School uniform questions from FTM

[Dinoswearunderpants]

Hi

DS starts school in September and I'm wondering when/where to buy uniform from.

The school has said uniform can be black/grey bottoms, white polo (with or without school logo) and royal blue sweatshirt/cardigan.

How many sets of clothes should I buy? I was thinking I'd buy one logo polo and sweatshirt then a few without logo. Do kids stand out if not in logo? I just don't see the rational for spending way more on logo uniform when it'll get trashed.

No idea what size to buy either. He's four but 4/5 is too big but I suspect 3/4 will be too small come September onwards.

Also things like coats, bags etc can they be whatever they want? It's not listed in the booklet.

I assume buying loads of plain pants, vests and socks is needed too. Do all these need labelling too? Surely he shouldn't be missing pants/socks, especially when they have to go in their PE kit.

I keep 4 sets plus 1 PE kit.
Buy from m&s, Sainsbury's, Tesco or Asda. I like Sainsbury's personally.
They loose so many jumpers/cardis I keep 1 logo one for photo day only.

I don't label underwear. I buy extra school socks but nothing else.

School bag & coat are whatever you like usually - label these clearly!

Good luck

We have a full set for each day (for us, this means three sets of uniform and two sets of PE kit). I have problems with sizing to because DS is awkward and tend to buy skinny/slim fit in the bigger size where I can. Our uniform is mainly from M&S. DS has never worn a vest and I’ve never bought plain pants for DS, I don’t think it’s needed. He has school socks though.

Depends on the kids.

First of all, get to a second hand uniform sale for anything with a logo.

One of mine has a complete outfit change for every day of the week. The other one can make 1 cardigan last all week, but her polos get changed daily.

I usually start with enough tops and bottoms for each day of the week, then 3 jumpers/cardigans.

Firstly I found polo shirts shrink so buy the larger size. They come in packs of 3 (non logo is fine) so buy two packs from a supermarket. Buy 3 bottoms - one on, one as spare at school and one in the wash. 2 sweatshirts is fine but I would consider the logo ones as they tend to to be better quality

I’d check.

While you can wear non logo-d tops at ours, no one does, so a child wearing plain tops would stand out a bit to be honest.

It depends on the school if the children stand out for no logo. I never bought logo polo shirts as the quality was awful. I bought polo shirts for every day and 3 jumpers. I also bought 3-4 bottoms for reception.

Coat can usually be anything. Many primary schools want to use their school bookbag, they should tell you this in the information pack/at the induction evening? I've always had at least sets of uniform so there's no rush to get things washed. No one cares whether children have logo or plain uniform.

Two pairs of trousers, two logoed sweatshirts, six polo shirts. Label well, but expect tops to disappear occasionally. Check for a local Facebook group for logoed tops especially. I don't think I bought a new top for my second child, until they changed the uniform in yr 5. We have a second hand uniform Facebook group that covers the local Infants, Juniors and Senior Schools.

Yep this is definitely school-dependent - exact opposite of ours, there is a logo polo but I’ve never seen anyone in it except for on the school website!

OP, if you walk past the school gate one afternoon at 3:30, you should get an idea of what kids wear and what backpacks they have on.

We have 4 pairs of trousers (because they come in packs of 2) and 6 polos (because they come in packs of 3, and 3 isn’t quite enough unless you put a wash on every day). I wouldn’t buy plain pants/vests, or label them. You can get a pack of 7 grey socks in M&S for £5, which should be plenty for the year. I don’t find mine loses much tbh.

We go to M&S but supermarket quality is also mostly fairly decent. The sizing is indeed often weird, you just have to work out which one is weird in a way that works for your kid.

Logo polo definitely a rarity at our schools too. Produced mostly on school photo day.

Sainsbury’s/M&S/Next are great for school clothes, good prices and quality is brilliant.

The only logo item I buy for my DD is the cardigan/jumper, everything else is plain.

Shoes/coat etc. from wherever you like.

They might do a logo school book bag so I’d check for that.

I’d label pants in case he has an accident and needs to change. Even if he’s fully potty trained, lots of children in Reception have an accident in the first month while they’re getting carried away playing/forgetting where the toilets are/too scared to ask a teacher to go to the toilet.

But for Reception, I labelled absolutely everything. “My Name Tags” do great personalised stickers which are good for bottles/shoes/coat and also last in clothes in the wash x

I bought 5 of everything as they get it dirty and I do enough washing. Mine had logo sweatshirts and one logo polo shirt but the rest were just from the supermarket. Our logo sweatshirts are better quality and warmer than the supermarket ones.

Our school do second hand uniform sales so check with the school.

Lots of schools do a PE day now so they don’t have to get changed and lose half their PE kit…

4 DC here so plenty of school uniform trial and error over the years 😂

We have 5 sets of normal uniform and 2 sets of PE kit.

Personally we don't bother with logo jumpers as I find they go bobbly quickly, we like Sainsbury's plain cotton school jumpers. And Sainsbury's pe kit and polo shirts but m and s trousers/skirts/pinafore.

