THE government recently called for evidence relating the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. The Bill has two parts: the first on children’s social care and the second on schools.

Bump to Five and Harlow Foodbank submitted three pages of evidence, focused on the following areas:

Cost of school uniform and the impact of personalising and frequent changes
The number of items of school uniform needed for the school day and PE
Specific patterned items being needed for girls, placing an extra cost
Experience of care leavers who have not been supported to live independently

Inconsistency of free school meal vouchers being issued in school holidays
Breakfast clubs being too expensive
Covering the cost of food intolerances / SEND children who may be particular about branding
Strain of wait time for ECHPs and reduced timetables

In recent years Emma Batrick, Organising and Campaigns Manager at Harlow Foodbank, has spoken hundreds of Harlow residents on low incomes. Many are affected by these issues:

“We are grateful that our relationships give us the ability to raise the voices of those who visit us, when they are not in the position to do so themselves. Our aim is for us all to live in a society where there is no longer a need for foodbanks – or baby banks – and it is hoped that our submission of evidence will lead to changes to take the strain off of people.” Emma reports.

School uniform

Fernanda Champness, Project Manager at Bump to Five, has similar evidence:

“At MRCT we run Harlow Community School Uniform Shop. We get donated items and sell them at a significantly reduced price. We have a number of low-income families who make use of the shop and the reduced prices, but we also get higher income families who find the cost of uniform prohibitive and the waste of good quality uniform unsustainable.

“We have run the shop alongside our baby bank, Bump to Five, over the summer holidays for the past three years, and now the shop is open throughout the year. During this time we have received a lot of feedback regarding the impact that buying school uniform and strict uniform policies have had on a number of families from varying backgrounds.
“Many people find the cost of branded uniform to be prohibitive, while schools who may accept generic items still state a preference for branding uniform, placing pressure on families to conform. Generic uniform can also mark people out as being less well-off, leading to families sacrificing other things to stretch their money to afford branded uniform. Some schools not only require branded uniform, but they insist that they are monogrammed with the child’s initials. This makes it impossible for pupils to pass on uniform to younger siblings or for parents to sell unform to recoup some of the expense when the uniform is no longer needed.

“There’s also the cost of PE kits, which can include multiple items, for different sports – then this can become even more expensive as children can grow rapidly during the school year.
“We often receive this type of feedback: ‘I’m trying to buy everything else second-hand so I can save up money to buy the blazer new, because it’ll be difficult to find one that fits’. Blazers are the fastest-selling items in our shop for this reason.

“We have seen an increase in Primary schools requiring formal trousers, shirts, blazers and ties for all pupils. Children as young as Reception are being asked to wear this type of uniform, which makes it so expensive for parents for all the primary years as well as the secondary years.
“It seems that school uniform has many unnecessary and expensive items (such as blazers and ties, formal footwear, specific shorts or skorts etc) which significantly increase the cost and forces parents to buy and replace several pieces of clothing each academic year. The biggest impact on lowering school uniform cost could be achieved by redefining what schools can demand as necessary attire for school.”
Changes to uniform

“We have received a lot of feedback recently about schools making changes to their uniform requiring families to buy all the school items again,” continues Fernanda. “Most schools start the new uniform policy for children entering school in a specific year, meaning that older children in the school don’t need to replace everything, however, it does mean that uniform can’t be passed down to younger siblings and it means families can’t pass on or sell the ‘old’ unform when their child outgrows it. It also means that second-hand shops such as ours can’t help families for a year or two until the new cohort start to outgrow their uniform (in addition, the impact on the environment is significant as the uniform is unusable and unsellable).

“Small changes to uniform (such as adding or removing a stripe from an item, or tweaking the school crest) occur on a fairly regular basis creating the problem outlined above. This is often applied to all year groups so pupils with good unform are having to replace items simply because of a small change. New Headteachers entering a school is the most common cause of changes to uniform design.

“As Emma says, we are grateful that we are able to raise the voices of those we work with”.
If you would like to talk to MRCT about anything else school uniform related or join in campaigning for change, email [email protected].