22% of students have been given a detention due to uniform breaches, finds survey
July 2023 - Education
22% of students have been given a detention due to uniform breaches: A survey of parents has revealed that 22% of students have been given a detention due to uniform breaches, with 12.5% placed in isolation and around 7% excluded due to incorrect uniform or shoes. This, says The Children's Society who commissioned the survey, is happening even after the Education Act was updated to ensure schools are more flexible with uniform due to the cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation.
The Children’s Society survey polled around 2,000 parents with the purpose of creating more awareness of the impact that school uniform costs are having on some families. Despite the legal obligation for schools in England to review their uniform policies in September 2022, around 50% of parents said their child's school’s uniform policy had not been updated. One quarter (25%) of parents polled were unsure of the status of the uniform policy, found the research.
According to the report accompanying the survey findings, the average cost for secondary school uniforms is £422 per year, and £287 per year for primary school uniforms. This is because many schools require multiple items of uniform, many of which are required to be branded. On average, students are expected to buy three branded items, with almost a third of pupils in secondary school required to have four or five pieces, extending to PE kit. The cost of buying these items is considerably more than plain non-branded items that can be purchased from supermarkets.
Changes to the Education Act last year mean that schools in England should be working with parents to cut costs by introducing measures such as removing unecessary branded items from uniform lists and promoting second-hand uniform initiatives.
The chief executive of the Children’s Society, Mark Russell, said: “It’s alarming that parents are still forced to spend exorbitant amounts on school uniforms. With inflation and the cost of living eating into family budgets, we are disappointed that the affordability of school uniforms remains a significant financial burden for many families."
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