U.K. School Meal Poverty
Taking control over School uniforms and eradicating School meal poverty
School uniform - Reality check.
Much has been written and debated about School uniform policy and School meal poverty. From retaining the status quo on school uniforms (school identity and pride) to lack of resources to fund school meals - the media is replete with Pros and Cons. But little has been debated on how to tackle the situation head-on.
We are living in unbelievable times. A cost of living crisis. A healthcare crisis. Energy poverty. Supply chain crisis. Rampant Inflation. Food shortage. Fight for fair wages. The list is endless.
We can’t solve all these problems with a magic wand . . . How I wish we could.
Our solution pre-supposes that Schools and Parents, both, are keen to resolve these twin issues and are prepared to put forth resources (not financial to be clear) to make this a reality.
Schools and Parents acknowledge that:
With the cost-of-living crisis, parents are stressed to meet the needs of school uniform - high cost and continuously rising cost of school uniforms is therefore a real problem.
Funding School Meals for all students is not always easy. And with the cost of living crisis, parents are finding it difficult to fund their children’s schools meals. Even the meagre £2.10 cost of a meal per day, in some cases, is a stretch.
The Government is working with limited resources and finds it difficult to fund school meals for even the most vulnerable.
The School and Parents would welcome an opportunity to bring the cost of School uniforms down, and at the same time, provide a healthy school meal to all pupils.
Achieving the twin objective of: a) lower School uniform costs, and b) Free School meals is no mean feat.
It’s not rocket science.
But it’s not rocket science either. Let us explain why.
I have been discussing with schools across the country and with parents, and their desire to see kids dressed smart to school. But, increasing uniform costs have dented budgets. Based on information provided by over 100 schools in the UK that we have analysed, Primary School pupils tend to spend about £336.38 per annum on a full set of uniform. And Secondary school pupils tend to spend about £541.37 per set. But there is a way out . . .
Let’s take control over uniforms first. Our proposal is as follows:
Schools to set up a School Uniform Shop, as a professional retail store with all the systems and processes that are used by high-end retailers.
Parents to run the School Uniform Shop. We have estimated that with 2-man hours per day, these School Uniform Shops can be run effectively and efficiently.
Schools and Parents work directly with Manufacturers instead of working with intermediaries (who contribute to school uniforms, but also make a huge dent in the pockets of millions of parents).
Vendor selection - Our team can help identify manufacturers who will be more than willing to produce on your behalf and supply to the School at Manufacturer costs. Our analysis of vendor costs indicates that costs can be brought down to as low as £191.00 (saving of 43%) for a set of Primary School uniform and £297.98 (saving of 45%) for a set of Secondary School uniform.
So, what are we expected to do to achieve this cost saving, and how will this help the Schools and Parents.
Setting up a professional store, using state of the art hardware and software, is easily accomplished. All you need is the following:
A School website to sell all uniforms and accessories
Hardware and software to run the Point-of-Sales system
Ordering system
Retail space within the school
We have estimated that for as little as £150 per month, a School can be ready to Run-N-Go with the above systems (this excluded the cost of retail space within the School. I am sure Schools would be more than happy to provide this at no cost).
How will this eradicate school meal poverty?
The savings made in the cost of school uniforms (43% for Primary School uniforms and 45% for Secondary School uniforms) can be utilised to provide free school meals to all pupils in the school. And why should schools differentiate between socio-economic groups of families? And by making these savings the Schools can rid themselves of depending on the Local Councils/Government for funding to fund School meals.