Tips for parents of this years reception kids

[roseyposeysmum]

Just that really - it is a bit of a minefield.

How many items of uniform, packed lunch or school dinners ? Any tips to make it all easier ?

Re PE kits - secondary school wash after each use, primary school just wash at half term!

lol - We can't use fabric conditioner or anything with fragrance due to my OH's allergies, so our washing smells of nothing. Soooo, when they have been at gym, it's not that it smells of sweat, but it smells of pure "gym hall" - that kind of dusty horrible smell, as there is no detergent/fabric conditioner smell to cover it up. I therefore have and do wash it after every use. I have one going to High school this year and the other going into Primary 7 so getting to the age where it needs washed every day anyway. :o

OMG - we send in PE kit at the start of term, it comes home at half term - not always used.... so gets washed once per half term - what are these kids doing to get so dirty in PE in reception?!?!

In our school, there is only one hall which gets used for all classes for gym as the lunch/breakfast hall and as the assembly hall too - the kids all change into indoor shoes, but I still think the gym kit smells - they keep it in their gym bag in their school bag so I take it out and wash it every time it gets used (i sometimes put the gym bag in too!) cos I hate that "Gym" smell it has. I get super sensitive to smells because we don't use any perfumed products (except my shampoo and conditioner - I refuse to give that up!) They have at least 2 sets of gym stuff but I do a washing load every day anyway - the other thing is that they don't neatly fold their t-shirts, they just stuff them in the bag so they are all crushed and I couldn't leave them like that even if they didn't smell of dust etc.

DS's new school are asking that wellies and a waterproof coat be kept at school - is that really necessary? We'll be walking to school anyway so he should be suitably attired and if I'm unsure of the weather I can always stick his pack-a-mac in his bag. I just don't want to fork out for extra wellies and a coat that never get used or get lost at school...

we ask for waterproofs to be left to avoid disappointed dcs who dont have it when sunny days turn wet. why not leave it at school but wear it home if you need it?

You can get wellies and waterproofs from Sainsbury's/Tesco for less than £12 for both. I'd rather have cheap stuff to leave at school then the nice stuff can stay at home and not get lost.

"why not leave it at school but wear it home if you need it?"

Because on rainy days he's going to need it to walk to school.

Thanks for the tip Jareth, I think I'll see if I can get a really cheap set from somewhere and if not, just have a set at home.

We often get slightly used wellies from ebay. For stomping around at school/nursery you can often get them for pennies.

Freecycle also good.

I have a nephew that I can hand old wellies down to thankfully, but there's bound to be loads of people offloading barely worn ones.

Has anyone heard of KidzPod lunchboxes or used them?! They look amazing but are £14! I balked at this until I saw the Spiderman one in Sainsbury's which is £13.....after reading the advice on here, I've decided to buy a hardone but haven't yet.
These kidzpod ones look great, with the main attraction being that you can change the image on the front, essential for my DS who changes what he loves quickly...

Also, from here saw attachtags highly spoke of, but am thinking my DS may have an issue with being able to 'feel' them...

Can second ebay for wellies, even after P&P, they can be super cheap!