An award-winning school uniform swap shop run from St Columba’s United Reformed Church (URC) in Wolverhampton has for the third year helped cash-strapped parents save thousands of pounds.
So successful is the free swap shop, Wolverhampton Council has teamed up with it ahead of the start of the new school term to help even more families.
The swap shop began at St Columba’s in 2019 and started with a few rails of clothing, three years later it was handling more than a tonne of clothing.
In 2021, two brothers, Daniel and Andrew Saw then aged 15 and 13, gained a URC Children’s and Youth Work Lundie Memorial Award for giving up some of their school holidays to help out in the shop. Then, in 2022, the team of helpers won a URC Community Project Award.
With the support of the council, more locations were made available for people to drop off unwanted uniforms via Yo! Wolves events – opportunities and activities for young people in the area – throughout the holiday.
Dr Rosalind Shaw, who first started the initiative and is its co-ordinator as well as mother of the brothers, said: “Everyone is welcome and while it is great if parents can bring some uniform to donate themselves, they really don’t have to bring anything.
“We’re open to everyone and there’s a great range of uniforms available.
“Children grow out of uniform and school kit so quickly it makes complete sense to pass it on to another family, who can still get a lot of wear out of it.
“It’s great to be partnering with the council and Yo! Wolves this summer so we can reach and help even more families with what can be a huge expense for them at this time of year.”
Acting Leader of Wolverhampton Council, Councillor Stephen Simkins said: “This is a great scheme and I congratulate St Columba’s on providing such a worthwhile service.
“I’m so glad we’ve been able to join up with them this summer, so we can help extend this scheme to families all over the city through our Yo! Wolves activities.
“School uniform can put a real strain on family budgets at the best of times and during the on-going cost of living crisis we know this is just another thing that families are struggling to afford and is one of the many ways as a council we’re trying to help.”