BHS have some nice pinafore dresses in Jersey fabric - including one that has a fake white poloshirt bit at the top. The smallest size was a '3', but is much smaller than most '3-4' sizes. They still come down to an inch or so above her ankles but she didn't look as drowned in the jersey fabric as in the stiffer normal fabric.
I'm still on a hunt for tights - there's a seller on eBay who does 4 pairs for £7 and does the tube sort in age 2-3 but doesn't have grey in stock at the mo.
2-3 will come up to her neck, but at least with the tube tights I don't have the issue of the heel being halfway up the back of her calves!
H&M do really nice kids tights that last forever (unlike Primarks) and I did get a pair of grey in a multi-pack in 18-24, but I don't really want to spend £6 a time for enough multipacks to make up a weeks worth of grey tights!
I so wish that manufacturers would think about the smaller sizes or that schools would be more understanding about having non-uniform clothing for the nursery. DD has some lovely grey wool dresses and navy cardigans but the dresses aren't quite uniform-like enough to get away with in a strict uniform school.
And would also be really helpful if schools could perhaps provide sew-on logos for these kind of situations. Personally I consider a cardigan that comes down way past your knees and sleeves that are twice the length of a child's arms to be a health and safety risk, especially if they're playing on climbing-frames at play-time etc.
I might try contacting some of the big manufacturers like H&M to see if they might do something like put together a 5-pack of their grey tights for me. Will report back with any luck I have.
Oh and have sussed that StartRite do black shoes in small sizes but you have to get them ordered in.