As another hike in interest rates is announced by the Bank of England, and the country heads into recession, the Children’s Society have launched a campaign to cut the cost of school uniforms.
Here on the Isle of Wight, Cowes North Labour councillor, Richard Quigley, is calling for head teachers to go a step further and suspend uniform rules until the country is the other side of the cost of living crisis.
He told News OnTheWight,
“I don’t want to put a downer on the summer by mentioning the return to school in September, but for many parents, the stress of buying uniform will already be niggling away at the back of their minds.
“Not only is the process often not the easiest, but the cost is something that causes serious worries for parents. Uniforms averagely cost over £300, 1.1 million children are in families that have had to cut back on spending on food and essentials in order to afford uniform.
“This was bad enough before we entered a cost of living crisis.”
Quigley: Call for schools to voluntarily suspend all uniform rules
Cllr Quigley went on to say,
“In 2020, a bill passed through parliament making schools prioritise cost when selecting a uniform policy, but it doesn’t set price limits and I imagine many schools won’t have had the chance to make a meaningful dent in the costs.
“I therefore ask, unless they have another way of removing the cost pressure, that schools voluntarily suspend all uniform rules until we are the other side of this crisis. I’m largely in favour of uniform in normal times, but as our government keeps telling us, we aren’t in normal times.
“I would ask that our MP backs this request as this has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with people being able to look after their families.”
Response from MP
News OnTheWight has asked the Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Bob Seely, whether he would support Cllr Quigley’s appeal.
He told News OnTheWight,
“Uniforms are there for many reasons; safeguarding and shared ethos to name but two. Doing away with school uniforms is a foolish and ill-considered idea.”
(The full BS comment is detailed here)
Article edit
8.35am 5th Aug 2022 – Comment from BS added
13:55pm 5th Aug 2022 – Link to full BS comment added after article published.
Image: For illustrative purposes robin worrall under CC BY 2.0
