SOME parents are paying out almost double the amount paid by others for their children's secondary school uniforms.

The most expensive outfit is found at King’s Leadership Academy in Woolston, where parents need to spend £45 on a school blazer and £10 on a school tie.

The lowest priced blazer can be found at Culcheth High School, where prices start at £24 and a clip-on tie costs £7.

But at several schools, including Sir Thomas Boteler and Penketh High, parents can buy the school badge separately and sew it on to a shop brought blazer, which can significantly reduce the price.

Parents at Great Sankey High, Beamont Collegiate Academy and St Gregory’s High can all buy their children’s school uniform at Warrington Schoolwear on Buttermarket Street, where blazers can cost between £20 and £32.99.

And blazers are priced between £29 and £32 at Birchwood High, £32 to £36 at Bridgewater High, £30 at University Academy Warrington and £34 at Lymm High.

The pricey King’s Leadership Academy uniform is brought directly from the Great Schools Academy Trust, which runs the free school, rather than a uniform supplier, and the school policy said: “Uniform and team kits help our students to demonstrate pride in their school.

“Students tell us that if they look ‘smart’, then they will have more self-belief and achieve more.”

The school also has a special offer on a full PE kit, including a full tracksuit, indoor and outdoor PE shirts and two drawstring bags, for £75.

An optional £19 iPad bag and £25 school rucksack are also available.

The town’s new university technical college and Future Tech Studio do not have a uniform but ask students to wear formal dress and a school necktie.

Research by the Department of Education found that the number of schools where pupils have to wear a blazer increased from 26 per cent in 2007 to 35 per cent in 2015.

The report also found that 18 per cent of parents or carers felt that the cost of school uniform created a ‘financial hardship’.