Branded school uniforms

[Egg Centric]

trainers are fine as long as they are black.

I freely admit I have no clue about the topic, but isn't allowing "discretionary" trainers (of any kind) going to end up with potential jealousy/bullying/theft issues? The main point of a uniform as I see it is to prevent that sort of thing so when you have an item of clothing that unusually can cost anywhere between a tenner and a grand my naive view would be you don't want to give much discretion over it at all to the students.

This isn't a disagreement so much as a "I know you know far better than me about this subject, please explain why I'm wrong"

 

[MrJeeves]

At my secondary school, the only mandatory branded items were either (a) blazer and tie, or (b) blazer, skirt and tie (tie was introduced for male-female parity while I was there, and older students were "grandfathered" in and not made to wear one!).

And no, it wasn't "boys" or "girls" uniform -- they had no issue with boys wearing skirts or girls wearing trousers! We did bear witness to some doing the former during the summer months.

There was also a branded black jumper, which was optional. I never had one.

When my siblings were at the same school 11 years earlier, they had coloured ties per-year, as well as being able to vote on a coloured shirt to wear in Year 11. I preferred having one tie through my whole time at the school (I only ever owned two ties across the 5 years!), but was upset there was no coloured shirt for me.

I will say that blazers were often the first thing people would ditch was always the blazer. I know I took it off at every moment possible! In theory you were supposed to "ask permission" to take off your blazer in a lesson, but I don't think anyone did that outside of maybe the first month or two of Year 7.

I also never found the school particularly strict for PE uniform. I always wore tracksuit bottoms or shorts during PE, and, on occasion, wore any random t-shirt I felt like. There were branded rugby shirts and white polos which you were supposed to wear, though. Shoes were just any trainers you wanted (though you were encouraged to wear cheaper ones as they "often get lost", as it was written in the uniform policy). No colour requirements for those at all.

There were also various events I was glad to take part in that effectively opted me out of any school uniform for the whole day even if it was just for a short part of the afternoon!

 

[yorkie]

I freely admit I have no clue about the topic, but isn't allowing "discretionary" trainers (of any kind) going to end up with potential jealousy/bullying/theft issues?

Unlikely if they're plain black.

And no, it wasn't "boys" or "girls" uniform -- they had no issue with boys wearing skirts or girls wearing trousers! We did bear witness to some doing the former during the summer months.

Shorts not allowed?

When my siblings were at the same school 11 years earlier, they had coloured ties per-year, as well as being able to vote on a coloured shirt to wear in Year 11. I preferred having one tie through my whole time at the school ...

The colour stays with the yeargroup, in the same way that your username stays with you.

In other words, red would only mean "year 7" in year one, it would mean "year 8" in year two, and so on; in the same way that a username prefixed with "24" would be a current year 7, but next year would be a year 8, and so on.

 

[MrJeeves]

I freely admit I have no clue about the topic, but isn't allowing "discretionary" trainers (of any kind) going to end up with potential jealousy/bullying/theft issues? The main point of a uniform as I see it is to prevent that sort of thing so when you have an item of clothing that unusually can cost anywhere between a tenner and a grand my naive view would be you don't want to give much discretion over it at all to the students.

This isn't a disagreement so much as a "I know you know far better than me about this subject, please explain why I'm wrong"

In my view, as a fairly recent student in the grand scheme of things, is that I wouldn't want to be forced into any particular kind of shoe because I really do struggle to find shoes that fit me properly! If there was <generic shoe> you must wear for PE, it'd almost certainly end up too uncomfortable to wear for even basic walking let alone any execise.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Apr 2025 ==

Shorts not allowed?

No, shorts were not allowed even during the height of summer. It was often complained about. They did always make blazers "non-compulsory" during hot periods of weather, though. Oh, and we could also wear short-sleeved shirts year-round. I think I did this for most of my five years too.

The colour stays with the yeargroup, in the same way that your username stays with you.

Ah, that definitely makes more sense

I don't think I would have been opposed to the idea, actually, but I did rather like our tie design as-is!

 

[aftv]

At sensible schools, blazers are not worn, jumpers are not required from May to July and trainers are fine as long as they are black.

