Things to take to boarding school for the 1st time

White Company or M&S are good for mattress toppers.

You can send stuff to the school! On line ordering is allowed!

Just a word of warning about tuck boxes -
Don't try and hide a bag of satsumas in with the crisps and chocolate, as they get left in there, go mouldy and ruin the ££££ tuck box in the first term.

OP - yes, on the post front, it's a really big deal to get some.

We gradually added “stuff” as DDs went through the year. Never ever a screwdriver though! Dangerous implement? Who cares about pens? Whatever they normally use is fine.

We were before the fairy lights craze. LEDs don’t give off heat. Anything electrical should/will be tested by the school for safety.
I came across a hairdryer with a school safety label on the other day! Forgot I had it.

My DDs took a familiar cuddly toy. Mesh washing bags were on the list compiled by the school. First wash - all underwear shrunk and went grey. Everyone brought washing home. We had to have trunks and the school had trunk storage. Lined the trunk with 2 layers of blankets for easy lifting.

Cannot remember much they took but didn’t use. They ended up smuggling stuff in they weren’t supposed to use: hair dye!!

DD1 was house captain and she was responsible for getting the culprits to get the uneaten noodles out of the sinks. They got blocked with noodles! Mine never took food. School food was restaurant quality and plenty of it. The other craze was for named sweatshirts from other schools.

You can always send what they don’t have. Or take it when you go to the school.

My two always received a tuck parcel from their grandparents every term.

I used to send little parcels of say, 10 mini Pringle tubs, so DC would be super popular!! They both loved getting parcels delivered.

Battery pack phone charger - most boarding houses make the children charge their phones in the docking station. But portable battery pack means he can loll about on his bed with the phone fully charged rather than putting it in the docking station for 2 hours.

Ours went out to local restaurants for meals, went to friends at weekends and there were sometimes parties or in-house parties or events.

Batteries

Some other things:

Bath matt for her bedroom floor
Nail kit
Hair ties and clips (like ten times the amount you think she will need)
Extra Throw / Blanket for bed
Hot Water Bottle

You can get vertical hangers that hang ten cloth items rather than two. And some storage boxes as well - small and medium ones.

If no drawers underbed then underbed stroage boxes.

Oh, I forgot - some fancy dress things as well. These are pretty essential, even if it's just the fabric squares that can be fashioned into different things.

Themes are usually gangster, animals, vicars and tarts, heros and villians etc.

Boy or girl?

Boy..... food.
Girl.... the entire contents of their bedroom.

Caveat: This is only based on my own survey of my own children.

Oh also, those mesh bags for laundry. She can bung the whole bag in for washing and may find fewer socks go missing!

A fabric standup laundry bag was dd's random request last September.

Her wardrobe is tiny - my top tip is to pull off ring pulls from drink cans, then you can slide those over a hanger and hang another hanger on that and so on (if that makes sense!) which saves tons of room.
When she first started, i ordered a load of photos on the 'retro' prints with captions and got a string and pegs to hang them all up.
Her favourite things of all over the last year or so are her Amazon account and Disney plus. They watch a lot of crap as they can't do usual activities at the mo and if she needs anything desperately she just orders it. Hopefully activities will resume soon, so your DC will be out having fun!

Mattress topper is a must. My DD also takes her own pillow which she has in addition to the biscuit-like one provided by school and also a blanket.
Earplugs
An alarm clock (many schools take phones away at night and gone are the days of matron ringing a bell by your head, apparently)
DD has a battery powered reading light which clips onto her bed
Snacks, cereal bars, biscuits, popcorn. Noodles (pot noodles seem to be the snack of choice)
Coat hangers
A sharpie / sticky labels for naming stuff

Check what bags they are allowed- our school says no trunks as limited storage for them during term. DD took a big suitcase she could fit other bags into. Tuck box is useful extra storage.

Mattress topper.
Good supply of sanitary products.
Good supply of all toiletries
Teddy off she has one
Sticky plasters for grazes and blisters
Snacks and drinks supply
Hair elastic supply
Razors
Towel big enough to wrap in and spare plus hair towel.
Hairdryer.
Nail file
A few party clothes

AirPods
Sliders
Pot noodles
Check if allowed - extension cable

Soft (very large) bags for transporting everything in as trunks are too difficult to store and carry ( quite often up very narrow staircases over several floors).
Some items in house colours as I often got a call saying I need x & y for the weekend for some house event.
A decent tuck box including some tins or microwaveable packs for the occasions they might not want to go to the dining room. Often DD used items to trade with others too lol.
Sliders

Slides.
Extra underwear.
Extra runners.
Extra towels.
Crap food like insta soups, popcorn, noodles etc.
Torch.
I hid some money in a pair of socks - I was popular that day!

Mattress topper.

Sliders/crocs.

Bedside lamp.

Net washing bag for underwear washes.

Pot Noodles or other crap food.

DD likes to take a room fragrance, but this would have to be agreed by all room occupants.

Lots of data on her phone in case the WiFi is rubbish.

Fluffy blanket.

Never used -
Shoe polishing kit.

A calendar that you can mark on important family dates, term dates, and visits.

Mattress topper if it’s not already on your packing list too. The mattresses at my daughters school aren’t bad but it does make a big difference.