Starting to think about uniform. Any veterans?

[RedDenmanBrush]

I would be so grateful if anyone could recommend the best/ most hardwearing shops. And how much of everything do you buy?

DD starts school in Scotland in August. I've ordered two sweaters from her school and the most adorable little tartan pinafore which matches their ties (couldn't resist!).

How many other bottoms will she need? Trousers for P.E. days? Are blazers a waste of money?

DD wears virtually only M&S. I can order online and collect near work, I also found they are the one with the most cotton content / 100% cotton which I vastly prefer to polycotton items. She had a set for each day until recently, they get cleaner when they get older.

I buy that the clothes fit, I hate the "growing into" look. Especially in Reception I found that the items didn't last more than a year anyway.

If shirts are mandatory, get short sleeve ones, they are warm enough with short sleeves and cuffs are never able to be kept clean.

I have one logo top (jumper/cardigan) for school events/trips/photos. I actually find the logo, we get ours via M&S less good quality than the M&S normal ones.

M&S trousers needed repairs within weeks. Hems came down and the seam below the fly came undone. Never again.

Shorts last longer then trousers as they don't go through at the knee and they aren't outgrown as quickly, while if on the large side there is no hem at the heel to get ruined.

I have at least 5 sets of polo shirts and trousers. He is that kind of child. Fortunately he rarely wears a jumper.

School have commented how nicely all his stuff is labeled, helpful when they find it strewn around the cloakroom on a daily basis. Small school, luckily they are known to take steps to reunite clothes with children.

Other than that - bucket of Vanish Gold at the ready. One mum I knew had a permanently set up soaking bucket.

My reception child has 2 skirts, 2 pinafores, 2 cardigans and 4 shirts (lots of things seemed to come in packs of 2).

I am thinking of buying an extra cardigan - 2 is not really enough (as it usually takes the brunt of the school dinner!), and they take a while to dry.

I think I could have got away with just 3 skirts/pinafores, and in fact, I didn't need so many shirts either, as they usually stay clean under the cardigan - 2 shirts would have been fine.

3 summer dresses. Hoping that will be the right number.

I have uniform from M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's quality seems to be best for the price, but M&S best quality overall if you don't mind paying a bit extra.

I have found John Lewis quality to be far superior to m&s for cardies and tights

Someone asked above. I have a "grubby" DS age 6. We have much more success/wear from blue polos rather than white which look awful from waer 3. As others have said buy a little at the start and then use second hand sales at school. If they don't do them then you can always suggest. Parents love and money goes to PTA. Win - win. I favour M&S for trousers. Stain. Crease free. No ironing :-)

I always get a week's worth for winter and summer. You will know your dc, for mine a week's worth is 5 of everything. Buy way more socks than you think you need.

For colours, if there is any choice (polos, tights, socks...) buy the not-white ones. Black, grey, blue, all ok. White, no.

School dinners (esp Spag Bol) appear to have a special dye in that always leaves a shadow. Kids spend a lot of time on their socks in the classroom and white socks look like you cleaned the chimney with them.

We sadly have to have white polos but if you have an outside line try and put them out rather than dry inside/tumble - if you put them in the sun -even in winter/overcast - it shifts a lot of stains especially tomato sauce based ones. If they still have stains wet them again and leave them out longer - I saved 3 white badly stained polos by leaving them on the line for a week!
Don't tumble dry them if they are still stained as it 'sets' them and they will never come out.

Oh thank you all so much

I've got 2 school sweaters, pinafore, tie. I just got their gym kit too.

On my shopping list:
1 spare cardigan.
Vests, pants, socks, tights.
Shoes (leave as late as poss)
A mix of shirts and polos.
1 more skirt and 1 pair of trousers.
Name labels.
Warm waterproof.
Black gym shoes.
Bag/lunch box/ etc.
Hair ties in the proper colours.

I definitely like the idea of not having to wash during the week.

My ex-MIL has asked if it's okay for her to buy her schoolbag and lunchbox, which will be lovely. Going to try and sneak past at 3pm and see what type of bags and jackets the kids all have.

Check out what the other girls are wearing, some schools have mostly trousers, some entirely skirts... she will want what the others have. Also get 1 pair of trousers regardless, for PE day, tights can be hard to put on aged 4.

At our local school the girls all seem to start in September wearing the summer dresses which I hadn't bought for DD1 as I assumed she would wear her grey pinafore/dresses. Dd1 complained so I popped out to buy her a dress only to discover that blue gingham dresses in age 5 are like rocking horse s**t in September. I couldn't even get them online, everywhere was out of stock. Now I buy them (a size too big) in June so I'm ready for them starting back after the summer.

Asda trousers stay stain and crease free too

I get 5 sets of everything for each child - so much less pressure when I don't have to do laundry mid week

My boys both needed more than 1 coat each for reception and year 1 - lots of rolling in mud. Really!!! I ended up getting a couple of spare cheap coats.

Repeat about tights.

Buy lots. Between now and August. And buy the next size up as well. They are hens teeth come the cold weather.

John Lewis tights are the best. Bit more pricey but they don't shrink glares at Next & M&S

Don't buy white socks if you can help it. DD wears knee high socks (grey) Sept - Dec, then tights then back to knee high ( this sort of weather) and only wears white ankle socks in the last 6 weeks of term. I buy new white socks every year for 6 weeks wear but she's had the same grey socks for 3 years now.

If she's messy now, then 5 of everything. My DD has only ever needed two of anything but now has a clean shirt every day as she's older.

DS has clean everything everyday still. Filthy bugger. And the whiteboard pen doesn't come out. At all. So buy cheap shirts.

