Education News: Child poverty - DfES guidance on uniforms welcomed

The draft guidelines, published for consultation last week, state thatschools must keep down uniform costs. They also say uniforms should beavailable at high street shops rather than solely from a singleexpensive supplier.

Jim Knight, the minister for schools, said uniforms could help supportpositive behaviour and instil pride, but it was "important that the costdoes not exclude or deter families from poorer backgrounds".

The guidelines, Department for Education and Skills Guidance to Schoolson School Uniform Related Policies, were welcomed by Hilary Fisher,director of End Child Poverty, but she urged taking it further."Affording a school uniform is a significant challenge for someonefacing poverty so we would welcome any attempts to limit or reduce thecost of uniforms. But we would also ask for alternative ways to increaseresources for those families - for instance grants for uniforms."