The new school year marks the beginning of an 11-year spending spree by parents costing as much as £129 billion, a new index reveals - an increase of over £40 billion in four years.

Norwich Union’s ‘School Sums’ index reveals that the total average cost of sending a child to state school - from the age of 5 through to age 16 - is now just over £14,000 compared to £10,000 in 2002.

In total UK parents can expect to fork out a staggering £11.8 billion just in the 2006/7 school year on the everyday costs associated with their kids’ education. That works out at £1,300 per child per school year.

The top three most expensive components of a child’s schooling are:

• Transport – costing UK parents a total of over £2.5 billion a year (£301 per child per year) with a third of children being taken to school by car.
• Food – parents spend £2.4 billion a year on lunches (£270 per child per year) with more being spent a week on packed lunches than school dinners.
• Shoes – costing UK parents a total of £618 million a year (£70 per child per year), which comes in more expensive than text books.

Other findings from the Norwich Union ‘School Sums’ research were:

• Over a child’s school lifetime - totalling 11 years - their parents will have to pay on average for 43 shirts or blouses, 48 pairs of trousers or skirts, 38 jumpers, 37 pairs of shoes and 33 school trips
• Parents of boys face a slightly larger total bill as they have more spent on after school tuition, clothes and after school clubs, although parents of girls can expect to fork out more on shoes than for boys
• Mobile and internet technology continues to be a major cost coming in at approximately the same amount as sports kit over a child’s school lifetime (£550 per child)
• In 11 years of schooling parents can expect to spend on average around 1000 hours (the equivalent to six weeks) helping their children with homework

Making extra financial provision for the everyday costs associated with school may be something that is overlooked by many parents. Simon Quick from Norwich Union said: "Many parents think of state schools as being free but the costs are significant. Over £1000 of parents' money gets spent per child each year just covering the everyday costs of sending our children to school."

"This quickly racks up for families with two or three children and with an increase of £200 per child a year over the last four years, parents need to consider the increasing needs and demands of our children!"

"It’s important to allow for these costs when managing your finances. If parents do their school sums now, they’ll know what they need to put aside and be more prepared for the future."