School shirts for reception child

[vivavivaviva]

Looking for any suggestions on the above.

My DD starts reception in September, uniform is long sleeve white shirts, under a cardigan. Obviously every supermarket sell them, but I suppose I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on any easy to dress self shirts. Little lady is not yet 4 and we're going to miss our easy preschool polo shirts!

Bonus points for also easy iron and stay white suggestions!! Thanks!

M&S are easy iron and the collar fastens with Velcro. They're a lot nicer than the others I bought from Tesco!Asda and Next

Whatever you do don’t get buttons shaped like flowers. Impossible to get in a button hole. M&S probably the best.

My eldest didn't learn to button his own shirt until the end of Y1 and was still quite slow. IT wasn't an issue. For PE he just pulled it off like a T-shirt.

I've never bought long sleeved shirts. Are short sleeved ones an option? Saves getting dirty cuffs

We had M&S ones in reception but DD found them impossible to button up. Bought Asda ones which she finds much easier and they’re of comparable quality to M&S and a lot cheaper

I wouldn't buy long sleeve ones - our school's always boiling inside it and cuff buttons are just another thing to faff on with.

I am assuming, that since OP said 'uniform is' that she has no choice about the long sleeved shirts.

why do people on mn do this
OP - I need help with X
posters - Oh no, don't do X, do Y

I very much doubt that they are limited to long sleeved shirts if they then wear a cardigan on top. I also asked if they had the option of short sleeved shirts but OP has not come back to clarify this

as to keeping them white
vanish spray, squirt on the collar and cuffs before washing, use a biological powder for whites (eg ariel) not a colour wash powder, and only wash whites together. 40 degrees not 30.
Ours stay pretty white with that. If you get the odd spot (whiteboard pen), don;t take the shirt out of circulation, after a couple of washed, it will wash out.
Save one shirt from the pack for 'special days' eg photos, so you always have a good one.

Take out and shake and put on a hanger, then rarely needs ironing.

Thanks all, pulling it off like a T-shirt seems a good plan - I'm just worried that my DD won't be able to change for PE.

I'll look at the M&S ones, and the Asda.

And long sleeved is specifically mentioned, and I think I'll stick with that. They can wear a summer dress when it's hot. I suppose until you get to know the lay of the land you don't really know whether you can break the rules or not!!

And thanks to the PP for the laundry tips. I feel totally blindsided by the idea of my eldest going to school and it's all just a bit overwhelming!

If you do discover you can break the rules later, then I recommend these. https://www.next.co.uk/g52494s9#563272 from Next.

I absolutely agree to no flower buttons. They are far more difficult than round ones.

Trutex ones are also good and I much prefer a reception child in a Peter Pan collar rather than a revere collar.

if you know other parents, ask them about the long sleeves.

tip if she finds the cuffs really hard, stitch on a piece of elastic, so it looks closed but as you pull you hand in and out it stretches, saves her having to do cuff buttons.
Need to teach her about holding her cuff as she puts her cardy on.

Have a look on the school website - are the kids on there actually wearing long sleeved shirts? No one can tell when they've got a jumper or cardigan on over the top anyway! (To be honest it's the sort of query if you email the school office with they'll gladly help you out - I've just had to email the school one of mine is transferring to to check if they're keeping logos optional before I start uniform shopping as the new parents updated guide isn't out yet). Or if you ask on your local FB group someone will know.

Flower or heart shaped buttons are a bloody pain in the arse - as the parent of a child with dyspraxia! I keep meaning to start whining openly to uniform manufacturers about it. Honestly though - don't fret too much - do buttons a few times to loosen them up for her before she's got to do it herself and they generally seem to do nothing more than changing into PE pumps for PE for the first term or so in reception... I worried massively about it with DD2 who is very very dyspraxic and she's coped pretty well - still comes out like she's had a brawl in the uniform aisle of Asda on PE days but they all do in Reception on PE day! Asda do some sweatshirt-type fabric cardigans that are online-only but have much bigger buttons than the tiny ones on lots of uniform cardigans that we use as well - but I do spend a lot of August sat unbuttoning new shirts and rebuttoning them in front of the telly to get them working easily for her!

Biggest laundry tips - pinafores prevent a lot of wrecked shirts if you can get them (Asda do lovely jersey ones that are easy to get on and off), and don't sweat the whiteboard pen stains because they ALL have them and you just notice the ones on your own kids' stuff.

Some of the M & S ones have elasticated buttons on the cuff so they're easy to get on and off. They are the best ones I've tried.

All these tips have been so helpful. Thank you all!

m&s. otherwise, it literally takes about 2 minutes per button to put velcro under :)

M&S. they do shirts with a Velcro collar button and there's hidden elastic in the cuff so they don't need to do buttons.

I get a two pack of the Velcro ones for PE days and a three pack of button collar but still with elastic cuffs.

If you call and ask the school office, they'll give you an idea of how strict the school is with uniform, or see if you can find the school facebook page and ask there.

I know our school like official uniform with logo for photos and school trips but are fine with plain supermarket uniform otherwise.

You might find that they don't even get changed for PE for the first term as it takes too long. I know my daughter's plimsolls were hardly used in reception class. They were absolutely spotless when she grew out of them.