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Secondary education

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Original poster

Trendy School Bag

94 replies

amainaledi · 26/08/2011 15:51

I have promised DD a new school bag for when she starts secondary school in a couple of weeks. Can anyone recommend a brand that is perceived to be "cooler" than any other brand? She will have to travel some distance, so I am thinking a backpack might be best, but really don't want to saddle her with something that will embarrass her. I'm told that the kind of bag you have is "hugely important" because the school has a strict uniform policy and so bags are the only means of expressing fashion. Obviously, in the end, she is going to make the decision herself, but I'd like to be able to guide her using the wealth of knowledge from all you who have trod this path before...

OP posts:
quirrelquarrel · 31/08/2011 21:10

Backpacks aren't that bad- Animal or Roxy for Year 7 won't get her much attention. Otherwise Quicksilver or Eastpak. But wear them low i.e. loosen the straps way too much.

Otherwise, Topshop or River Island.

LadyWellian · 31/08/2011 23:45

Oh dear - have just this evening ordereed DD (Y7 next week) a Jansport backpack. Guess we will have to wait and see. It is checked, though, and according to Justine Picardie, checks are the thing this season.

breadandbutterfly · 02/09/2011 17:00

It's not 'no no' to have backpack.

Are you all bl;oody sheep, women?

My DD started school today and loads of lkids (the vast majority) had backpacks.

What a lot of seriously shallow parents there are. You'd expect it from an insecure 11 year old maybe, but haven't the mums had a chance to grow up a bit?

weblette · 03/09/2011 10:29

Plain dark coloured rucksacks are the only thing allowed for Y7s at her new school. The HOY is such a stickler for rules, I'm sure she'll send anyone with the wrong bag home...

Yellowstone · 03/09/2011 10:42

My boys all have fairly randomly selected non-branded backpacks which I replace every so often when they fall apart or get too smelly or mouldy. It hasn't wrecked any beautiful friendships and my boys are generally cool.

TheOriginalNutcracker · 03/09/2011 10:47

Alot of girls have PB bags at dd's school, but they seem to be going out of fashion again.

Any big, ott handbag goes really. I am off to Primark with dd to get hers today. She likes to change her bag often, so it has to be a cheap and cheerful one.

shineypenny · 03/09/2011 11:29

breadandbutter you really do have a lot to learn. What is the point in paying out money on a bag that your child will not use (they will stuff it in their locker/tutor room at school and walk around with the books in their arms) or 'accidentally' lose, when all this can be avoided by a bit of research and getting the right bag in the first place?

I have bought dd a Roxy bag this year, but I spent less than £10 on it, including delivery. ds started Year 7 with a backpack. He used it without complaint, but with the straps down so low that it was hanging by his legs. The bag contained every book he had been given (they choose to do this rather than risk the detention for not having the right book for the right lesson) and was very heavy, so using the bag in this manner was not doing his back any good, so now he has a branded messenger bag which has lasted two years. It also does not hold so much, so he has had to learn to be organised, so win, win :)

It is not about being a shallow parent, it is about ensuring my children are not insecure but happy and it doesn't have to be expensive, so where is the harm in it?

ExitPursuedByATroll · 03/09/2011 12:20

They had a bag check at my DDs school Confused. Hers was borderline so she had to run it past the headmistress. Fortunately she OKd it. We tread a fine line between trendy and acceptable.

I endorse your comments shineypenny. I remember a girl bringing her packed lunch into school in a Dr White's bag and everyone on the table sniggering all the way through lunch, even me, though I had no idea why a Dr White's bag was funny Blush.

I always try and make sure that my DD does nothing to make her stand out and be ridiculed. I am all for individuality, but at 11 they just want to fit in.

breadandbutterfly · 03/09/2011 19:52

shineypenny - not quite sure what you imagine my dd's bag is like? It's gorgeous - she chose it off ebay. It's v stylish (I'd be more than happy to use it), looks solid and like it should cope with carrying her stuff.

Also, I find myself wondering if you have chosen to send your dd to a not-very-academic school, where the only aims are to have the 'right' bag and blend in...? Hence maybe the differing perspectives?

