Kids take £4.5bn worth of gear to school

 

26/08/2005

 

Children will be taking up to £4.5bn* worth of sophisticated technology, sports gear and gadgetry back to school with them this September, says a new survey by Churchill Home Insurance.

 

Gone are the days when furry pencil cases, football stickers and yoyos were de rigueur classroom items. These days, kids hit school equipped with must-have accessories such as the latest mobile phones (50 percent), expensive trainers (44 percent) and high-tech MP3 players (10 percent), with the contents of an average school bag estimated to be worth around £450.

 

Even the humble school bag has received an upgrade, with 15 percent of parents saying their kid's school bag is worth £30 or more. The same percentage of parents even admitted they would buy their kids a designer label school bag if brands like Louis Vuitton or Gucci started making them.

 

Churchill Insurance has compiled a list of what kids take to school with them and the potential costs involved:

School bag item Average cost

Pay-as-you-go mobile

£100

MP3 Player

£150

Trainers

£50

Gameboy Advance

£70

Games

£30 each

Football Boots

£30

School Bag

£20

TOTAL

£450

Martin Scott, Head of Churchill Home Insurance, said: "Our findings show that in just 12 months, the value of children's school bags has risen from £400 to £450, an increase of nearly 15 percent. Infact, parents don't realise that a two-child family could now have nearly a thousand pounds worth of possessions to replace should the children suffer loss or theft."

 

Thirty-five percent of 10 to 15-year-olds have been victims of at least one personal crime such as assault, robbery or theft** and Churchill Home Insurance has compiled a list of the most stolen items at school***:

Stolen items Percentage

1. Mobile Phones

36 %

2. Bicycles

26 %

3. Electronic Gadgets

16 %

4. Clothing

12 %

5. Sports Equipment

10 %

Scott concluded: "Parents can cover loss or theft of a child's property by taking Personal Possessions cover, an optional extra to their contents policy. We would encourage all home-owners to take this extra protection, which provides cover for all possessions away from the home, not just those with the children."

 

*Based on number of schoolchildren in the UK in 2004 (10,094,600) and the estimated average cost of the contents of a schoolbag

 

**Home Office Survey, 2003

*** Churchill Home Insurance Claims Data

 

For more information please contact:

 

Emilie Lien
Churchill Insurance
020 8313 5830
pressoffice@churchill.com