How much school uniform

[Uniforms2]

My boy is off to school in September and has managed to get a placement in a special needs school 🥳

I don't really know how much uniform to buy. I know he'll get messy but I'm pretty good on keeping on top of washing. He does also go to his dad's one night a week. So I'm thinking 3 x trousers. 2 x shorts. 4 x polos. 4 fleeces (2 school 2 plain) then PE kit (shorts & tee). Does this sound about right? Sorry if it is a stupid question. His dad has agreed to go half (miracle!) and I want to get it right.

I get 2 of everything to start ( with extra polo tops) and see what needs replacing by Christmas half term.

4 fleeces sound alot I'd start with 2, but rest seems good. Maybe get shorts a bit bigger if getting now as he'll only be in them about a month. Also remember socks, vests, shoes, coat and bag

When mine were young they had 5 of everything. That said our school didn’t have anything with logos so it was straight forward black trousers, white polo and a purple jumper which all were sourced from Asda so fairly cheap to do. As they got older I think it was 3 of eveything on rotation.

Good idea on the shorts front. I'll get one smaller one and one bigger one. The reason for all the fleeces is I imagine they get lost/left at school/dad's the most. Maybe I'll do two school and one plain for now. I have a coat and I'll buy shoes nearer the time as he is due a shoe growth spurt. Bags, socks etc is now on the list too! Thank you

Long time ago for me but as someone who couldn’t be arsed making sure washing was done during the week as essential, and all kids no matter which school went in sports uniform on sport/pe day rather than getting changed, I had:

Boys uniform:
4 x summer shirts
4 x winter shirts
2 x summer shorts
2 x winter trousers
2 x winter jackets
1 x sport polo
1 x sports shorts
1 x sports long pants
1 x sports winter jacket
4 x pairs summer socks
4 x pairs winter socks
1 x sports socks
Note: I was able to hand everything but the long trousers/pants and socks down the line through multiple kids although shirts were very thin by the end.

Girls uniform:
4 x summer dresses
4 x winter long sleeve shirts
2 x winter over tunics
Endless tights as 4-week constantly got holes/ladders
1 x sport polo
1 x sports shorts
1 x sport long pants
1 x sports winter jacket
4 x pairs summer socks
1 x sports socks
Again, apart from tights, socks and long sports pants everything else could do multiple kids as hand me downs.

I found mine all got top halves really dirty especially in lower primary so no way was a shirt or top of a dress suitable for a second day. Maybe be mine were just all grotty pigs though🤷‍♀️.

We always have 2/3 coats, I have one for school/play and a spare as one often in the wash, they don't need to be brand new. Also spare water bottles if their not left at school and pe trainers/plimsoles if they need um

Ask how often they do PE. DD was wearing sports kit 3 days a week in reception and the ‘formal’ uniform only twice.

Name tag everything OP!

My DC used to get absolutely filthy when they first started school (and a fair way beyond!) so I had 5x white polos, 5x cardis and 4 skirts for most primary years. It just made my life easier to have a week's worth.

DC always seemed to come out wearing their lunch, and a bit of every activity from the school day!

Label absolutely everything - it makes life so much easier.

Apart from jumpers I had 6 of everything so we could get through a week.
DS1 used to leave jumpers on the cloakroom floor each day.
By y2, he solved the issue by not bothering to wear them again.
He also solved the trousers/ shorts issue by refusing to wear trousers after y1. I used to buy a token pair then hand down to DS2 with tags attached.

DS was diagnosed with dyspraxia and ASD around y3/4 which explained a lot!

He has two blazers for secondary as he's still a mess magnet!

5 of everything it massively reduces stress.
2 x Pe kits if he has it more than once a week.
2 x coats, 3in1 rain coats from somewhere like Trespass or Mountain warehouse

I used to buy 3 x jumpers in the current size and 2x the next size up so if I didn't get them washed she could wear the next size up without with being too huge but when it came to buying the next batch I only needed to buy 3.

