REVEALED: UK parents set to spend £307 on school essentials before summer holidays

From school uniform to shoes and stationery, kitting your kids out for school can leave a significant hole in your pocket. But what is the total cost of making sure your kids are well equipped with all the essentials to last the school year?

Matalan have created the Real Cost of School Calculator which analyses the cost of essential school items, including:

School uniform
Stationery
School dinners
Packed lunches
Commuting fares
Christmas presents for classmates
The tool calculates the total cost of the school year for students from reception right up until year 13, including the total cost for families with more than one child of school age. The study goes one step further by breaking down the cost of the school shop across different regions and cities in the UK.

How much are parents in the UK set to spend on school essentials?

With the end of another school term approaching, parents are still facing average costs of up to £307 per child on essential top-up shops before the end of the school year, in Summer 2022.

When it comes to the entire school year, the average parent in the UK spends up to £818 on sending their child to school.

The most expensive cities in the UK for buying school essentials

London tops the list as the most expensive city to send your child to school, with parents in the capital spending on average £311 per child, per school term. This works out at a whopping cost of £933 per child, per school year.

Cardiff comes in at a close second, while the city of Glasgow rounds off the top three most expensive cities in the UK for school essentials.