My dd chose a v academic school (her choice, not mine) because she has ambitions beyond looking pretty and where the values and ideas of 'cool' go beyond a particular choice of bag. Given that a substantial proportion of the girls - including my dd's friends - appeared to be carrying the school backpack with crest on (surely the antithesis of 'cool'?), I can't see my dd is going to struggle terribly with her choice.

shineypenny · 03/09/2011 21:51

ha ha, don't worry I will not feed the troll anymore (sorry, looks like I made that mistake once already) Blush

CeliaFate · 04/09/2011 08:00

Bugger. I've bought dd a rucksack to start year 7. Will she be a social pariah?

CeliaFate · 04/09/2011 08:23

Just read breadandbutterfly's last post. Grin

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 04/09/2011 16:01

breadandbutterfly - get over yourself.

Did those nasty girls laugh at your bag when you were an ickle girl and you never got over it, perchance?

MrsRobertDuvall · 04/09/2011 16:45

"not very academic" school. Shock
you are so up yourself.

Yellowstone · 04/09/2011 22:55

Well I like the lemming message.

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 05/09/2011 11:07

Yellow - Bread probably has a valid point about not being led by fashion.

However she completely lost all credibility by saying sensitivity to fashion is somehow related to how "academic" the school is and basically if a teenager wants to follow fashion it means they are empty headed and a bit thick.

That made me laugh as the school locally which seems to be most obsessed with having the "right" bag is the highly academic girls private with A level results in the top 10 nationally. They also have the shortest skirts!

So Bread - you are completely deluded and up yourself I'm afraid.

ExitPursuedByATroll · 05/09/2011 11:40

Thanks for that Carrots. My DD is at the local private school which, whilst OK, is not in the top echelons for results. I was beginning to worry that the obsession with bags and turning skirts over at the waistband to make them shorter meant they would all end up on life's scrapheap.

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 05/09/2011 11:55

That's alright Exit! Smile

The school I refer to is actually a lovely school. DD went to the junior school and the senior school were very keen to have her but decided on local school as it is fantastic and free! Would have been very happy for her to go to the private school if she had not got a place at local school though. The girls are all lovely.

I guess what I am trying to say in my rambly way is that it is natural for teenagers to be obsessed with fashion, it is a necessary phase in the process of becoming adults. It certainly doesn't mean that they are not lovely hardworking young people with bright futures.

sundayrose10 · 05/09/2011 12:18

Oh gosh. I sent my DC with a backpack. A very uncool backpack with the school logo.

How could I have got it so wrong?

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 05/09/2011 12:23

If your DC doesn't care, sunday, then you don't have a problem.

Believe me, if it an issue for them they will let you know! Grin

cafelover · 05/09/2011 13:42

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

LineRunner · 05/09/2011 15:53

My DD favours bags from Republic.

They are the rectangular shoulder-bag type. £25 - £40. Yeah, I know.

bigTillyMint · 05/09/2011 17:23

Gola bags are popular with the boys round here (and girls DD has one!)

stripeybump · 05/09/2011 18:25

I liked to have a 'cool' bag at school.

I still like to have a 'cool' bag.

Just as well I worked hard at school to get a job paying me enough to keep me in Celine and Miu Miu

I suppose, bread, that you have low expectations of your daughter's future earning potential so need to prevent her developing a passion for cool bags. In that case I applaud your sensibility.

Grin
breadandbutterfly · 05/09/2011 19:35

I'm no troll. I have bought my dcs up to disdain brand labels for their own sake, though.

Of course private school girls have posh bags. They have rich parents who like to buy privilege. So buying the brand is part of the ethos.

Another reason I feel v relieved my dd is going to a good state school.

By the way, I'd be v surprised if it was the bright girls who care about the branded bags. Those who have ambitions beyond trendy/pretty are bright enough to know that those who would judge them by their bags are not really friends worth having.

However, for those who value those kinds of friends, like shineypenny, clearly having the right bag is VITAL and MUST NOT BE IGNORED.

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