Schools are boiling hot so yes to short sleeves. Also, if she is a hot type of child, teach her to take her cardy off and put it on her peg. Her peg! Not the floor, her chair, the dining hall.....

M& S do a lovely soft jersey pinney. It will sell out in about four weeks..... So get that now, and one the size up. Always have something in the next size up as emergency. And buy one summer dress sized for next summer now as well.

Whatever M&S have currently sold out of, always sells out. Slim fit trousers, the good quality autograph socks, striped summer dresses, slim fit shirts, the cotton dresses, the jersey pinney ....

I like Debenhams uniform too (it's more slim fit)but I'm a 100% cotton lover and M&S, Next and JL are all crap for that. M&S do make it but are always sold out.
I do like the Next zip pleat pinney though as it has pockets. Not sure they made that version this year. M&S pinneys are rubbish. Not enough pleats so they always show their knickers and they are too short for vaguely tall children.

And sewn on name tapes rock. No one else names their uniform so there's a bin full of M&S uniform in our school lost property

I agree with are in labels. Think about opting for a slightly different colour or font to help them spot their coat quickly - we have a grey - bases uniform so I got grey name tables either black block letters - stands out among all the white with blue italics. Also, name games kit on the outside - I do track bottoms along the pocket edge, shorts at the bottom of the leg, football socks on the visible aide of the turn down. Games kit is about the worst culprit for being scooped up by someone else in the changing chaos and as another poster said, people often don't check they have their own at wash time. I would do the u inform proper too if I though I could get away with it! Similarly, write their name on a visible but I'd their trainers - I do it across the heel.

I tie some ribbon in a contrasting colour to the zips of the fleece, coat and backpack. Kids instantly see it. (and so will you and your dc if the £15 fleece is about to walk off again on a different child)

Ooh, that is a good tip tying on a coloured ribbon. Fortunately our school doesn't insist on uniform coloured coats, so I tend to buy bright, patterned ones.

I get trousers from asda and sweatshirt and polo with logo from the uniform shop. They have 2 sets of uniform each, one to wear and one to wash. Works well for us.

Asda, then Sainsbury's after a massive one opened on our doorstep.

We have to buy sweatshirts, cardis, polo shirts, PE polo shirts and book bags from a uniform shop.

2 of everything, although for DD she has 1 pinafore, 1 pair of trousers and 1 skirt from the Matalan product test which she alternates.

pax DD still prefers trousers PE day aged 8!

*on PE day

I would wear trousers on PE day at the grand old age of 42, BathshebaDarkstone. If speed is of the essence, tights are a PITA at any age .

A lot of schools in Scotland insist the children change into indoor shoes. I would check with your school. The £3 plimsoles do not hold up well to that level of daily wear so it's best to invest in a decent pair. Clarks and startrite do good plimsoles for around £14 but unfortunately they are only in f and g fittings so if your child has narrow feet (like my DD) then they will be too wide. DD had the Lelli Kelly black school plimsoles this year and they are great, pricey at £19 but cost wise over the year similar to replacing the cheap £3 ones every 4 weeks when the Velcro stopped sticking / sole fell off / elastic stretched out.

DD is currently in P2 and we have 5 logo poloshirts in light blue (4 would have been fine as some times we get 2 days out of 1). They will be fine again for next year and have held up much better than the supermarket ones we had last year. She has 2 pairs of jersey trousers from Tesco that I bought last month due to growth spurt and had 2 pairs of Aldi ones before that. 3 skirts and 2 pinafore dresses (Tesco, Asda and M&S) The dresses have only been worn a couple of times as she now says they are too babyish (the M&S one is still a bit wide despite now being too short). We also have 1 summer dress - it's rare to have days warm enough to wear one in Scotland so I don't recommend buying loads. Last year we had 2 days in Aug/ Sept warm enough for the summer dress and none so far this year - next week looks promising though- so I would hold off buying them until the summer term. On a good year we might get a full 2 weeks warm enough in June. They dry super fast anyway so 1 or 2 should be fine.

I think the best places to buy from depends on your DC. M&S and BHS everything comes up too wide for my petite DD. Tesco and Next have adjustable waistbands on the jersey trousers but Asda and Sainsburys don't. Aldi stuff is ok but the polos are small made so size up by 2 sizes.

One thing I learnt quickly was not to buy long sleeved blouses as the cuffs ended up disgusting in reception but the shirt itself was still ok. So short sleeved for us. Schools are always hot so dd1 doesn't mind.

Following along. Our DS starts in September but we aren't sure which school it will be (on waiting list) however the one we got (which he'll go to if no luck with the other one) and the one we want have white polos and black or grey trousers on the list.

Got 6 polos for £2 a pair in size 4-5 from BHS closing down (they have nothing for boys on sale but actually loads and loads of girls' skirts, girls' trousers - with sparkly bits so I won't inflict them on DS and probably wouldn't on a girl and summer school dresses in the sale). Also got 10 pairs of black socks on BOGOHP.

The school we want sells their own sweatshirts (but they are the same price as the local uniform shop) or you can wear a plain colour one, they wear their PE trousers on PE day but the PE trousers are different colours for the two schools so can't get them just now. The school uniform shop isn't Trutex (no idea what type it is) and there's no Trutex for miles.

So I really need to know where and when to buy school trousers for a 25th centile on height, not skinny (but not sure if he's "regular" or "chunky") boy.

I would really really love to have cotton, wool mix etc. but I am pretty sure I'm on a hiding to nothing looking for those.

Neither school specifies a coat and his current coat is distinctive and long enough so we'll carry on with that till we can't any more.

Oh and we also will not be washing in the week thanks v much!