Stockport-based community group providing free school uniform to struggling families

ITV News

2 days ago

ITV Granada Reports journalist Emma Sweeney went to meet those at The Cherry Tree Project, a group that is running a scheme to support families who are unable to afford school uniform.
A community group is helping families who are struggling to afford school uniforms by recycling old ones as figures reveal more than one in three parents in the North West struggle to buy them for their children.
The Cherry Tree Project, based in Stockport, found that some parents are choosing to go without food instead of sending their children to school without a full uniform.
To combat the issue the charity began running the scheme 'Reloved Uniforms', designed to support those families in need.
It comes as a survey, released by The Children's Society, revealed almost half of parents think uniform prices have not become more affordable over the past year, despite efforts to make more second-hand items available.
Some parents even reported children being punished for breaching school's uniform policies.
The Cherry Tree Project professionally clean and package the pre-loved uniforms, which are then gifted to those in need.
Rachel Bresnahan, one of the directors of The Cherry Tree Project, said: 'With a standard uniform you're normally looking at about £50 of branded items, up to another £50 worth of PE kit, and then you have your non-branded items which could be the same again, and that's before you start to look at your school bag, your school coat, your shoes.
'I'd say it's going to be a minimum of £200 per child, if not more. It could be double that depending on what school your child goes to."
"Parents donate their children's uniform to all Stockport libraries, which have a uniform bin," she added.
"We then collect it, launder it, repackage it, make sure it smells nice and that the quality is the same as you'd get from a shop and then that goes back out through those libraries to families who need it.
"The idea is that it goes full cycle, fully reloved.
"When a child opens it it feels like they've been to a shop so they're still getting the new uniform experience."
Sasha Moore, who has to support her three nieces said: 'Financially it's really helped. It's just not affordable, £200 just for three blazers, and on top of that you've got shoes, polo shirts, shirts, skirts, PE kits. Some of them are mandatory and you have to have the school logo on.
'It has made a world of difference.'
Talking about her nieces receiving the uniform, Sasha said: 'They were so excited. The one who's going into Year 7 this year was squealing. It's packaged so nicely, it's like a new uniform.
'It takes a village to raise a child, and 'Reloved' is part of that village for us.'
The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently making its way through parliament and, if passed, will ban schools from requiring parents to buy more than three branded items as part of the school uniform.
Rachel said: 'We really appreciated when the bill came in that said that schools could only have three branded items. But the bill doesn't take into account the PE kit, which is probably another three branded items.
'Some local schools say that the PE kit is optional, however it's not non-optional because the child needs it to not get picked on at school."
The Bill is hoping to come into effect from September 2026.