Exclusive analysis of school training shirts across secondary schools in Birmingham has revealed the average cost for parents.
For training shirts, not including games shirts, on average parents will be spending £18.43 for a training shirt.
Across Birmingham, there is a large range in the pricing of training shirts depending on the school.
Students at Yardley’s School have the most expensive training shirt at £31.99. While Kings Heath Boys school have the cheapest training shirts at £5. Both schools were approached for comment.
Kristina Murphy, CEO and founder of Rubery Swop Shop believes making physical changes to uniforms can help reduce the cost for parents when purchasing school training kits.
Ms Murphy said: “I would like to see them move away from having houses [on the kit] and look at different ways to identify these houses without placing a financial burden on parents.”
To help introduce this, the government introduced the school uniform guidance alongside statutory guidance for the cost of school uniforms.
In the guidance, there is a section that covers how second-hand uniforms can be utilised. It states, “schools should ensure that arrangements are in place so that second-hand school uniforms are available for parents to enquire.”
Timothy Pereira, Project Manager at The Life House said: “If parents are already facing unmanageable difficulty to buy normal school uniform that is worn five days a week, then PE that are worn half a day a week is going to be even more serious.”
In addition, the statutory guidance wants schools to revise what areas of uniforms require branding. The government would like to see schools limit the use of branded items to “low cost or long-lasting items”. These recommendations extend to PE kits.
Some schools have begun to adopt using plain items of clothing to help parents that may be finding branded school uniforms too expensive. However, this has not yet reached every school across Birmingham.
While The Life House provides traditional school uniforms, they still recognise that if parents are struggling to purchase school uniforms, they will be struggling to equally to afford PE kits.
Ms Murphy would also like to see school governing bodies reflecting on their uniform policies.
“[It will help them] understand the cost associated with [the kits]”
“It’s not just a one-off [purchase]”.
Mr Pereria also explained that there are wider factors that can impact family's ability to afford training kits.
He said: “There’s a perfect storm of extra expenses right when uniforms need to be brought.
“During summer holidays, parents have the additional costs of providing meals for their children [if they receive free school meals], childcare arrangements while they are at work, costs of random school kit such as stationery, and school trips.”
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