Kitting your kids out for school will cost you dear
One in five[1] parents resort to credit cards as the cost to kit out a child for the new school year could top £1600[2]
Parents will be feeling the pinch as ‘Back to School' fever sets in this week because kitting out a child for the start of the new term in September could cost a massive £1623, according to Sheilas' Wheels home insurance. With the latest gadgets and designer ‘must-haves' bumping up the total value of their son or daughter's school gear, it's crucial for parents to make sure they have ample home contents cover.
According to the poll of almost 900 parents of school-age children, more than two fifths (43 per cent) of kids take a mobile phone to school with them - and surprisingly one in five (21 per cent) are under ten years old. Even hair straighteners now have a place alongside protractors and calculators: around one in thirty (three per cent) - or one pupil per class - keeps a pair in their school bag.
Other gadgets causing rucksacks to bulge are MP3 players and hand-held games consoles. A fifth (19 per cent) of children are carrying around the latest iPod or MP3 player at school whilst one in seven (15 per cent) children have taken a hand-held games console, such as a Play Station Portable or Nintendo DS Lite, into class or onto the playground.
As well as ‘must-have' electronics, children also need to be seen wearing designer label trainers and sportswear according to the poll. In fact, 41 per cent of parents surveyed admitted that they felt pressured by their children to buy them a ‘top of the range' gym kit.
Therefore, it is no surprise that some fashion-conscious pupils could be taking personal items worth over £1360(2) into school - which is up by 20 per cent on last year[3]:
|
ITEM |
DESCRIPTION |
COST |
|---|---|---|
|
School bag / rucksack |
Nike Back pack |
£17.60 |
|
Designer trainers |
Nike Shox Rival trainers |
£45.00 |
|
Stationery set |
Including pencil case, fountain pen and geometry set |
£14.50 |
|
Wallet |
Rip Curl Search Signature wallet |
£7.99 |
|
Mobile phone |
Silver Samsung E900 |
£106.95 |
|
USB stick |
Kingston Technology 2GB USB 2.0 Flash pen |
£10.39 |
|
Watch |
Nike Blade Watch |
£60.00 |
|
Designer spectacles |
FCUK designer spectacles |
£125.00 |
|
Musical instrument |
Buffet E11 Clarinet |
£588.01 |
|
Sports equipment |
Prince Tennis Racquet Rebel Ti |
£40.00 |
|
MP3 player |
Samsung 1gb Ultraslim MP3 player |
£25.99 |
|
Hand-held games console |
Play Station Portable - Base unit console (black) |
£129.99 |
|
Electronic personal organiser |
Compaq iPAQ - H3850 Pocket PC (Colour) |
£195.05 |
|
TOTAL |
£1,366.47 |
In the current credit crunch, parents are trying to lessen the pressure on their purse strings by shopping around for the only part of their child's school kit that isn't up for discussion: the school uniform. According to the poll, 87 per cent of parents admitted to shopping around for the cheapest price with 41 per cent buying from their local supermarket and 28 per cent from high street stores, rather than the traditional school shop.
Parents with children at schools where it isn't compulsory to buy uniforms direct from the school or a school shop could save almost four times by adding shirts and sweatshirts to their supermarket shopping trolley as part of a weekly shop:
|
ITEM |
SUPERMARKET[4] |
SPECIALIST SHOP[5] |
|---|---|---|
|
Coat |
£12.00 |
£33.00 |
|
Blazer |
£15.00 |
£24.99 |
|
Shirt (2 pack) |
£2.00 |
£23.90 |
|
Sweatshirt |
£1.75 |
£9.99 |
|
Trousers or skirt |
£3.00 |
£21.00 |
|
Shoes |
£8.00 |
£39.99 |
|
Socks (5 pack) |
£3.00 |
£5.99 |
|
TOTAL |
£44.75 |
£158.86 |
Jacky Brown at Sheilas' Wheels home insurance, commented: "Every parent knows that it's costly to kit out a child for school with the basics, let alone designer gear and must-have gadgets. Although there are ways to save - such as shopping around for the cheapest uniform - it's never cost-effective to scrimp on insurance cover.
If your son or daughter can't be persuaded to keep their mobile phone or iPod at home then it's crucial to have adequate cover for personal possessions away from the home in case of theft, loss or damage during the school day. With children under ten now owning the latest gizmos, it's important to make sure they take responsibility for keeping their belongings safe and secure."
Sheilas' Wheels home insurance offers some top tips for parents ahead of the new school term:
- Make sure you shop around for the best deals - You could make considerable savings by shopping around for your child's uniform, at supermarkets and high street stores, by comparing prices and then getting the cheapest deal. To pick up a real bargain, check out local charity shops or ask other parents for hand-me-downs.