I hated wearing the jumper. I think I wore it about five times maximum and that was in Year 7 before swiftly ditching it. If I had my way it'd just be a shirt, coloured tie based on year group and trousers along with smart dress shoes or black trainers. The whole saga of having to get a note to wear any form of footwear that werent smart dress shoes hacked me off big time. I could never understand why it mattered or was anyone elses business if we were wearing trainers.

 

[GusB]

The schools I went to had uniform policies but they weren't rigidly enforced. My first primary school specified grey trousers, v-neck jumper and shirt, while at the next I went to it was okay to have a blue or white shirt and the jumper could be navy blue or grey. The only time a white shirt was insisted upon was when we went to events like the local music festival.

When I went to secondary school my parents took the uniform policy literally and supplied me with a blazer - it was worn for two days before I convinced them that nobody else was wearing blazers and that I was a target for wearing one.

Other than the school tie, none of the garments were specially branded, though. In my later school years a branded jumper was introduced but wearing it wasn't compulsory. On the quality front, the branded jumpers were actually very good.

They should get rid of blazers. I suspect they are used by some schools as a means to deter poorer students from attending.

Blazers are totally impractical. In winter they don't keep you warm and in summer they're too hot, especially in schools that insist that you can't take them off.

Near me, some students are being denied entry to their catchment school, where the cost of a jumper is £18.00 – £21.75 and instead being forced to attend a school further away that is not their catchment school, which demands that blazers costing £34.99 are purchased. I don't know if those prices are reasonable or how they compare to other schools; these are just examples I looked up online. Both are branded.

(Their catchment school reduced its allocation a year or two ago, while the other school expanded and increased their allocation a few years prior; demand for the schools is broadly the same, but one school has significantly more 'capacity' than the other, with the excess capacity filled by 2nd/3rd choice applications).

This is ludicrous. The jumper price is well out of order, although I'm not sure whether or not £34.99 is reasonable for a blazer.

What isn't reasonable is excluding kids from their catchment schools. You then have the utterly silly situation where kids from wealthier families outwith the area are driven to school by their parents, while "local" parents have to fork out for bus fares to send their kids to schools further away or the local council has to fund the transport.

Getting back on topic, "uniform" doesn't necessarily mean that everything has to be purchased from a single supplier. By all means specify the colour of jumpers, trousers and shirts etc. and if you must insist on a badge, make it a sew-on patch. Other than that, allow parents to make their own purchasing decisions. Aren't we supposed to have a "free market"?

 

[Harpo]

Would that single supplier be Trutex and with Tucasi as the only permissible means of paying them...?

Yes. Trutex only, but luckily my daughter’s not there. Generic black trousers for her (her choice) luckily.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Apr 2025 ==

Blazers are totally impractical. In winter they don't keep you warm and in summer they're too hot, especially in schools that insist that you can't take them off.

Wound up to the totally bonkers extremity of my kid’s bog-standard secondary insisting on full uniform for final exams!

No point expressing a view to schools either. No secondary I’ve been involved with will reply to emails unless it suits them to.

 

[dgl]

And naturally with academies a single supplier branded uniform is another way to make more money for the academy, well for the bosses that run the trusts that is. Must be a kick back from the suppliers.

The secondary school I went to only went to blazers after they had become an academy (and specific trousers you had to get from their supplier, which is mad), before that it was a t-shirt and a jumper. No one wanted blazers when they were consulting on the new uniform when we became an arts college in the early 00's.

Before academies there was less of an incentive for schools to profiteer out of things, now it seems to be profit above everything else and parents are there to be fleeced as much as possible, no one should get a detention just because the trousers they are wearing are identical to everyone else's bar a manufacturers logo.

 

[crablab]

So personally I do not buy this uniform idea about bullying. Nor do I feel it prepares people for the world of work any more as so few places actually have uniforms. [...] It's just not a reality for most people any more. Also frankly you don't need 7 years of training to wear a uniform, it's a very poor excuse.

I agree.
I think this runs much deeper and in my experience much of the English education system is about enforcing conformity, and the rigid uniform is one way to do that.
Instead of treating students as "mini adults" - individuals who can make decisions about themselves and their education - we belittle them by saying they aren't capable of following some basic rules about what to wear, so everyone has to have an enforced uniform.

My schools sometimes did non-uniform days. It was fine, no one died and the world didn't stop turning.

It's been explored in other threads (eg. walking to school), but the way we see and treat young adults in British society is certainly a point of comparison Vs our European neighbors.

