Peterborough City College opens school Uniform Hub for cash-strapped parents

Parents of children in need of new school uniforms are being encouraged to head down to the reception area at City College Peterborough. The long-standing adult and community college campus on Brook Street has recently launched a Uniform Hub where families with primary- and secondary-aged kids can pick up new and replacement uniforms - for free.

The college’s business operations manager, Sue Watsham, told the Peterborough Telegraph why an initiative of this kind is needed:

“Children grow out of school uniforms so quickly - and it’s so expensive,“ she said. “With everybody struggling with day-to-day living, we looked at what we could do to help the community.”

The idea was first introduced at a family fun day the college hosted several months ago, when a modest selection of school uniforms (donated to another project) were put out for parents to take away.

Sue explained:

“We had such a reaction from parents that we said: ‘look we need to do something about this - this is a need’.”

Some of the parents were so grateful they became emotional: “They didn’t know how they were going to replace the school uniform their children had grown out of. They were worried they wouldn’t be able to afford it.

“We had mums in tears - they couldn’t believe they were taking away full school uniforms.”

The idea of the hub is simple: people who have uniforms their kids have grown out of donate those items to The Hub. People in need of new uniforms come down, see if the type/size of uniform they’re after is available, then take home whatever it is they’re in need of.

In addition to being an effective way for parents to make their hard-earned pennies go further during these challenging times, Sue believes The Hub benefits society in other ways too:

“It is about saving money,” she said, “but it’s also about recycling and the green element. People are very aware of it these days: how they can help the planet, how we can recycle and get away from this ‘throwaway society’.”

The Uniform Hub is open Monday to Friday every week, even during school holidays.