Sorry I am the thickest of the thick...

[handlemecarefully]

I'm being lazy or dense or a combination of the two...

Got to order dd's new uniform (whoopee, she starts school in September, pity I'm stuck with ds until Sept 2008!)...and was looking at the form to order polo shirts (with school insignia on) from the school. Appparently the Polo shirt comes in sizes 26", 28", 30" and 32" - eh? what's that about then?

I'm used to buying dd's clothes by age (i.e. she ie currently in 3-4 / 4-5 years clothes)....so ummm what does the inches refer to? Also can't get my head around inches, I'm metric me!

Want to do my order form tonight but dd is in bed (so not about to measure her up). She's about 1m and 3 cms tall. What should I order for her?

If it helps, dd is a tall nearly 6yo in yr1 and wears a 28.

If your dd is average size and going into reception, a 26 should be fine. HTH

That helps mightily - thank you very much

It's a pain isn't it? My DS in yr 1, he's quite tall (125cm) and slender and wears size 6-7 clothes, and he's still in 28" sweatshirts although I'll be ordering 30" at the end of term.

Given your DD's size I'd say go with the 26". Can't you go along to the uniform shop and hold some up against her? Our school has uniform shop days once a month - they're run by the pta - I'd call the school and ask.

Another tip here -if shes quite petite (like my DD) then pinafore dresses are better than skirts as the polo shirts can be quite long. If they have a pinafore they don't have to faff around tucking the shirt in.

It certainly is a pain - am wondering; will there be other bizarre initiation rites that I will have to pick my way through and decipher in addition to the uniform thing?

I expect they look cute too BettyS (the pinafore dresses)

HMC... where shall I begin.

• Lunch money purses.
• Reading records.
• The fact that you will be expected to know something by osmosis, without actually being told (like "yes of course today is a non-uniform day, there was a letter in the book bag!... oh didn't you get a letter/was your child off sick yesterday/did it get lost? Yes you'll need to pay £1 for charity as well.)
• school trips - they'll cost £13.56p, but they aren't allowed by law to make a charge for the trip, this is just a voluntary contribution, but if you don't pay your child can't go, and no we won't be putting on any lessons/activities for children that don't go, so if you don't cough up none of the kids can go, you spoilsport you. the fact that you won't find out about anything* if you are a working parent who doesn't do the dropping off and picking up. Everything of importance is communicated by chinese whispers in the playground by equally puzzled parents.

I'm sure I can think of many more...

Oh boy! - it sounds a breeze [eeek! emoticon]

Ha ha Wordsmith, I'm glad it's not just me! I have jiggled my hours to take the kids to school one day a week just for that "osmosis" factor. My two in year 2 and reception both fit into 26 still (although we also have some 28s bought when dd started), and they both wear 7-8 normal clothes. I think school sizes are just big, but it doesn't seem to matter too much with polo shirts. Pinafore dresses are very sweet too!