Secondary school back packs

[StainlessSeal]

Where do all of your girls get their back backs? DD needs one for Y 7 and I'm not even sure where to look! It has to be a backpack (no totes etc).

Yep plain Nike one here too!

If you bought one like this from M and S, how would the others know where it had been bought?

Well they wouldn't as that's a Superdry bag so people would assume you had either bought it from Superdry or had borrowed if from your trendy Grandad.

Plain black Nike all the way.

Would cross off Hype as its seen as a year 7 brand around here.... so may refuse to wear in y8

I agree.

Mine had laptop rucksacks, plain black, they have a nice padded back with ventilated fabric which was needed as they walked to and from school and had their A4 books against their backs. Bought from Amazon, so many to choose from.

We just went to the Nike outlet near us - one has a plain black one, the other's is kind of a denim blue shade. I just insisted it had to have decent side pockets for water bottles as I've had to dry too many school books out due to leaks in the past. They've lasted well this year - despite DD1 being determined to carry the entire Percy Jackson section of the school library to and from school every day.

It definitely varies between schools around here.

can you park up outside the school that she’ll be going to at the start or end of the day to get some ideas?

My daughter has this Jan Sport backpack in navy. She’s going into y8 in September. Very plain but strong and functional and should last her through secondary school.jansport.co.uk/products/superbreak-plus-navy

I insist on water bottle pockets for the same reason - glad I’m not the only one!

The Nike ones are popular here. Big and lots of pockets.

Ours have to have to plain black, minimal logos. Need to fit A4 files, laptop and several house bricks. Landed on this one which she’s been happy with:

https://amzn.eu/d/04RzGo7X

I would probably get a plain black Nike one or similar and be prepared to change it if it turns out that 'everyone' has a particular, different, brand.

Or, as a PP suggested, go and watch outside the school at start or end of the day and see what most are using.

DD's school uses these bags. They're really sturdy and well-made.

https://www.marathonbags.co.uk/backpacks/litepak-medium/

They have a range of bags and backpacks from nursery to student age.

I did wonder that about Hype - very popular in DDs primary so thought they might seem a bit young in secondary.

To those who don't get it, I mean, maybe it varies by area, but when I was at school it was important and as DD is going to an all girls school (as did I), I just want to err on the side of caution!

My DD had a plain black Jansport bag for starting secondary, and after 18 months it had a hole in the bottom and straps falling off because of all of the weight that it had carried. Yet I’d thought Jansport was fairly indestructible. I’d hoped that bag would last the whole of secondary.

Now moved on to Nike and if this one breaks, at least it didn’t cost as much to buy.

SuperDry. Plain enough / reasonable brand not to stand out. Pretty functional and sturdy.

DD had a kanken in year 7.

My DD got this one halfway through year 7 when the school branded one fell to bits in 6 months and I refused to fork out for another one! She's going into year 10 now and it's still in great condition and she loves it. Much better than the school one. Chose plain black and no branding or logos so the school would have nothing to moan about or insist on using their inferior (and expensive) supplier. Would be worth checking any rules on colour, brand name, logos etc as many secondaries are quite hot on this.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WNG1XKS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Because they are very childish looking. Secondary school tend to be plain dark coloured discrete branding.

It depends on the school where we are - grammar seems to be more Superdry/
Fjallraven or non branded. Comp seems to be almost all Nike. I have a boy in each, fairly close in location but different styles.

Hype is def a year 6/7 brand. Both of my boys had outgrown it by Oct half term in yr7 & I ended up replacing them at Christmas. And to be honest the standard Hype bags aren’t great size wise for some school books & didn’t have any internal projects. Nike has been the best for pockets/water bottle holders etc but Superdry has been the strongest (but also the most expensive!).

I agree with the poster above to have a drive by of the school if you can to see what’s popular.

Because kids wear uniform to secondary school, back packs are what they are judged on.

My DD17 has had a Kipling Seoul backpack (the one with a bottle holder on each side) since the start of Yr8 and it's still going strong as she goes into Yr13. She has carried a lot of heavy stuff in it over the years and also plans to take it to uni! Yr7 she chose a Hype backpack because they were a thing at the time (well, huge totes were a bigger thing but I vetoed that 😉) but although it was OK, it only just lasted a year and had nowhere near enough pockets.

One really good thing about the Kipling bag is that it has a key holder, which was very handy for my daydreamy DD, but it looks like that is no longer a feature, so maybe a good idea to look on Amazon for an older style one (Amazon often cheaper for Kipling anyway), if that's important to you. Also has a mini pocket on the top which is brilliant for a bus pass. You have to remember to zip it up though (🙄😁)!

DD has bought a black Eastpak snoopy one. Induction day snooping revealed that it would fit in fine. A disturbing number of older girls had Longchamp Pliage bags….

If you were interested, Amazon have lots on Prime Day deals, all sorts of colours and patterns. This plain black one does seem to still have a key holder. Sorry about the mahoosive link!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kipling-Backpacks-SEOUL-Signature-Emb/dp/B07V3M6PHS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.k2c83ZD_h40cbdSTVOGPojdsJOSGPWvw2wiZpxBuKh381vGa0wjZoY8lEO6OWQL2APyIoDSb25pJ13QvDcQPNbGO98dGyET_muR99Et0rLBrW0AicGidzh320IvGZAC-boPEBLr-VuCdFV8eeMZjgaHeWmc4HPNG_xTIaEnCRmGeDhO3NdIz6j66wor9MCTeHUA8SN2xzmkHMpBVYejECRLMeidmowzAxRklSHT1hAoTRjsTQSbUJk0NRxWZFlgm9EAy3XSEBsP2uOt1mYASJ9WllbmbDXU8dYYTOSdTSLw.-NK3XUiY6dWwq56h-zcVjnRAXUqajcz19yYpUDRV1-Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=kipling%2Bseoul%2Bbackpack&qid=1721120929&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1