I know it's early but please can we talk school uniform? I need your wisdom & experience

[AmpleBosom]

Please tell me how much uniform to buy my DS who starts in recpetion this year, i have asked lots of people but they all seem to have completely different views on the subject!

So, do i get:

5 Polo shirts
3 Trousers (Maybe some shorts as well?)
2/3 Sweatshirts

0r 5 of everything?

Tell me what you do/are planning to do

Thanks

[thisisyesterday]

i got:

6 shirts (cos they were packs of 3)
3 trousers
3 jumpers

I have bought extra jumpers though since he wanted to hav e yoghurt in his lunch and inevitably spills it, so i have 5 jumpers now.
3 pairs of trousers has been fine though

[MrsDinky]

Your list sounds about right to me, except perhaps a couple more polo shirts, as they do seem to get grubby every day and it is nice to be able to only wash whites once a week, but if you miss it by one day you can get to Thurs night and find no clean polo for the next day. Trousers and sweatshirts I work on the one on, one in the wash and one as spare in case you get a bit behind with the washing, also, unfortunately they do lose sweatshirts at school (going home with the wrong child), ours have always come back in the end but sometimes takes a few days.

Wouldn't bother with shorts till next summer.

[tootootired]

At the end of reception we finally ended up with

5 polo shirts (may not have needed all, was given loads)
5 sweatshirts
4 trousers ( 1 cut off to make shorts)
1 shorts

the 2 reasons are:
-I save it up and iron it all at the weekend so need a whole week's supply.
-DS is young and messy if the paint doesn't get him the packed lunch or trim trail will. I ignore marker pen though.

We were going on OK with 3 trousers but bought another pair to give us breathing space.

You can always add to your collection as term goes on, it soon becomes obvious how its working out. 2 or 3 sets probably OK for a start.

[AmpleBosom]

Thanks for all the replies so far, just to add more info DS1 (Who is satrting school this year) is quite a clean boy really his brother DS2 on the other hand who starts the year after isn't and i'm thinking any uniform if it survives can be passed onto him.

Also what are your thoughts on whether to get uniform with school logo on or not?
Polo shirts are £4.99 and sweatshirts £8.99 i think. Polo shirts are light blue so thinking they should wash ok

[cece]

I get the logo sweatshirt but buy plain polo shirts in the right colour from other places.

With DD (who is quite a clean and tidy person) I managed to have;

5 polo shirts
1 skirt
1 pair of trousers
2 sweatshirts

However with DS1 (who is the opposite of clean and tidy) has clean everything everyday!, so;

6 polo shirts (they came in packs of 3)
5 sweatshirts (bought 3 new and then topped up with 2 from the second hand unifrom stall, once I realised how messy he got!)
5 pairs of trouser
5 pairs of shorts

[iloveasylumseekers]

DS1 is just finishing reception.

I got
2 x 3 packs polo shirts (1 aged 5 1 aged 6)
2 school jumpers (they are woolly ones and were expensive, but they don't show the dirt as much as sweatshirts, so two has been fine. they also dry v quickly as they're acrylic so on the v odd occasion I've done a quick wash and they've dried overnight)
2 aged 4 trousers 2 aged 5 trousers
2 aged 5 shorts
socks (2 x 5 pack)
PE kit

[AmpleBosom]

Cece your post made me smile, i think i might end doing the same with my DS1 & DS2, DS2 gets so dirty! God help me when DS3 goes to school i'll be drowning in school uniform

[cece]

LOL, I'm not sure how he manages it. If it isn't his lunch, it is paint, pen or just dust, mud or sand!

[Greenshadow]

Gosh, we never had anything like this amount for our DC.

Varied a bit from child to child and school to school, but generally I'd say we had about 3/4 (polo) shirts, only a couple of jumpers/sweatshirts and maybe 3 pairs of trousers.

[HappyMummyOfOne]

I like 6 jumpers, 5 trousers and at least six polos - that way I have enough for clean every day and only have to wash once a week.

I do buy a few extra jumpers and polos though to swap any that get stained or dont wash nice - polo's soon lose their whiteness and look grubby.

[ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave]

Buy ten billion pairs of socks. Somehow they vanish. Other than that your plans sound about right -- I suspect you could manage with two sweatshirts and two pairs of trousers plus shorts, but extra is always helpful.

[mloo]

Or buy a pack of 6 identical pairs; then if some evaporate, you always can make up useable pairs still.

I always manage to get by with just 3 polo/sweat shirts + no more than 3 trousers... actually, DS2 got thru most of reception with just ONE pair of trousers, but then he wears shorts if at all possible.

I often get away with quickly wiping the item down with a sponge at night and hanging to dry; it then lasts several days or more.

[ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave]

I bought ten identical pairs. By half term in the Spring term he had precisely three socks (note: not three pairs) left.

[Doyouthinktheysaurus]

Both ds's have 5 sweaters, 5 trousers and countless white polo shirts.

The polo shirts never get clean so some always need replacing mid-year.

Socks...can never have enough. Like PofessorLayton, I am forever replacing socks.

[mloo]

How can they come home from school without socks? Jumpers and cardigans I can understand going walkabout... but socks?

Do you actually lose them somewhere in the house?

[iloveasylumseekers]

I think every house has a sock eating poltergeist. I don't know how it happens but it does...

[geogteach]

I work on 2 long sleeved shirts, 2 short sleeved, 2 trousers and 2 shorts and 2 jumpers. We wear grey shirts so maybe not so mucky as polo's but i would really hold off buying too much, when ds2 started last year he grew so much in the first half term he needed a whole new set in October.

[mloo]

I safety pin them together (preen moment).
Still lose some, mind.

[ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave]

He comes home with the socks, and then manages to lose them somewhere in the house. Which I freely admit ought to be impossible. It's not even very big. I suspect a small black hole hidden away in a dark corner.

[Ineedsomesleep]

That is much more than I bought. I started off with:

3 Sweatshirst
3 Polo
2 Trousers
1 Shorts (little boys get very sweaty, even in the Autumn term).
10 pairs socks

I only work 2 days though so its no biggy if I have to wash some.

Our school usually has a couple of secondhand sales during the year.

As for the logo stuff, I started off buying all the logod polo and uniforms but now buy a mix. If I send him on a school trip I like him to have logos on, just so that the teachers can spot him easily.

Socks, always buy them from the same place so that they are easier to match up.

[Ineedsomesleep]

Forgot to say that M&S have 3for2 on uniform at the mo, their trousers are great.