 

[Yew]

I'm not a fan of requiring a branded jumper AND a blazer - it seems unnecassary to brand the jumper when it's going to be under a blazer.

 

[styles]

I agree.
I think this runs much deeper and in my experience much of the English education system is about enforcing conformity, and the rigid uniform is one way to do that.
Instead of treating students as "mini adults" - individuals who can make decisions about themselves and their education - we belittle them by saying they aren't capable of following some basic rules about what to wear, so everyone has to have an enforced uniform.

My schools sometimes did non-uniform days. It was fine, no one died and the world didn't stop turning.

It's been explored in other threads (eg. walking to school), but the way we see and treat young adults in British society is certainly a point of comparison Vs our European neighbors.

It's a funny one, because in my spare time I'm a scout leader. Scouts have uniform, and I agree with them having it. However, there's some important differences to schools - we only wear uniform for certain ceremonies, otherwise we wear the right gear for the job, e.g. old clothes for campsites, thin layers for hiking, etc. Scout groups will help people out financially if the cost of uniform is a barrier (or they should anyway, I can't speak for every group). The uniform is also the place to show off your badges/awards, so in turn, a lot of young people are actually quite proud of their uniform as it is a way to showcase their achievements. The Explorer Scouts (aged 14-17) are less keen on uniform, understandable, though it is going through review at the moment, to see if it can be made more 'cool' (lol) - a lot of western European countries have 'cooler' uniforms than the UK so some inspiration may be taken from them.

We don't pretend that our uniform is preparing young people for the world of work, or as some anti-bullying initiative (Lord Robert Baden-Powell did describe it as a class leveller, 100 years ago though).

 

[aftv]

especially in schools that insist that you can't take them off.

My Secondary School was exactly like this although most teachers saw through the silliness and at the start of the lesson told us we could take them off if we wanted to.

 

[Cloud Strife]

But is there also a factor of the increasing private interests in the education system, in the form of Academies?

Absolutely. It would take a lengthy essay to explain it all, but the process generally works like this:

- The MAT (Multi Academy Trust) receives money directly from central government to pay for the school.
- The MAT takes part of that money to pay for their services, which would normally have been provided by the local authority (former Local Education Authority).
- The individual school can raise money in various ways, such as through receiving commission on school uniforms sold by a single supplier.

In practice, what happens is that the school uniform is used as a way to raise financing for either the MAT or the school itself, depending on the setup. What happens in many cases is that if the school earns 300,000 from uniform sales, then that money is kept in the school budget while the MAT will take the 300,000 out for financing themselves. The same thing happens with school meals and so on, everything is about making a profit that can then be used to pay the MAT.

And naturally with academies a single supplier branded uniform is another way to make more money for the academy, well for the bosses that run the trusts that is. Must be a kick back from the suppliers.

This is exactly how it works. A lot of these "strict CEOs" running schools are actually more like accountants, where policies are dictated by the need to increase earnings for the MAT rather than the welfare of children. This is one reason why, for instance, you don't see the same obsession with uniforms in Scotland.

Before academies there was less of an incentive for schools to profiteer out of things, now it seems to be profit above everything else and parents are there to be fleeced as much as possible, no one should get a detention just because the trousers they are wearing are identical to everyone else's bar a manufacturers logo.

This is the most disgusting thing of all. It's quite clearly designed to fleece parents, and unfortunately, English law doesn't really protect parents and children at all from such demands from schools. Unfortunately, it's also a consequence of de facto privatisation, where schools have been allowed to implement their own draconian policies while parents don't have real choice in schools. I'm seeing this first hand at the moment, where a friend and parent is fighting against her child's school which has gone down this path of draconian uniform enforcement. The problem is that it's becoming clear that the only thing that will work is a legal challenge against the MAT, and they, of course, have very deep pockets and connections.

The recently abolished Education and Skills Funding Agency also refused to intervene.

Sadly, the Government is mandating the wrong things; if only they spoke to people who had a clue about the topic.

Couldn't agree more. The problem is that people devising this sort of thing are not putting themselves in the shoes of the customers, i.e. the children that attend these schools. If they did, they would know that draconian school uniform policies are universally hated and cause a lot of wasted contact time with teachers. They're also responsible for a huge amount of resentment from students and parents alike, and many teachers are also not fond of enforcing uniform rules.

