How much school uniform?

[Orangesandlemons24]

DS is starting reception next month and am just buying his uniform. He is my first to go school so could some experienced mums please give me some advice on how much of everything to buy?
Uniform is white polo, jumper with logo, grey trousers or shorts, grey socks and black shoes. Thanks

I have 2 boys, very similar uniform and I've bought/will be buying, for each of them:

6x polo shirts
4x trousers
2x shorts
3x jumpers
Countless socks

Mine are 8 and 5 and I've found that even my 8yo still gets very messy!

DONT buy expensive polo shirts, just get supermarket multipacks, they get absolutely trashed.

In reception then one outfit per day is easier but I never got more than 2:logo jumper/cardigans and as they got older only 1 new for the school photo and any others second hand also additional jumpers from supermarkets generic ones.
My experience has been that it's far cheaper to buy now as it can be virtually impossible to get the cheep supermarket uniform once it gets to September and you end up having to buy now expensive stuff.

I gather Reception is Kindergarten?

as a mum of 4, white shirts are crazy, they get so dirty but

3 shirts, so there’s always 1 on, 1 in the wash & 1 clean,
2 shorts, 2 long pants , alternate days of wear.
1 jumper. 5 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of shoes.

kids get Filthy, boys especially seem to rip, stain, destroy their clothes & shoes on a regular basis.

DONT buy expensive shoes, they will out grow 3-5 pairs in a year & possibly wreck two of them.
kids get their shoes wet, muddy. Alternate so they have a chance to air out.

Use Napisan or your go to oxygen bleaching agent powder, soak shirts overnight before washing in the machine
Lable Everything .

Don't buy the logo sweaters unless you absolutely have to. Sweaters are always first to go missing with us and the school will likely not help you find them. There's a reason they have a bargain bin for £1 an item...

There's usually a local Facebook group where people sell or give away uniform for the local schools too. I've got several school logo pieces like that. Otherwise, I've managed with 6 polo shirts ( one always gets trashed beyond cleaning) two pairs of trousers, two pairs of shorts, packs of socks and pants usually have 5 or 7 pairs, which is plenty. In future years you'll probably make friends with other mums who are happy to pass on outgrown stuff. I have smallish child and got quite a bit of nearly new and outgrown uniform given to me.

My son comes home in a state every day! I have 4 of everything but do get second hand where I can. Our school does dark blue polos too which are so much better than white.

Assuming you have a tumble dryer just in case I would get 3 trousers, 5 polo shorts, 2 jumpers, 5 socks and 1 shoes. Get jumpers on the larger side, might last 2 years

My (now going into Y10 and Y7) have always had 6 shirts - a clean one every day, and a spare. DH and I both work, and can't always be sure of turning round laundry that quickly! We've usually got by on 3 jumpers and 3 trousers. Those syntheticy school jumpers are pretty easy to spot clean if needs be.

5 of everything.

Enough for everyday. Can't be doing with needing to wash uniform in the week!

Following this for tips.

I've got enough for a clean uniform each day as don't want the pressure of having to wash in the week. Our school is 3 uniform days, 2 PE days so I've bought accordingly. They don't insist on logo items so I've just bought plain supermarket uniform as I know it will get trashed.

Do they have a day for just PE kit? Is there a weekly forest school day? If it’s uniform all 5 days then you need 5 of everything in my experience. If there’s a PE kit day then get 4 of everything and 2 lots of PE kit. In summer if it’s really hot, they’ll spring extra PE kit days on you so you will need spares

See if the school or pta have a second hand uniform as will save you a fortune.

I had two grubby boys and one that was always losing things. We had the following:
6 x polo shirts
6 x trousers/shorts
3 x school jumpers
6 x socks
2 x pe tops
2 x pe shorts
2 x pe tracksuit top trainers
Plimsols
School shoes
Painting smock (old shirt also fine)

having 6 of everything means you can go away at the weekend without panicking about washing uniform

2 x sports kit useful for when they lose it

Only bought shoes/underwear new, the rest second hand. They will rip stuff/friend will draw on them with pen etc within the first week so might as well get 2nd hand

LABEL EVERYTHING!

@sgtmajormum has just about nailed it, but I got through a lot more polo shirts than that. For Reception year, I'd start with 10 but only put 6 in circulation.

They will get stained and the temptation is to replace straight away. Don't. Just replace the heavily stained ones at the end of each half term.

The stains will be felt pen, everything else comes out with vanish and a boil wash. DS school would practice handwriting on a wipe board with dry erase pens. You cannot avoid the stains.

If he grows fast . Two trouser and jumpers . One pack of polos .
I usually spend the most on the bag and shoes .
cheaper shoes just cost more . Kids spend 5 whole days a week in them walking and playing it’s worth spending more .
Its harder for school jacket as I feel the weather changes quick after school starts so get something that is going to last till January( might need bigger size then ) but even if new jacket is too warm just use an older lighter one after the first week Or/ abs buy a bigger size if they in between Alway go bigger to save wasting money .

I have a question for Reception parents!! Do they do PE, and will need a PE kit? Mine starts this year too and I have no idea whether he will need a PE kit at this age or not

At the school that ours went to they did do PE and needed PE kit with a house coloured t-shirt.
Your school should have told you what is needed, if not check the website.

@Star0Fire our school does 2 PE days but they go in their kit for the day. Not many schools round here just change for PE but some still do.

5 polos
3 trousers
2 jumpers

that did mine every year but I don’t mind washing during the week some people don’t want to wash until weekend

My top tip is to get some of the shoes that have the rubber than comes up and protects the toe area from scuffing. My DS was constantly scuffing up the cheaper ones and they looked a complete mess.

Polos and trousers can be bought cheaply and they are guaranteed to get dirty/paint splattered so I'd get more than you think you need.

Here 3 of everything, or 4 if it's easier to buy in two packs. Aiming to wash Wednesday and weekend. See if you have a school uniform bank near you for Preloved cleaned uniform.