School uniform for that age is fairly inexpensive, Tu from Sainsbury's is great. M&S are more expensive but last longer and do an adaptable rage for children with SEND

I'm already there with the iron ready to label although I swear when I was a kid the labels never come off. These ones I have bought are a bit shit!

He comes out of nursery messy but I'm one of those weirdos that actually enjoys washing 😅 so I'm not too worried about needing to do a wash in the week.

He has a lovely Fat Face winter coat atm but I'm thinking maybe a Mountain Warehouse one might be better that way if it gets trashed I won't care as much. Not that I mind. He's only little and knows no better (ASD kid).

Keep nice clothes and coats for at home. Buying a size larger for his 'spare' school coat so it lasts longer.

Ds isn’t in uniform but his T-shirt is always dirty every day. Trousers and jumper are 50/50 based on what he’s been up to.

Based on that I would get:
x5 shirts/ polo tops
x5 trousers
x3 fleece or jumper

in winter trousers likely to get muddy or wet also so allowing for 1 a day. Plus you will probably wait at least 3 days worth to wash, then need a day to wash and dry. So leaves only one spare.

We had a week of everything. We were lucky with hand-me downs from my niece and no school logo required. No mid week washing needed thankfully.

Dd1 never wore anything with the school logo. Dd2 liked the sweatshirt style cardigans they did. So we bought one a year which would get worn a couple of days a week, and longer as she got older/less messy.

Someone was on here a few months ago saying she had bought ten of everything so she only had to wash once a fortnight.

Quite a few replied to congratulate her clever thinking.

I've always gone for 5 tops, 2 cardigans/fleeces, 2 bottoms and then bought more if needed.

FB reminded me this morning that my son is finishing his eleventh year at SEN school! In early years I bought 6 trousers and 6 sweatshirts (one per day plus a spare to be held at school in case of toileting accident) but now I buy 5 trousers and 5 sweatshirts plus 2 lots of 5 polo shirts during the year - they do not stay clean!

How generic is the uniform, how close is the nearest big supermarket to you and how easy is it for you to get there at short notice? If the uniform is generic and you have sufficient flexibility in your life that you can do a 20 minute or whatever round trip to the nearest supermarket at short notice for emergency polo shirts, shorts etc, then you can always buy more as needed so I'd start off with just a couple of each, especially if you do the washing regularly.
On the other hand, if you're busy and can afford it, or if your DC has sensory needs so only likes particular clothes, get four or five of everything as then you just know on a Sunday that uniform is sorted for the week.

When DC was in Reception, I got four of everything. But one set actually lived on a peg in school in case of accidents, so I was rotating three sets. Which was a bit tricky because we had a damp cold house and no tumble dryer.
Once we got a tumble dryer, three sets was completely manageable.

My son has always gone to a special school he has severe autism and learning disabilities, I always get jogging bottoms and polo shirts for him ,special schools tend to be quite relaxed about uniform ,we go through loads of clothes ,so I would get thec supermarket's own brand.

If you have any friends with a Cricut machine - get them to cut name labels out of iron on vinyl for you - they stay on much much better than any of the iron on labels and from an ASD point of view - no itchy label edges that can annoy and get picked off by tiny little irritated fingers. Absolute game changer for us - I use offcuts from making more interesting things and they're the only thing that has truly lasted.

As for uniform - I tended to buy a 5 pack of polos from Asda, 4-5 cardigans - I could get away with less for my eldest, but the younger child is a dyspraxia muck magnet, 3 skirts for the eldest, more bottoms for the youngest as she had incontinence issues and about a bajillion identical school socks (to make pairing easier). I picked up a lot of coats at the charity shop over the years - DD2 is forever being tugged at by the younger ones in school (she's a bit of a mother hen type) and it makes me less worried her coat will get trashed.

Squirrel away one new polo shirt for school photograph day type stuff so you've got one not covered with whiteboard pen and paint and other nonsense!