I remember reading one complaint from a teacher who had calculated that she was losing around 30 minutes a day dealing with uniform issues. She had no interest in enforcing the uniform, but the "CEO" had taken to ordering one of the deputy heads to carry out inspections of students as they left the classroom. The end result was that she had to check each student one by one as they entered the classroom, just in case they had "non-standard items of uniform". If they did, they were immediately sent to isolation (!) until a parent could resolve the situation. She was furious about the situation, and it was taking away a lot of precious teaching time.

IMO, the best way forward would be a complete ban on branded uniforms, with the exception of a school tie in secondary schools.

 

[Bletchleyite]

IMO, the best way forward would be a complete ban on branded uniforms, with the exception of a school tie in secondary schools.

I would completely agree with this. The law should require State schools to select their uniform solely from items available from supermarkets on general sale, such as basic white or blue shirts, navy/black or similar polos/sweatshirts and standard grey/black trousers and the likes. The same with PE kits.

The only branded items I would allow to be required are a blazer badge to sew on yourself* (if blazers are part of the uniform) and a tie if worn, and the cost of both together should not add up to more than £5-10 or thereabouts.

With academisation it feels like a competition to see who can come closest to Hogwarts and that makes no sense.

* I'm inclined to say I would ban schools from selling branded blazers or arranging their sale, so EVERYONE has the sew on badges on a generic blazer, they could if they wish pay someone to sew them on of course. When I was at school there was definitely a "looking down the nose" at people who had the sew-on badges, and that is probably best avoided. Or just do away with blazers entirely; the first thing I always did on getting in a classroom was take it off.

 

[aftv]

I remember reading one complaint from a teacher who had calculated that she was losing around 30 minutes a day dealing with uniform issues.

I frequently returned home from school at the end of the day moaning about how the teacher spent more time telling other students off for having items of clothing that weren't mandated by the school than they did teaching. If I had to put a guess on it I'd say 25% of the time at the start of the lesson was spent focusing on uniforms and non school mandated items despite the fact that items not mandated by the school where supposed to be dealt with by Form Tutors between 0830 and 0855.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I would completely agree with this. The law should require State schools to select their uniform solely from items available from supermarkets on general sale, such as basic white or blue shirts, navy/black or similar polos/sweatshirts and standard grey/black trousers and the likes. The same with PE kits.

The only branded items I would allow to be required are a blazer badge to sew on yourself* (if blazers are part of the uniform) and a tie if worn, and the cost of both together should not add up to more than £5-10 or thereabouts.

Yes, this would be fair and sensible to everyone. It would be enough to draw up a list of standardised uniform items with specific CMYK colour values, and to then place these colour values on labels. If a manufacturer produces something that claims to be C = 0, M = 0, Y = 0, K = 100 (black), then as long as the label describes it that way, it would be a problem for the school to deal with, not the child or their parents.

You can go further and provide for standard patterns too. For instance, a standard "blue striped summer dress" would be described. As long as it's marked as "compliant with the uniform regulation", then it should be accepted. I think that the existing trading standards laws could easily deal with this topic: require the labels to state something like "Compliant with the School Uniform Regulation 2025", and if it actually isn't, then it's a matter of misleading the consumer. You could also prohibit manufacturers from adding anything to the regulated designs, so no adding small logos and charging 30 quid for a cheap white shirt.

The material used in the uniforms can then vary without consequence, as long as the colour coding and pattern is correct.

I frequently returned home from school at the end of the day moaning about how the teacher spent more time telling other students off for having items of clothing that weren't mandated by the school than they did teaching. If I had to put a guess on it I'd say 25% of the time at the start of the lesson was spent focusing on uniforms and non school mandated items despite the fact that items not mandated by the school where supposed to be dealt with by Form Tutors between 0830 and 0855.

I had the same experience when I did some teacher shadowing in England. I was shocked to see just how much time was wasted on petty uniform issues, including one situation where a student got into it with a teacher over whether or not he was wearing "trainers". The student said they were shoes, the teacher said they weren't, and the student (correctly) pointed out that the rule said "shoes". After about 10 minutes of argument, one of the kids pulled up the same shoes on a website that showed them clearly marked as being shoes and not trainers. The teacher relented, but this was a textbook case of valuable school time being wasted on a pointless argument that shouldn't have been had.

