What to budget for - state secondary

[tippytappywriter]

Dd starts secondary in Sept. I know each school will vary but what will I need to buy? Obviously uniform and PE kit. What else?
Also do most have dinner money rather than a packed lunch? And how much do you budget each week for that?
Just dawned on me how expensive the move may be!

school shoes, trainers, football boots, shinpads

school bag - trendy one, then a backpack when they realise its not about fashion. Or vice versa!

Casio calculator, geometry set, pencil case, various pens, pencils, crayons, felt-tips, pritt stick

Bus pass/train tickets

Lunches - about £2.50/day or a packed lunch

School fund - varies widely, depends on school

Trips, varies from days out to foreign trips!

On the upside, they may not wear winter coats!

I think chippy gas included everything!

Blazers vary between £25-50, depending on school

Shoes - I budget £100 per child ( approx. £30 each for school shoes, football boots and indoor trainers) some schools also have separate rugby boots

School uniform - some schools have everything logo-d, others just the pe kit and blazer

Stationery etc - shops always have offers during the summer, and buy spares when the supermarkets reduce them a few weeks after term starts

Lunches - I provide pack lunch. Use an ordernary 'Tupperware' box, not a pretty pack lunch box (uncool!)

Bags - start looking at senior school ,ids now to see what the kids are using. I've messenger bags or rucksack, brand - super dry, Nike, hype etc

£300-£350 for new uniform and bits.
£500 for our bus pass.
Queuing for lunch is a pain so I hazard a guess that most at most schools are packed lunch, but you should ask at yours.

At my children's secondary school the PE/games kit alone costs about £200 and the uniform easily another £150.
They need school shoes, trainers for PE plus hockey/rugby boots.

Eldest is taking packed lunches. Middle one spends £10-£15 a week on buying lunches at school.

Thankfully the boys can walk to school but DD's bus fare will be £300 a year.

School trips: extremely variable. Most are optional, especially the expensive ones.

Fancy phone

Do check if the school has a preferred calculator.

Ours has 2(?) preferred Casio scientific calculators, as (they say) it's easier to teach if everyone has the same keypad layout. I don't know what they do if parents are unwilling/unable to provide the right sort.

PE kit is the most expensive bit of the uniform for us. Get name tapes!

Check early on if they have an early residential (bonding) trip, and what it might cost.

Try to hold off buying new bag/shoes until they've been there for a couple of weeks and have got their eye in. Because, if what you send them with is All Wrong but clearly a well worn item from primary ('We ran out of time for shopping'), it matters much less than if you've newly bought the wrong thing. (BTW, you'd have to be quite unlucky in your DC's cohort for this to matter at all, but it is something that causes worry even though it hardly ever happens when everyine is new).

Buy lots of shirts - sweaty teens need clean one every day.

YY to stationery on special offer in the summer, including the calculators.

Stickyback plastic for covering exercise books. Sellotape.

Some kind of box or filing system to organise books and homework.

Essential - a computer with internet access, MS Office and a reliable colour printer, preferably one that your local supermarket stocks ink cartridges for, for those Sunday night emergencies!

A budget for crafting materials to conjure up the 1066 re-enactment weapon, the model medieval castle, and tech projects; and a budget for food tech.

Front door key.

TeenandTween - I'd say cheap PAYG phone!

USB stick

Lynx/body spray by the gallon

Laundry marker - they grow so fast you won't be bothered sewing on name tapes after the first batch of uniform.

Headphones (don't last long when shoved in bags and pockets)

I agree, cheap PAYG to start with, more expensive PAYG later!

I have priced up our DS's new uniform, and if I can avoid buying new shirts (bought at Christmas) and new trousers (bought Feb) then it will be about £250 excluding shoes/trainers.

Our blazer will be £80

School dinners compulsory for us, not sure of price but currently paying £2.05 at primary and I recall thinking it was a little more, but not much higher.

Our school has compulsory school backpack £35 and sports bag £30

At the opposite end of the scale, I kitted DS out for a change from one secondary to another for £75, as he already had the bag, shoes, black trousers etc and just needed sweatshirts and the right colour polos.

It helped that we were given secondhand PE kit (though it took two years for him to (a) realise and (b) bother to tell me that his rugby shirt was the old-style one, changed the previous year!).

DD starts in September too.

DS1 is currently in Yr8, so I think her start up costs will not be too dissimilar from his.

Scientific calculator, pencil case blue & black pens, maths set (and spare), felt tips, pencils, colouring pencils, glue stick.

