Clothes for Reception

[Dizzyhedgehog]

Hi,
We've finally had confirmation of DS's Reception place in the summer. I'm now looking for school uniform. He'll need school polos, jumpers and sports kit from the uniform shop. I will wait for the second hand uniform sale closer to the summer holidays but was wondering, how much stuff do you generally get? I was thinking of having one set per day (polo and jumper).
We've got spare second hand uniform already, so he can take some of that in as well...in case of him getting completely messy or wet or whatever.

I usually only do the washing once a week and then we tend to have several loads.

First time doing this. We'll have to get quite a bit of stuff for him. Luckily, we've got things such as waterproofs, wellies, bags, etc.

Ive two slightly older children and I find it easier to put their uniform on a quick wash as soon as they get it. I used to have a set per day and now i have loads of polo's but only two jumpers and trousers each.

I just pick them up in tesco or even aldi. Great value.

3 sets if you wash uniform midweek.
Set per day if only wash weekend
Check to see if they wear PE kit all day on PE days/Forest school days too... my younger DD only wears uniform twice a week and PE kit three times!

I overbought thinking they’d be in the full uniform every day but actually it’s PE kit Monday, Wednesday and Friday due to ballet, sports and swimming. So that was annoying! But if yours is anything like mine for getting mucky and you only do the laundry weekly you’ll need a fresh set for every day but anticipate at least one is likely to be PE kit.

Thanks. I forgot about PE. Ours have three hours of PE one day a week, so he can go in wearing PE kit then. He won't do swimming until Year 3.

I can't get uniform from the supermarket. It has to be from the uniform shop and has the school logo on it. If I buy the tops and sports kit new, it'll set me back about £300.

I've got 5 sets as they all go in different wash, red jumpers, white tshirts and grey pinafores.
Dd only wears uniform 3 days due to sports, but we still sometimes need the 5 sets, especially as I don't do white wash often.
Plus some get ruined beyond repair so I occasionally bin stuff.
Definitely don't start buying now though if the start date isn't for 6 months, goodness knows what growth spurts will occur before then.

Thanks for that. :) I won't buy anything yet. We do have some old spare stuff from friends in a range of sizes, but the uniform has changed recently so it will be obvious that he's wearing the "vintage" version.
😀
Luckily, ours can all go together - navy or grey polo and navy or grey jumper. Sports kit is also navy.

Have you an embroidery shop nearby? If the colour is navy you can usually buy supermarkets own and have them embroidered in the school logo for £4 or £5 per item. Still ridiculous, but usually cheaper than buying direct from the school.

My two are secondary age now but since reception I've always bought 5 sets of trousers, polos or shirts. Later at secondary 2 blazers and ties and PE shirts and shorts in case they lose those or have PE on consecutive days. Obviously you can wash them midweek but o just like knowing it's all hanging up ready for the whole week.

If you're in the UK and attending a state school I don't think they're allowed to insist on one supplier/school logo kit. In reception things get messy quickly so a set a day or washing mid week is necessary, later on it's easier to reuse stuff.

That's not how it would work with our uniform, unfortunately. We are abroad. There's no uniform available in supermarkets here. Ours is also navy with a grey stitching...or grey with navy stitching. I couldn't even buy them in the UK and have them embroidered there next time we get back.

@UnaOfStormhold No state school. They don't have uniform at all here. It's an independent school.

DS now in Y3 but I've found what works for us is 5 shirts, 2 trousers and 2 jumpers.

I only wash whites once a week so having shirts for every day is ideal especially in summer.
Switching between 2 trousers/jumpers the rest of the week is enough between washes - same in summer when we switch to shorts - 2 pairs again.

[quote Dizzyhedgehog]**@UnaOfStormhold No state school. They don't have uniform at all here. It's an independent school.[/quote]
If its a prep, just get bare minimum of clothes and you can get extra's from their PTA, most preps do sales of clothes by parents, something you'll need to do yourself as your child grows.

At ours, I personally thought some of the used clothes were overpriced, but compared to the school uniform shop, you'll save ££££'s. The PTA can be contacted through the school.

Also as @UnaOfStormhold said, the clothes will be in a complete state, you will have to do loads of washing or buy loads of clothes.

@namethattunein1
Our second hand sale is just before the summer holidays, so I'll have a look then. The company providing the uniform will come in before that, so I'll have a look there, too.
We tend to pass bits of uniform around amongst parents anyway. Ds is quite tall, so most of the clothes sizes meant for "Reception" won't fit him. Some of the jumpers I had been given have already been passed on to a friend's daughter.

I agree with getting what you need when you need it if you can - especially, find out if the 2nd hand shop is available regularly through term or only occasionally.

I thought we'd need at least 2 pairs of trousers a week for DS but in fact he did the whole of prep wearing a pair for the week though I did generally have two pairs on rotation. Tops I think we generally changed every 2-3 days. One jumper (and when older one blazer) at a time was plenty!

The second hand sale only appears to be happening once a year, so I might just have to get different sizes. 😀
Luckily, trousers won't be a problem. He can wear his normal trousers and I tend to go for heavy duty workmen ones. The way he rolls around on the ground while playing, they need to be quite hard-wearing. They just need to be in school colours.

Ideally make friends with a mum who has a girl in your son’s class but an older boy further up the school - I’ve done this with my DD and I get first dibs on her classmate’s big sister’s stuff!

@RandomQuest LOL, thanks. A friend of mine has two boys higher up the school and a girl starting in DS's year. We get lots of stuff from her anyway. Uniform is mostly unisex, though. (With the exception of the dresses.)
My other friends all have little girls starting that year.