 

[Bradford PA]

I frequently returned home from school at the end of the day moaning about how the teacher spent more time telling other students off for having items of clothing that weren't mandated by the school than they did teaching. If I had to put a guess on it I'd say 25% of the time at the start of the lesson was spent focusing on uniforms and non school mandated items despite the fact that items not mandated by the school where supposed to be dealt with by Form Tutors between 0830 and 0855.

At a previous (Girls) school that I worked in Form Tutors would check for uniform compliance, including jewellery, etc., but the girls would then raise their skirt hems to an inappropriate level as soon as they got out of their form rooms (or have them raised on their behalf by senior girls if they did not comply). Senior leadership would patrol the corridors and use CCTV evidence to take the Form Tutors to task for not fulfilling their required duties.

 

[aftv]

I had the same experience when I did some teacher shadowing in England. I was shocked to see just how much time was wasted on petty uniform issues, including one situation where a student got into it with a teacher over whether or not he was wearing "trainers". The student said they were shoes, the teacher said they weren't, and the student (correctly) pointed out that the rule said "shoes". After about 10 minutes of argument, one of the kids pulled up the same shoes on a website that showed them clearly marked as being shoes and not trainers. The teacher relented, but this was a textbook case of valuable school time being wasted on a pointless argument that shouldn't have been had.

At my School we never had to go through the whole palava with footwear but it was hoodies and coats at my school. The rules specifically mandated coats to be removed when inside, although most staff including some of the Senior Leadership Team overlooked the 'should be removed inside' part.

At a previous (Girls) school that I worked in Form Tutors would check for uniform compliance, including jewellery, etc., but the girls would then raise their skirt hems to an inappropriate level as soon as they got out of their form rooms (or have them raised on their behalf by senior girls if they did not comply). Senior leadership would patrol the corridors and use CCTV evidence to take the Form Tutors to task for not fulfilling their required duties.

Jewlery wasnt allowed to be worn at all at my secondary school bar the extract from the schools website below. Any jewlewry that wasnt permitted in the prescribed list was usually confiscated and taken to the students Head of Year office to be handed back at the end of the day. Countless petty and (imo) pointless arguments and discussions arose over it during the 25 minutes we spent with our Form Tutors in the morning.

Students are prohibited from wearing all jewellery except a watch and one set of small, plain earrings (worn in the lower lobe of the ear only). Nail varnish, false nails and charity bands are not allowed.

 

[Harpo]

I am struck by the unanimity of feeling in this thread and the shared concerns of schools trying to address all issues through petty rules and restrictions rather than trying to embed improved values and behaviours.

A local secondary’s recent masterstroke of locking all toilets during lesson times underscores that paucity of leadership.

 

[aftv]

A local secondary’s recent masterstroke of locking all toilets during lesson times underscores that paucity of leadership.

My seocondary school issued teaching staff with a card to issue students when they needed to leave class for whatever reason to show to any member of staff who stopped the student if they where out of lessons and wanted to know why they weren't in lessons and it seemed to work relatively well. The only flaw to it was it didnt take long for fake cards to appear where someone had photocopied one in order to bunk off lessons.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

The only official uniform items were a school tie and the badge. An optional plain black unbranded jumper was acceptable to wear under the blazer, and the shirt could be any white shirt.

That was also my experience in the 1960s, similarly at a boys Grammar School. The only hated item in the uniform was the school cap but the requirement to wear that got gradually abolished over the decade.

 

[Bevan Price]

The grammar school I attended had a fairly typical policy for that era. A black blazer with sew-on badge from a recommended shop (not excessively priced), a schoolcap, and a blue/black football shirt. Trousers & socks were to be grey, but could be bought anywhere. Colours were specified for PT/games equipment, but could also be bought anywhere. School scarf was available but did not need to be used when it was warm.
Raincoat (navy blue, unbranded) could be worn on top of blazer in wet / cold weather.

Caps had to be raised outside school when passing a "master" (as teachers were called - including the two lady geography teachers.)

 

[Andyh82]

When I was at school in the 90s, Blazers were not a thing, it was branded jumpers instead. I think Blazers were popular in the 70s but then came back again in the 00s/10s with the introduction of the academy trusts

We also didn’t have any of those sorts of rules about not being allowed to take your jumper off unless it was officially announced. You could just wear a shirt and tie in January if you so wished.