- Make sure your child's school bag is insured - Make sure you have cover for personal possessions whilst away from the home on your contents insurance. This will insure your family's possessions against loss, theft and damage whilst out and about, including whilst they're at school.
- Make sure high-value items are left at home - To reduce the likelihood of having to make a claim, ban or restrict the number of high value items that your children regularly take to school. As a compromise, perhaps limit it to a birthday or the last week of term.
- Offer guidance on how your kids should look after their belongings - make sure that your children know to take good care of their things e.g. not leave their bag unattended; lock lockers; avoid leaving valuables on pegs; be discrete and don't ‘show off' to class mates with a new gadget or mobile; don't get distracted at a bus stop or on public transport and keep a tight hold on bags; and so on.
- ends -
About Sheilas' Wheels home insurance:
Sheilas' Wheels provides both buildings and contents cover - with a contents no claim discount
- Alternative accommodation if utilities in the home, such as gas, water and electricity are lost due to events such as flooding and can not be lived in - for contents and / or buildings cover.
- New for old cover on clothes - reductions for wear and tear are not applied for clothing stolen or destroyed in the home (contents cover).
- Family legal protection - Free to policyholders for one year when bought online. For £18.99 policyholders receive up to £50,000 of cover for legal assistance. It also provides assistance in finding emergency registered childminders while the insured person is attending jury service, and legal representation for a customer's child if they do not gain entry to the school of their choice.
- Pest cover - optional additional cover for the removal of grey squirrels, wasps, and hornets' nests, rats and mice from the home at just £1.67 per month.
- Optional Home emergency cover - cover for the call out charge and up to 2 hours labour and up to £100 (inc VAT) for parts and materials, and subject to an overall limit of £500 (inc VAT).
- For an additional premium, personal possessions cover away from the home provides cover for accidental loss, damage and theft of personal possessions that are temporarily removed from the home.
- Unlimited rebuilding sum insured.
- High market limits for contents in the garden - up to £2,500.
- High market limits for contents in outbuildings - up to £5,000.
Terms and conditions apply to Sheilas' Wheels home insurance
Sheilas' Wheels press contacts:
Emma Lloyd, Assistant Communications Officer: 01737 641309
Niki Bolton, Corporate Communications Manager: 01737 235070
Asia Manzoor, Public Relations Officer: 01737 641305
Adrian Webb, Head of Corporate Communications: 01737 641000
Email: pr@sheilaswheels.com
Visit the official fansite for Sheilas' Wheels: www.ilovesheilas.com
An ISDN line is available for radio interviews.
Case studies are available on request.
Notes to Editors:
- ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 3040 UK homeowners aged 18+ online between the 8th and 10th August 2008 of which 883 were parents of school-age children. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information at www.icmresearch.co.uk
- All prices taken from various internet websites on 14th August 2008. The websites used were www.amazon.co.uk, www.woolworths.co.uk, www.mir-sales.co.uk/acatalog/Intermediate_CLT.html and uk.playstation.com/psp. Definition of a school ‘kit' includes: school uniform, a school bag plus its contents, and a gym bag plus its contents. School ‘kit' calculation: £158.86 (Specialist shop) + £1366.47 (school bag) + £52.64 (gym bag) = £1622.97 [see table below]
- A similar basket of goods were priced in August 2007 and the total was £1141.09.
- Supermarket school uniform prices were taken from www.george.com and www.clothingattesco.com
- Specialist shop uniform prices were taken from schooluniform247.co.uk and www.schooluniformsonline.co.uk
|
GYM BAG ITEM |
DESCRIPTION |
COST |
|---|---|---|
|
PE bag |
JD Sports (gymsack) |
£11.99 |
|
Shorts |
JJB Sports |
£2.99 |
|
Polo shirt (2 pack) |
JJB Sports |
£2.69 |
|
Swimming trunks |
JJB Sports - Speedo shorts |
£6.99 |
|
Football boots |
JJB Sports - Nike football boots |
£24.99 |
|
Shin pads |
JJB Sports - Patrick shinpads |
£2.99 |
|
TOTAL |
£52.64 |
About Sheilas' Wheels:
Sheilas' Wheels was launched in October 2005 to offer women drivers cheaper car insurance and female targeted product enhancements. In February 2008, the brand moved beyond car insurance to also offer home insurance with product enhancements including alternative accommodation (buildings and contents cover) in the event of loss of utilities in the home (terms and conditions apply), new for old cover on clothes (contents cover) and family legal protection cover which also includes assistance in finding emergency registered childminders while the insured person is attending jury service, and legal representation for a customer's child if they do not gain entry to the school of their choice (terms and conditions apply).
Sponsorship:
Sheilas' Wheels sponsors the ITV National Weather: "Whether skies are grey or blue, Sheilas' Wheels could cover you."
