Urgent action is needed to bring down the cost of school uniforms to parents, according to the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. A draft law which will stop schools insisting parents buy more than three branded items will go before the House of Lords this week.
Parents are having to pay £442 on average to kit a child out for secondary school, and £343 for primary school pupils, according to the Department for Education.
It claims one third of parents worry about the cost of uniform – and one in five parents said their school has increased the number of branded items required. Fewer than three in 10 schools have reduced the overall cost of uniform items.
Under the new plans, schools can require children are kitted out in no more than three branded items, excluding a tie.
It is hoped the changes will allow clothing such as white shirts and dark trousers to be bought at supermarkets.
Ms Phillipson told the Sunday Express: “In recent years we’ve seen a big increase in the number of branded items schools are using and this is a real worry for parents because the costs are going up and family finances are under pressure as a result… We’re going to put money back into parents’ pockets.”
However, she has no desire for the nation to follow the United States where many schools do not require a uniform.
She said: “School uniforms are important to children’s identity but also to make sure parents don’t come under pressure to have the most expensive new clothes and shoes.”
The Education Secretary insists “children can look smart without it costing the earth”.
Ms Phillipson is responsible for education in England at a time of rising concern about classroom behaviour. Nearly 300,000 pupils were suspended in the spring term of 2023/24 – almost double the number in spring 2019.
“I am concerned about some of the growing challenges we’re seeing around behaviour in the classroom,” Ms Phillipson said. “That’s also having an impact on schools retaining great teachers because teachers report it’s becoming more of a problem.”
Pupil absences is also a worry, with more than 170,000 pupils missing at least half their lessons last year.
“Making sure that children are regularly in school is a big priority for this Government because we know that if children aren’t in school it has a lifelong impact, both on their career opportunities [and] their earning potential in the future, too,” she said.
Ms Phillipson argued parents, schools and Government will have to “pull together” to tackle this challenge.
Champions of home-schooling are alarmed by provisions in the legislation going before peers this week for compulsory “children not in school registers” in every local authority in England.
Conservative peer Lord Wei said: “Where the 1944 Education Act placed trust in parents to shape their children’s education — conscious of the ease with which dictators bent the national curricula of their countries in service of totalitarianism — this Bill installs a machinery of surveillance and central control that could be readily exploited by future authoritarian governments.”
Fellow Tory peer Lord Frost said the legislation would put “in place a machinery of surveillance and bureaucracy that will make home schooling much more difficult and give control to education bureaucrats in town halls across the land”.
The Education Secretary defended the plans, saying: “Parents continue to retain the right to decide where their children are educated and responsible parents who choose to home-educate have absolutely nothing to worry about in this Bill. What the Bill is seeking to do is make sure that where people are being home-educated we know where they are.
“We’ve sadly seen what can be tragic consequences when schools and social workers don’t know where children are.”
The Netflix drama Adolescence has heightened concern about how boys in particular can be negatively influenced by social media and by online personalities who encourage distorted views of what it means to be a man.
Ms Phillipson said: “It’s really important young men have positive male role models, including within the classroom and that’s why male teachers are so important – but also I’ve seen some fantastic schemes across the country where older male students support younger students so they’ve those positive influences in the school and in their lives and are less likely to fall under the influence of some of the very unpleasant online voices.”
She said it was up to parents to decide if a child should have a smartphone but made it clear she did not want the devices in schools.
“Phones have got no place within the classroom,” she said. “They are disruptive and school leaders have got my full backing in enforcing the guidance that’s already there.”