I think a branded jumper or blazer but not both, a specific tie and then some sort of branded P.E kit is ok. P.E kit is another area that has expanded since those hardy days of the 90s, as I know some schools have branded hoodies and branded tracksuit bottoms now which would start to mount up. You were called names if you wore trackie bottoms for P.E back then, and that was just by the teachers.

Also I can’t imagine anyone sewing on a badge in 2025. I imagine most people wouldn’t know where to start.

 

[Egg Centric]

Also I can’t imagine anyone sewing on a badge in 2025. I imagine most people wouldn’t know where to start.

I had blazers with sewn on badges. Also, sewn on name stuff on most of my clothes, come to think of it. Mostly in the 90s.

I dunno what you mean about "most people wouldn't know where to start". I know exactly where to start- I'd ask my wife to do it.

Otherwise, I'm sure it can't be beyond the wit of man to go on YouTube....

 

[Harpo]

Also I can’t imagine anyone sewing on a badge in 2025. I imagine most people wouldn’t know where to start.

Grandson gets my other half to do his scout badges - Until he gets the Craft badge.

 

[Welly]

My old boarding school did not insist on branded jumpers during the 1980s, boys wore generic grey jumpers (with grey everything else! Yuk!) and the girls wore generic dark green jumpers.

One day the school decided to offer branded jumpers for sale (thankfully optional so I never bought one!) so a couple of sample jumpers were on display in the school entrance. These disappeared and the headmaster furiously ordered a whole school search for the jumpers, every bedroom and cupboard searched. Teachers were assigned bedrooms to search them and several boys had to move their "magazine collections" around to avoid blushes but the headmaster did find someone's "collection" and merely raised his beetling eyebrows while flicking through them! Funnily enough those jumpers were not found during the search but eventually turned up a couple of days later.

Years later, I learned from one of the lads involved that it was upper 6th lads who nicked the jumpers! The teacher assigned to search their room was a lazy one and merely had a cursory look around. The boys moved the jumpers over the partitions to keep the jumpers out of sight! A lot of fuss over nothing....

 

[Omnidekkalover]

My old secondary decided to try and introduce branded bags

 

[PeterC]

60 years ago we thought that our dress code was tough with only 3 colours of jumper allowed.

 

[E27007]

The solution to school uniforms is to adopt the same H&S rules as for employment,where appropriate an employer has to provide H&S wear free of charge to the employee, let the school provide and issue the essential uniform free of charge to all pupils, how much would this cost the school?
If properly managed by the school procurement office, an annual order in high quantities of blazers skirts trousers direct to a clothing manufacturer would be a fraction of the retail cost.
Another aspect of school requirements, shopping in Tesco, met a father buying stationary for his son, the father had a list of approved products, even biro pens were subject to the school approval list, the father was buying cheap biro pens as per the list, the ubiquitous and reliable Parker Jotter biros were not on the list, on the same Tesco shelf, Parker Jotters for an incredible £1.99 per pen, yet the father rejected them, apparently in the eyes of the school , ownership of a Parker Jotter is too elitist.

 

[david1212]

The solution to school uniforms is to adopt the same H&S rules as for employment,where appropriate an employer has to provide H&S wear free of charge to the employee, let the school provide and issue the essential uniform free of charge to all pupils, how much would this cost the school?
If properly managed by the school procurement office, an annual order in high quantities of blazers skirts trousers direct to a clothing manufacturer would be a fraction of the retail cost. .....

Hmmmm ..... from George / Asda a blazer, 2 jumpers, 2 skirts or trousers and 5 shirts for a 12-13 year old is just under £60. Cut the profit and add a tie could the school buy for £50 ? If 1000 pupils that is £50,000 outlay. Then add PE / sportswear. Here if the school had to provide they probably would think again about all or mostly school branded / coloured items. For one local secondary school the requirement is rugby shirt (boys) / fleece top (girls) £24, polo shirt £20, shorts / skort £17, socks £7.50. Together these are £68.50 - more than the uniform set priced at ASDA.

For the main uniform whatever size combinations were offered there would always be issues with the fit while schools have enough issues to manage already. Of course easier in some locations than others but left to the parents / carers to buy they can try ASDA, Sainsburys, Tesco, Matalan, Marks & Spencer, Peacocks .... as well as online.