Storage Trunk, Tuck Trunk for boarding school which is it and what size?

[Tenalady]

My Son is off to boarding school in September and they recommend a trunk but they dont state a size. Who would of known what a minefield the trunk business is, colours, sizes, finishes, locks. . . . .

Need a bit of advice, what size is usual for such an adventure, do you need both storage and tuck box? He will be entering in year 5.

IMO tuck boxes are very useful as they can lock away personal items. Some schools use them to actually have tuck (food) in but at my DCs prep school they weren't allowed to bring in tuck so the box contained their own items etc.
We got them one from John Lewis.
Trunks are very school specific. Many now suggest a large suitcase as this cuts down on trunk storage. However if your school specifies a trunk I would call them and ask what size is normal. Even if they are already on holiday someone usually goes in to check the post each morning or at least they did at our prep school. Trunks or large cases are useful if you are an overseas pupil as they can store all their stuff over the holidays in the trunk. Do you know anyone with a child at the school already or if you posted the schools name someone on mumsnet might know what the norm is at that particular school.
One word of warning a friend ordered a lovely trunk for her DC, had it delivered by John Lewis and then at the last moment found that it wouldn't fit into their car!!

We just got ours from www.storagetrunks.co.uk

we got a size 09 and it fits all his stuff in. The older 2 have plastic storage trunks we got in the USA but having got younger one this one we are now considering swapping them all. The service was great, trunk came in 2 days (even though I said any time by the end of the holidays) and they were very friendly (emailed to check all was ok once delivered). They are slightly more expensive but are the only ones that come with a lifetime guarantee.

Good point about car, we have 3 DCs in same school and fitting 3 trunks in the car is a fine art, especially when you also need to fit in 2 electric guitars, sports kits, skateboard, scooters etc etc etc (kitchen sink)

I am looking for a tuck box which they will use for locking personal belongings and I am wondering if there is really any difference in the quality? I am thinking of getting one from the site you linked to wherethepimms and wonder how good they are? I am hoping to get one for under £50. The John Lewis ones are quite expensive.

Our school gave us the rough dimension of how big they should be so perhaps if you ask your school they may give you these.

You must have a big car wheresthepimms, I thought we would need a proper trunk and that was giving me sleepless nights as I couldnt imagine even one fitting. Luckly its only overseas students who need proper trunks or large suitcases.

Certainly in DS senior boarding school they frown on trunks, there is nowhere to store them and the size of the boarding rooms doesnt lend to having a large trunk in there. We use squashy suitcase type things to get the stuff to school, unpack and then take the case back home.

With regard to tuck boxes. We brought one and it has been invaluable. It is much larger than I thought but DS has to lock as apparently it is well known that boys raid the other boys tuck boxes when they are hungrey. You can leave your Blackberry lying around but crisps and chocolate biccies are pinched!

Munashe the quality is far better than any I have seen elsewhere and the lifetime guarantee covers boarding school boys jumping on them I only have a VW golf Estate but am certain that when DD (currently only 4) gets there I will need a minibus . We found the trunks better as we measured them and then stand them on their edges to fit them in then Guitar (luckily hard cases due to being overseas last year) cases on top then sports bags in the roof box. Otherwise it is what we did this time and drop stuff off at parents (only 30 mins away) and ferry kids then kit and leave stuff to be picked up later in the holiday (luckily the laudromat of grandma washes it all too). We have in the past taken 2 cars to school when we all needed to be there with their stuff.

One thing our school states is that locks cannot be keys they must be combinations so that when you forget it the school can phone home and remind them, keys on the other hand get lost and trunks are locked with everything in and no way of getting to it. We don't have wheels on ours either, hard work when carrying to boarding houses but better for fitting in my little estate.

Thanks all, have left a message at the school but no call back yet. The school is Kings, Ely, if anyone has a child there boarding.

my friend had their DD there about 5 years ago (she will have finished now) and she loved it. They had a trunk that was slightly bigger than the one I suggested and it sat at the end of her bed.

Used to work in a boarding house in a school - I would say 95% of our kids just used a big suitcase (then the weekly boarders invariably brought more and more stuff from home every weekend they were away leading to fun and games getting it all to fit into the car at the end of term!)

We never had the tuck raiding thing go on though - was just so much stuff organised internally within the houses like DVD and popcorn evenings that there wasn't the need (or our kids were utterly angelic which I somehow doubt!)

emptyshell my DCs were using big suitcases for the first term and a half but then we swapped to trunks and with DC3 going as well in Sept it is much easier to fit them all in the car boot (along with the kitchen sink) A lot of the kids do use trunks at our school but maybe that is because a lot are overseas pupils and a trunk means you can leave stuff during holidays and only take everything home at the end of the year. The other thing mine said was that trunks are easier for them to pack

my sister always took bitter lemon, ginger ale and tonic in her tuck box till she hit the fifth form