School uniform. How much to buy??

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My son starts school in September. I have no idea how much uniform to buy. He's a particularly messy child and I would think his clothes would get dirty every day. Would 8 school jumpers/ 8 tops and 5 trousers be excessive? Or not enough? 🤣

Excessive I think. Why would he need 8 jumpers? How often do you do the washing?

Assuming you do a wash at least once a week, the most he would need is 5 sets. But if you wash more frequently then less will also be fine. After a bit they start having pe and usually wear pe uniform in for a day a week too.

I like to have 5 of everything, I usually end up with 6 because everything comes in packs of two.

It means I can just do a uniform wash and a whites wash at the weekend. Also gives a back up if anything goes missing.

8 seems like a lot.

Thank you all! Will go for 5 then

3 sets is enough - one on the kid, one in the drawer, one in the wash at all times 😆

DS is just finishing Reception. We had 5 t shirts, three lots of tracksuit bottoms and three pairs of shorts and two jumpers. And loads of socks. We didn't really need more than that although I tend to do a wash in the week and make DS wear jumpers for two days if I can.

We have 5 of each dress/ tshirt and 3 cardigans. Both of my children wear fresh clothes every day. If their PE kit comes home, I also wash it and dry it ready for the next day so it's clean. I would always wear new clothes, so will my children.

3 jumpers, 3 polo shirts (1 top is fine a couple of days) , 2 shorts, 4 or 5 trousers (it's the knees that get filthy!

Find out about pe!!

Since covid a lot of schools have them in pe kit all day on days they have pe rather than getting changed.

So my DD has 3 days a week in pe kit and 2 days where she is in school uniform, so she needs more pe kit than normal stuff

DS6 has three of each. I buy one new and the other two from the school office secondhand.

DS12 has one pair of trousers, one jumper, one blazer, one tie and three shirts! But his are a lot more expensive with it being secondary school.

I have 4 of everything. I do a mid week wash if need

My two each had six shirts (came in packs of 2), two “bottoms” (trousers for DS, skirts for DD), two jumpers, two ties. For my two that was plenty. It meant a clean shirt every day and a change of jumper and skirt/trousers mid week.

You’ll need a set a day but if you mostly wash mid week you can go for 4 sets that fit and 2 in the size up to use for emergencies. It won’t be long till they fit anyway 🤣

Ds8 has always come home filthy and needs everything fresh every day . I have 6 trousers , 6 polo tops , 5 jumpers and 1 school fleece .

More than a week is excessive. You can get away with fewer trousers as they can be sponged rather than washed and if washed midweek will dry overnight easily.

3 jumpers, 5 polo shirts, 3 trousers and 2 shorts has been fine for us this year.

DS wears school tracksuit on 2 days of the week that he has PE so that has helped!

If not wearing PE kit on PE days I found 6 of everything worked in reception, 1 for each day and a spare for if they have an accident/ spill there drink down themselves/ get particularly wet at the water table. May have skimped on the jumpers a bit as we need branded ones and they're expensive. Now they're older can usually get at least 2 days out of most things.

3 sets, wash the dirty sets on a Tuesday evening and then again at the weekend. Never had a problem.

I'm a Reception teacher. I would advise 5 sets if you can afford it, then you won't be rushing around too much trying to get everything washed and dried in time. He will definitely need clean clothes every day, as he'll be using paint, sand, playdough, mud, whiteboard pens etc, plus no doubt getting his lunch down him too. Spare pants, trousers and socks in his bookbag are also advisable if you anticipate toilet accidents.

Ask about PE kit in advance. If they go in their kit one or two days a week you'll need less school trousers and some joggers and trainers instead (many schools still use the school jumpers for PE).

My advice would be to buy no more than 3 logo jumpers. They're so expensive and most schools accept plain supermarket brands so, even if you'd prefer a logo, a couple of plain ones will be more than adequate as back up.

Name absolutely everything, even things like shoes if you can. So many will have exactly the same pair! Coat, hats, bookbag, trousers, jumper etc. You name it, name it!!! The iron on stickers you can order online are great for this but a sharpie will also do fine.

Check with school. One year mine had forest school one day, PE two other days and uniform on just 2 days. Ended up having to get extra PE kit!

Near the end of reception and we bought for the following;
PE two days a week

3 jumpers
3 polo tops
3 trousers
2 shorts
2 joggers
1 PE top and hoody

I thought he would be dirty most days but I've been surprised.

We do 6 of everything - one each day plus a spare. School uniform is so cheap, and we have 3 boys so it get used to death. I prefer not having to worry about a midweek wash. They need less as they get older.
Get a fabric pen and name everything - on the item itself rather than the label (which can be cut off...)

I went with 5 of everything but it was all unbranded supermarket stuff.

If your school is anything like ours, they use little personal whiteboards a lot to learn their letters and numbers in reception. What this meant was lots and lots of black marks all over white polo shirts, so if there is an option for a dark coloured polo shirt take it, if not be prepared to replace the shirts regularly or to send them with clean but stained white polos.

Also write names on the collar of the jumpers with a sharpie, they discard jumpers like they mean nothing and it is not uncommon for people to claim those jumpers and chop out the tags with name labels on, so put the name somewhere it can't be cut off.

We have 5 of everything, plus 2x PE kit.

DD (yr2) hardly ever comes home without food, mud, paint, pen, glue etc on her, and if she does manage that than she's left her jumper outside in the rain...

DDs school change for PE, and then change back, and don't seem to do it on set days (even though they say they do) so they all leave their kit in school, and if she does happen to bring it home for any reason between half terms then I switch it for a clean set to send straight back the next day.

Agree with trying to find out if they wear their PE kit to school on PE days. Mine did after COVID so we tended to have:

3 jumpers
3 skirts
5/6 polo shirts, depending on the pack sizes as we wash whites less often.
1 PE kit.

We generally do a dark wash roughly every other day so the skirts/PE kit was washed between uses, although occasionally the PE kit got reused if I hadn't been able to wash it. They don't smell at that age anyway and you can always sponge marks out.

I think 8 items is excessive. Save some money and the environment and buy less - worst case scenario you can always buy more later on if you need it!