PTA at your school - this is something which should be brought up at a committee meeting like that at high level with the school.

[mollykins]

I don't expect every shop to, anyways there's the one that we use in the nearest twon, but there's another one there aswell as another in our village.

But according to people, including some teachers, it needs to be sold in at least two shops, for competition, else the prices are just going to keep going up and up and probbably to £20 and £15 next year.

[boxtops]

Molly, if you are really that interested, go to the school secretary and ask about the tendering process for the provision of school uniforms. Rumour is a dreadful thing and if the shops selling uniform - as I've said above - have won a contract through the proper processes, teachers and others saying that their position is illegal is completely out of order. How can you say it's going up again next year?, you know nothing about the arrangements! that's pure guesswork and you are just stirring up trouble with no foundation, unless you know your facts.

[mollykins]

There's no Parent Teacher Association or swap shop. But even though they're expensive, i don't think that they're as durable as they should be.

For example i have a cheap, white, bog standard polo shirt that probably cost a couple of pound, that i've had for five or six years, that i wear most weeks, including school holidays. It is perfectly fine and still fits (it was quite baggy on me when i first got it now its snug but still fits) yet i have a school polo shirts where the buttons have come off and one got a whole in it from the zip on one of the jumpers and they are looking very much tattier, even though i've only had them two and a half years and don't wear them in the holidays and only wear one each week as i have five.

[mollykins]

One of the teachers, who first brought this up, also knows the poeple who run this shop, very well. And he said that they've nearly gone bust, and are going to have to put the prices up by a couple of pound.

[boxtops]

If you and others feel so strongly about it, then you could start a petition which you can put to the head teacher to ask them to do something about the situation. If more parents who sign it, the more the school might look to do something about it. What happens if you don't buy the stuff with the logo on, are the pupils penalised for wearing plain tops?

[boxtops]

PS I don't think much of your teacher's idea of conflidentiality if he knows the shopkeepers well and is gossiping about the state of their business, to his pupils - I think that's disgraceful.

[LoftyLottie]

With so much trivia on this site, I think it is very unfair of some of you to pick on someone just because she is a schoolgirl and quite young. Mollykins is articulate and intelligent which is more than you can say for quite a few posters and her questions are quite valid. She never posts anything offensive, unlike some.

[LoftyLottie]

This wasn't aimed at Boxtops by the way and the others who have given sensible answers.

[mollykins]

Thanks lottie.

Boxtops, i think they release their catalogue in april, which would include the price for the uniform, as under a general heading of jumper/ polo shirt with a certain sized emblem, i think.

[mollykins]

So they're finalising details for it, one of which they told their friend, as they know that he works for the school and i think he has a daughter whose starting this September or September 2011.

[boxtops]

My suggestion then would be that you wait until April when the catalogue comes out, and if the prices have increased and the majority of pupils' families think the cost is excessive in the new catalogue, then would be the time to raise the matter with the head teacher, so they can take it further through the proper channels.

[mollykins]

People already think that they're excessive.

For example, there are twins that i know, in the year below me, who also have a sister in the first year and another sister starting the school in September, thats still £72 possibly 80 if the prices do go up, just for jumpers.