January is a financially difficult month for most people but parents of school-going children have it particularly hard as uniform and stationery costs climb into the thousands of rand.
JANUARY is a financially difficult month for most people but parents of school-going children have it particularly hard as uniform and stationery costs climb into the thousands of rand.
Even if you are thrifty with your purchases and preserve as many clothing and stationery items from the previous year, the essentials listed on schools’ lists of required supplies will hurt your pockets.
This is exacerbated by the fact that some schools require uniform items that can only be purchased from their school shops or other specific suppliers, thus making it impossible to shop around for the best prices.
One mom managed to shorten her children’s stationery lists by leaving off items like dictionaries and calculators, but even then she has had to fork out R2,110 for her Grade 5 child’s supplies and R2,050 for her Grade 7’s stationery.
And this will not even be all the stationery costs for the year.
“This list only includes one set of retractable wax crayons each, and a few pens and white board markers, all items that will probably need to be replenished before the end of the second term.”
On top of this, she still needs to buy one pair of school shoes at a cost of R270, a few summer shirts – which cost R140 each at the school shop, and two pairs of white sports sneakers at R200 each.
“And this is not to forget the fact that in terms 3 and 4 they will need new winter shirts at R140 each, new school tracksuits (R535 each) as they have outgrown the ones they have, and socks that cost R60 a pair and can only be bought at their school shop as they are a custom style.”
Another mom shares how her Grade 3 daughter’s stationery for this year has cost her R1,818.
“Two years ago, my son was at the same school so stationery was basically anywhere between R4,000 and R5,000 for both of them. Lucky for us, his high school supplies all his books and stationery.”
Of course, depending on your school, the brands of items you buy, and the outlets you choose – or have to, purchase them from, costs will vary. But to give you an idea of stationery costs for different grade and schools across the country, we compared a few lists (at random) on Waltons’ Back to School website:
GRADE 1 STATIONERY COSTS
R1,185 – Middelburg Primary School, Mpumalanga
R1,241 – Beaumont Primary School, Western Cape
R1,551 – Durban North Primary, KZN
R2,385 – Laerskool Louis Trichardt, Limpopo
R2,463 – Rosebank Primary School, Gauteng
GRADE 4 STATIONERY COSTS
R655 – Gonubie Primary School, Eastern Cape
R1,047 – Muizenberg Junior, Western Cape
R1,345 – Seodin Primary School, Northern Cape
R1,742 – Brackenhurst Primary School, Gauteng
R2,359 – Penzance Primary School, KZN
GRADE 8 STATIONERY COSTS
R789,60 – Nico Malan High School, Eastern Cape
R1,785 – Bergvliet High School, Western Cape
R1,897 – Milner High School, North West
R2,972 – Boksburg High School, Gauteng
R3,017 – Durban High School, KZN
GRADE 12 STATIONERY COSTS
R1,619 – Rustenberg Girls’ High, Western Cape
R2,852 – Durban Girls’ High School, KZN
R3,087 – Hoerskool Rustenburg, North West
R4,103 – Pretoria Girls’ High, Gauteng
R4,983 – Westville Girls’ High, KZN
SCHOOL UNIFORM COSTS
In addition to stationery, parents also need to buy new school uniforms or replace items that no longer fit or are damaged or stained. Again, depending where you buy – and the brand or quality of item, the costs for these vary as per the figures below:
WHITE SHORT-SLEEVED SCHOOL SHIRTS (without badge)
– Gem Schoolwear: R90 to R120 each
– Woolworths: R199 to R249 (2-pack)
– PEP: R22,99 to R84,99 each or R69,99 to R149,99 (2-pack)
BOYS’ LACE-UP SCHOOL SHOES
– Gem Schoolwear: R280 to R410 a pair
– Woolworths: R199 to R399 a pair
– PEP: R59,99 to R269,99 a pair
GIRLS’ SCHOOL SHOES
– Gem Schoolwear: R150 to R380 a pair
– Woolworths: R199 to R349 a pair
– PEP: R119,99 to R279,99 a pair
BOYS’ SCHOOL SHORTS
– Gem Schoolwear: R110 each
– Woolworths: From R229 (2-pack)
– PEP: R22,99 to R64,99 each
WHITE ANKLET SOCKS
– Gem Schoolwear: R30 to R65 a pair
– Woolworths: R119 (5-pack)
– PEP: R15,99 to R17,99 a pair
SCHOOL SKIRTS
– Gem Schoolwear: R135 to R185 each
– Woolworths: From R239 each
– PEP: R22,99 to R62,99 each
These are only basic school clothing items with PE clothing, jerseys, tracksuits, school bags, ties, long-sleeved shirts, and caps or hats as additional requirements. Plus, parents who have children attending new schools have little leeway as they need to buy almost everything brand new, and at once.
