Reception newbie: where do I buy everything, please?

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DS1 starts in Reception in September, and I've told him we can go shopping together to get some of his school bits. So, to avoid dragging endlessly round the shops, I want some tips on the best places to go for:

Uniform - grey trousers, pref elasticated or very easy fastening, and black shoes (Clarks?) - I think the rest comes through the school.
Lunchbox and drinks bottle - I'm thinking nice funky colours but not branded characters
Schoolbag/rucksack (ditto)
Anything else? Do they need pencil cases and stuff?

Please don't recommend Tesco, as I hate Tesco we don't have one nearby. Thinking of a trip to Bluewater, so maybe M&S, JL etc?? Help please!

Lurk.

M&S do good uniform stuff

My ds didn't need a pencil case. They have a school book bag that I ordered with the uniform.

John Lewis is probably a good bet for the sort oflunch box you want. Deffinately a fan of clarks school shoes here. don't forget plimsolls

M & S for school clothes. Shoes for Clarks (I just go to our local shoe shop with lots of brands). Lunch box/drinks bottles, John Lewis. Check with school about book bags, as they may have their own. You probably won't need pencils cases etc in Reception.

Thanks, that's the sort of lines I was thinking along. Another question now. If they have a book bag, and another bag for PE kit (I think someone told me that...) and they don't have their own pencil case, what the heck do they actually put in their school bag ?

hahahaha nothing.

At the end of the day they screw up 'art' and bring it home...they will be given a reading log book and their reading book. The book bag is the school bag.

DS sometimes puts interesting wet leaves and bark from the playground in his to being home...
School also put notes in them for you.

Reception classes don't have a school bag usually. Just a book bag. The PE bag obviously stays at school and they tend to send it home for washing at halfterm and at Christmas/Easter/Summer break.

So you just need to get uniform (M&S are good), shoes (hate Clarks but any local independent store is usually fine) and a lunchbox. Our school do stress that the water bottle should be clear (so they can see it's just water). Clear water bottles are surprisingly hard to get hold of.

Name tags you can order online or through the school. Couple of keyrings are useful to attach to their book bag and PE bag. They can then spot their bag easily in a heap of other bags.

Ok, now I'm even more confused. Does that mean I don't have to buy a rucksack type bag? Will they get a book bag and that will be their school bag ?

Cross post. Thanks. I've got an 'info evening' next week, so I'll probably find lots of this out, but I want to make sure I know what questions I need to ask! Not sure what will happen with the PE bag, because on swimming day they wear their tracksuit into school all day, but presumably the towel and trunks will need to come home for washing.

Exactly. DD is the only child in reception who has a bag. She has a bag because we have to walk 2 miles and catch a bus to get to school and obviously back again. It means any artwork she brings home can go in there. Plus bits of tree and flowers she's collected and a discarded bottle top etc etc. I have ds in a sling plus a change bag so can't easily juggle any art stuff or massive posters she brings home with her. They're her responsibility.

The children just have a book bag in reception. They only ever bring home letters and their jumper/left sock/a leaf so don't need a bag.

For my dcs (age 6 and 9) the book bag is the school bag. If you hate Tesco you may also hate Asda, but Asda school uniform is just as good as M&S and usually cheaper. Also good to know that the zip up foam padded lunch boxes get really grotty after a term no matter how much you scrub the seams BUT you can zip them inside out and put them in the washing machine and they come out really well. Happy shopping!

Bloody hell 'swimming day'!

Wow.

They should only need a book bag in reception, no need for a rucksack - I'd get one of those pe/swim type bags just for swimming day.

Hmm you get a manky pe bag at the end of each half term (you may need t buy school pe kit as well)

X-post.

Swimming kit gets sent in and then brought home every week here. Just don't accidentally put the hat in the washing machine will you? They don't like it.

The info evening will tell you everything you need to know. They know how daunting it all is and they spell everything out so that it's an easy transition for parent and child.

I can see Reception is all about the leaves .

I write on DS's uniform labels with a sharpie as I'm far too disorganised to do iron on labels.

Rookery - I didn't know you could machine wash those lunch bags - brilliant tip thanks

At dd1's school the Friends Of X School provided every reception child with a bookbag and their first water bottle was also provided free.

We were advised to take PE kit on Monday and leave until Friday with both indoor & outdoor kit in.

We were also told to bring in a schoolbag (i.e. small rucksack) with a full spare uniform in, in case they get soaked/covered in paint, etc. I stopped doing that midway through the year though as it was never being used.

Haven't needed pencil cases or anything.

I quite like Sainsburys for uniform.

Don't have an Asda either. (A bit in the sticks, here.) And yes, Liza, swimming day. Frankly they must be absolutely potty, taking a bunch of four year olds on a coach to the local pool and then trying to get them all changed etc, but apparently the kids enjoy it. And sweet mother of god, will he have to wear a swimming hat? I foresee trouble with that one .

Good tip on the lunchboxes, thanks.

Oh and we got dd1's lunchbag from Clarks.

We have our info day in a couple of weeks so I'm waiting until then to find out what the pair of them need. Very useful suggestions on here so am bookmarking!

Ablative

Oh yes...the leaves....the gluey random bits of paper...the muddy sticks.

I have a bit of tree bark DS drew on for me once that I'm not allowed to get rid of as he 'put all his kisses in it Mummy'

got to love the lovely children though!

Liza . A couple of weeks ago I had a long and slightly tetchy conversation with the builder, only to realise afterwards that I was still wearing the long, glittery pasta shape necklace that DS had made for me at pre-school. He often suggests that I wear it if I'm going for a night out .

Do you have to ahem 'volunteer' to help on swimming day?

:) :) :)

Love lovely boys and their random ideas about what's nice for Mummy.

It's certainly an 'option'. I suspect there may be quite a lot of 'options'. I was tapped up to be chair of the PTA the other day, and I don't even have a child at the school yet...

We already get tons of "artwork" from nursery so surely Reception can't be worse??

Liza, yes indeed. I suspect he thinks Daddy's (extremely good) taste in jewellery for Mummy is distinctly lacking in bling (and pasta).