A new project to help Nantwich and Crewe parents cope with rising school uniform costs has been launched.
The “School Uniform Swap Site” on Facebook has been backed by Nantwich Local Area Partnership.
It is being run as part of a wider initiative by Crewe-based Beech Drive Projects, and comes after parents raised fears over the price of uniforms at a recent Cheshire East Welfare Rights Forum.
The Facebook page aims to enable families living in Nantwich and surrounding villages to sell, swap or give away old school uniforms or equipment.
It is aimed at both primary and secondary uniforms, and all schools in the Nantwich Education Partnership have been made aware of the initiative.
In Nantwich, the project will work as one-to-one Facebook relationships and links between parents.
In Crewe, there are also plans to set up a central collection and distribution point to offer a face-to-face service.
Scheme spokesman John Bottomley said: “The Facebook page is intended to compliment existing schemes – not replace – and fill a gap.”
“The idea was sparked from concerns raised at the Cheshire East Welfare Rights Forum meeting in July about parents struggling with school uniform costs this year.
“Crewe LAP was canvassing opinion to set up a School Uniform Bank, where clothes and equipment can be collected to a central point for distribution, possibly Crewe Market.
“They feel a face-to-face service will work better than a Facebook site.”
Pennysmart CIC already runs successful School Uniform Facebook pages in North Wales.
“This is an entirely free to use project,” added John.
“The more users we can attract the better service we will be able to offer parents and the bigger the savings parents can make.”
The page is http://www.facebook.com/groups/NantwichSchoolUniformExchange/members/
(pic courtesy of Alihodza, Flickr creative commons)
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