We always buy Clarks shoes as find the quality excellent and if you have a blue light card you can get money off.

We have dedicated uniform washing baskets and wardrobes and it all gets washed dried and put away altogether on a weekend

Thanks for all the responses. I don't want DS to stand out if he's the only one without a logo so might end up buying more uniform with logs after he starts.

Oh yes definitely send a change of clothes!

Although annoyingly DS didn’t have any accidents until Y1, because in Reception the toilet was in the classroom and they had free access, whereas from Y1 onwards they had to use the “haunted” toilets down the corridor . And probably more pertinently, they could also only go in break time, which interrupted him playing.

So he just tried to hold on between 8am-6pm, and obviously couldn’t.

Check to see if your school have a secondhand shop..normally ran by the PTA where you can pick up logo's jumpers etc.
Mine is at the end of reception..but in the first half term we lost a pair or trousers, joggers and a couple of tops!!.
Polo shirts are cheap to buy so get 3 to start with and more as you need them.. I had 2 pair of shorts/2 trousers plus pe kit.. and had to size up the shorts and trousers after Xmas as the 4/5 were too small.. I picked up from vinted at that point.

Almost everyone at our school wears logo polo's and sweatshirts but they are reasonably priced and second hand is available for free from the school office. We have 5 full sets as they get food down them plus an extra polo and shorts/trouser for a spare outfit in reception. I like Sainsbury's for shorts and trousers. Check what colour socks can be. We didn't label pants (they only take them off for swimming) or socks. One of our kids has lost only 2 jumpers over 6 years. The other loses one a term and loses coats too. We have a regulation book bag but any waterproof zip-up coat is OK (they need to be quick and easy to put on).

I’d recommend “My name tags” as well - get the iron on ones and the sticker ones.

I gotDS to design his in the summer before reception so that they would be unique and he’d have a chance of finding his own clothes when he hadn’t learned to spell his name yet.

i found that DS came home filthy every day. In his school they spent a lot of time outdoors so there was mud, plus paint, dinner and anything else he could cover himself in. I found it easiest to have a full change of clothes for each day, then I could do a load of his uniform as a wash at the weekend. I’d iron on Sunday evening and hang it in order that he would wear it to make it easier during the week (to start with I’d grab it from his wardrobe and hang it on his door, after a while he could get his own uniform out)

The school should give some guidance as to what they need in terms of logo and non logo items. It depends how much you do laundry as to what you need. My DC is in preschool 4 days and has two of everything but it means regular washing as jumpers are always dirty. For school it will be 5 days of course but they have two PE days where they wear PE uniform to school so I plan for 2 of each set.

Mine always had 6 shirts, 3 trousers/shorts/skirts and 3 jumpers. 6 pairs of socks. One shirt for every day and one spare in case of a busy weekend, or if it was Friday's breakfast that went down the front! We seldom have time to turn around washing in the week.

Coats could be anything, but I'd recommend something bright, for dark winter evenings.

The dc's school asked for bags to be book bags, so that they could go in drawers, and PE kit to be in a distinctive drawstring bag.

Infant school had very cheap school logo PE bags. I always sewed a bright fabric patch on my son's bag, so it was easily recognised.

I would suggest ask on a local fb group where you will find parents with children at this particular school. They can answer about logo/non-logo and also how to get items second hand.

Books - they most likely will just have a bookbag from school, nothing else is needed. If he takes packed lunch, get a good insulated bag, school rooms are hot and nothing is worse than a warm sandwich.
Practice opening cartons/tupper ware etc.
Unless they are set on a particular waterbottle, get one he likes and which is leak proof.

Coats - DD had always outdoor waterproof coats, they will send them out in playtime unless it's pouring down. They often also do lessons outside so keeping warm and dry is important.

Uniform - I work so I had a clean set each day and just washed at the weekend.
it depends what is available around you, I found it's easier ordering from M&S than hunting down DD's sizes at the supermarkets.

OP, ask around and find a parent with a slightly older child at the school you can ask. It'll vary school to school - ours has a logo'd jumper/blazer (for older kids) and branded bookbags but nothing else - I use Sainsbury's for everything except those items. But it will vary school to school.

We have 6 polo shirts (2x 3 packs), 4 trousers and 3 sweatshirts. Logo on the sweatshirts but not the polo shirts, you can get logo'd ones but a minority wear them.

I have bought polo shirts from M&S and Asda and I have to say the M&S ones are much better quality and last all year, apart from the one that got chocolate ice-cream on and I couldn't get the stain out. The Asda ones started coming apart at the hem within a few weeks.

At our school Reception don't have PE kit and just do PE in their uniform, so worth checking.

Coats and bags can be whatever they like with us, and I find it's handy having an unusual colour so they can identify their coat in a sea of navy and black.

1 logo polo shirt and 1 logo jumper. Sainsbury's for everything else - big order when they are doing the 25% off in the summer. No-one will notice who has a logo and who does not. 5 sets so you can just wash at the weekend.

Get 4-5 all kids start school in too big uniform!