School opens uniform shop to sell items 'at cost'
A secondary school in Surrey has secured its own uniform supplier so it can sell items at cost to pupils.
The Winston Churchill School in Woking opened its own uniform shop to cut back to costs for families, where parents can order items on site or online, with clothing including skirts, ties and PE kit available at no markup from what it cost the school.
Head teacher Zoe Johnson-Walker said that the approach had cut £20 off the cost of school blazers compared to the previous school year.
"We've been trying to reduce the cost of our uniform over a couple of years," she told the BBC.
The school redesigned its uniform for 2026-27, coinciding with new government rules limiting secondary schools to three branded items , plus a branded tie.
According to the Department for Education, the new rules would save parents up to £50.
"Parents have told us they want fewer costly branded items – and that's exactly what we're delivering," a spokesperson said.
Johnson-Walker said That the school had proposed removing its branded blazers from its uniform as it was "one of our most expensive items" but had found "quite a large demand from parents to sell it with the badge on".
"We've managed to do a negotiation with our supplier which means that there's no additional cost to parents to have a badged item," she said.
She added that the school had scrapped branded PE tops but was selling plain, black PE shirts in its uniform shop after requests from parents.
"We're also trying to maintain standards because uniform, as far as we're concerned, is quite levelling," Johnson-Walker added.
Nicola Dawes, chief executive at family support charity Stripey Stork, said that the back-to-school period put "additional pressure on families from a cost perspective".
The organisation gave out more than 15,000 uniform items and about 1,500 pairs of school shoes over the summer under its School Days campaign.
The scheme, in its fourth year, received council funding and donations of pre-loved items from the community.
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