Cost of living: One in four post-primary schools benefit from PE kit deals
- Published
Some schools are using branded sportswear as part of their compulsory PE and games kits
About a quarter of post-primary schools here are benefitting financially, or in kind, from directing students to buy specific PE wear from certain companies, Evening Extra has found.
Over four years, schools benefited from commission, donations, free kit for staff and mental health coaching.
The education minister said that she was seeking legal advice on whether she can introduce a price cap on the cost.
Michelle McIlveen said she was "really concerned" about "a very real issue".
The Bishop of Derry, who is the chair of both the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools and Catholic Schools' Trustee Service, said schools needed to be sensitive to the financial pressures facing parents.
Bishop Donal McKeown called for a simple uniform "without all the extra bits".
In Northern Ireland, the school uniform grant has just been increased by 20%, external.
Parents can now receive £42.90 towards a primary school uniform and a maximum of £93.60 towards a post-primary uniform and PE kit compared to £225 for primary and £300 for post-primary school starters in Wales.
Bishop McKeown said schools needed to be sensitive to the financial pressures on parents
In a Freedom of Information Request, covering a four year period up to the start of the last academic year, Radio Ulster's Evening Extra found that commercial arrangements are in place across grammar, secondary and integrated schools in Northern Ireland.
About 50 provided details of commercial arrangements. A handful cited "commercial sensitivities" for refusing to reply to the BBC's FoI request.
Most of the respondents said that they had not previously published details of their agreements with particular sports companies.
One grammar school revealed how, between 2017/2018 and 2020/2021, it received almost £40,000 in "commission" through one such deal. Another said six staff members are provided with free sports kit each year.
Another school said that although the deal had not resulted in direct funding, its sportwear partner had donated kit to underprivileged students, including refugee and asylum seeking pupils.
One grammar school said it had received team kits, as well as, "mental wellbeing coaching for all students in kind".
Although it was common for schools to have made arrangements with local suppliers, most had deals with major sportswear brands including O'Neills, Canterbury and Kukri.
Some schools did not describe their arrangements with these companies as "commercial" however they do stipulate clothing linked to these companies is worn by students, a percentage of sales (about 10%) is returned to the schools, and hundreds of pounds have been donated each year for events including prizegiving ceremonies.
There are almost 200 post-primary schools in Northern Ireland.
Other schools said that funding from deals with external companies had benefited other programmes in their schools including music and drama productions and library resources.
'Extortionate'
Stacey, a mother of three, described the uniform she had to buy for her oldest son to attend grammar school as "extortionate".
Having spent £300 on a uniform already, she told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that she had to spend a further £200 on a PE uniform.
"He needs three different PE kits for different activities. They play cricket, they play rugby, they do athletics," she said.
"So he needs tracksuit bottoms, he needs a top, he needs a quarter-zip hoodie, he needs the shorts, he needs the swimwear, he needs a swimming hat, he needs socks, then he needs another type of top for cricket, and then a different one for rugby."
Stacey said she did not have the money to pay for it and said that it was "ridiculous that he needed all these uniforms".
She also highlighted that only one shop carried the branded uniform which meant "no competition" when it came to price.
Stacey added that the uniform had to be purchased, but may not be used if your child was not selected to take part in the sport.
"It is a lot of money just to send your child to get an education, it is extortionate," she said.
"It causing us as parents not only worry, it's taking from our households, from our gas, our electric, our food, our petrol or diesel to get to work. It's just stupid."
Michelle McIlveen appealed to boards of governors to intervene
The education minister said she wants to introduce statutory guidance to schools on uniforms and a price cap could be part of that.
"I think that it could be a challenge, but it's something that we have to look at and it's certainly something which is being explored," Ms McIlveen added.
"I have asked officials to speak to the legal team to see what we can do with the parameters of that guidance just to strengthen it and to make things easier for parents.
"As late as May, we reminded schools that they have an obligation to ensure that costs are not prohibitive."
How do school uniform grants compare?
School uniform grants are available for low income families across the UK.
Northern Ireland:
Primary: £42.90
Post-primary: A maximum of £93.60 towards uniform and PE kit
Wales:
Primary: £225
Post-primary: £300 for pupils when they are starting school
Scotland:
Grants are run by local authorities, but the Scottish Government says everyone who gets a grant will get at least:
Primary: £120
Post-Primary: £150
England:
Grants are run by local authorities. In some local authorities there are no grants or they can be lower than Northern Ireland, but they can be as high as £150
Schools must make a case if they want to use branded items and parents must be allowed to buy some uniform from any shop
Koulla Yiasouma says government action is now needed on rising uniform costs
At the weekend, Children's Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma said the education minister and Northern Ireland Assembly needed to "step up" over school uniform costs.
She said she was "fed up" waiting for schools to take action over rising costs.
"We are seeing some prices of £500 to £600, that is just out of the reach of so many parents," she said on Tuesday.
"It adds to the worry and the anxiety that families are experiencing at the moment and it is only going to get worse."
Bishop McKeown told BBC Radio Foyle there was a "tsunami of extra expenditure" coming.
"I think we all have to be sensitive in schools, in church and in state to ensure we all work together to get people through what sounds like a difficult 12 or 18 months," he added.
Departmental guidance
A spokesperson for the Department of Education it had issued guidance to "assist schools in developing their school uniform policies".
"This guidance states that schools should give a high priority to cost considerations when designing their uniforms.
"It also advises that schools should ensure that their uniform is widely available in high street shops and other retail outlets rather than from a sole supplier.
"The guidance also recommends that schools consult with parents and pupils when drawing up school uniform policy."
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