School bag.

PE kit bag.

Bus ticket - £40 a month!!!!

Money to keep their online account at school topped up - usually £20 a fortnight for snacks/extra drinks/breakfast or lunches - he only has school lunches twice a week, and we will restrict DD to that too. The rest of the week will be pack lunches.

Cash in case of emergency - I always make sure he has a couple of pounds in change, and there is an emergency £10 in his blazer lining for proper disasters.

Mobile phone

USB stick

Depending on your set up at home - access to a PC/laptop and printer and budget for the ink used. I've been surprised how much the computer and printer have been used for homework!

dd's school ask for a £35 donation at the start of the first term - they get a stationery kit - including calculator, mathsy stuff & art materials - & a locker key for that. They all use the same calculator; the stationery shop is open 2 lunchtimes a week which is great for replacing lost protractors etc.

Lots & lots of pairs of black opaque tights (girls!).

Uniform including shoes & boots was about £350 but dd is now in year 9 & apart from boots/trainers/shin pads I haven't replaced any of her PE stuff.

lunches - £2.20/day - I generally bung £30 on her school account every half term, she can use that when she can't be arsed to make a packed lunch.

headphones - lots of pairs.

usb sticks

an extra tie if they have to wear them

school trips - they had 2-3 compulsory in year 7 & dd has had one extra each year. Apart from skiing (which was a no from us) they were all reasonable £40-100. Helps if they have a valid passport.

bags - dd gets through 2 a year ... always backpacks though. This is a sensitive a school specific ishoo ... at dd's it is the girls who carry oversized handbags that get stick.

The calculators aren't that expensive and are often 1/2 price in the Sainsbury's stationary sale. Buy some click lock type plastic boxes for food tech ingredients, they're good for liquids.
We have a cashless system for lunches, but at least my DC eat them (new caterer).

Oh wow! Thanks. Many items I hadn't thought of.

Don't buy everything from the kit list - check with parents who already have children at the school (if possible) as to what items are actually used.
DD1's school recommend a calculator and sell them at cost.
Also check whether there's a second hand uniform sale - useful for a spare jumper etc.

I agree with lots of opaque tights !

If they play sport they may need a mouth guard. Our school had someone to come in and do proper ones for £15 at the beginning of the school year or you can buy them for about £5 in sports shops.

Agree that you shouldn't buy everything listed. With PE kit, wait until they are told what sport they're doing that half term and get the basics.

With ds1 I bought everything on the list including hockey shin pads which never ever saw the light of day, a gum shield which he never used and an optional fleece to keep him warm which apparently only the girls ever wore.

When it's cookery term you'll need multiple tupperware containers to take a teaspoon of baking powder, 200g sugar , plus multiple obscure ingredients that you don't have and will need to source at 9pm the night before.

And whoever said a spare tie - oh very yes.

My DD had to have an ISBN number Geography atlas and Spanish dictionary.

Buy at least two pairs of school football socks, because you can guarantee at least one sock will languish on teen's floor, and they wil need it for pe the next day ( along with the obscure food tech ingredients as needed above), and only will tell you as they go to bed/ get up in the morning.

( as an aside, get your teen into the habit of getting their bag ready the night before - it saves a lot of stress and hassle the next morning)

Beware! We found the worst things were sudden expenses once they had started. Within the first term we had to pay for:

School trip x 2. £35 and £25
Maths revision book and calculator. £11
Art set £5
Tech money £3
Science book £6
French dictionary £3
Locker £5
School disco £5
Photo £11 was cheapest
Clubs (textiles and baking). £6

Some of these we could have said no, but we wanted our DD to have opportunities and settle in. When you add this cost to a further£140 incidental costs for our year 11 DS it's a massive amount on top of everything else. Next time we will budget these cost in far in advance.

DS's school had a uniform and pe kit check the first week, and everyone was required to have all the items on the list. And to give them their due everything has been used, including mouth guards & shin pads. But not having stuff would have been a real problem. DS is sporty and needs several pe shirts, shorts as I can't face washing it all every night. And yes yes to laundry pens, my old mothercare ones are still going strong.

Music lessons?
Some after school clubs (if they involve outside tutors) have a charge
Scientific calculator (not just an ordinary one)
Geometry stuff
Our school has a cashless card catering system - a 'meal deal' is £1-80, but they can also use the card to buy pizza at break, bacon sandwiches at 8.15 on arrival, drinks , stuff from the vending machine, so many parents use the capped daily amount facility.
Spare tie
Cost of Food tech ingredients