what might be useful in a year 7's school bag (not the bag itself but contents)

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

any tips from those who have gone before please.

So bit of money (in blazer ideally I suppose) for emergency, bus card, sanitary towels, tissues, plasters (new shoes and long walk), pencil case (calculator, pens, pencils, geometry stuff etc), small notebook (? thought might be useful in first few days? she suggested putting a little post it pad in her pencil case), umbrella and/or packamac, plastic bag for wet umbrella, obviously lunch and water bottle.

anything I am completely forgetting?
thanks

Door key on a stretchy lanyard attached to inside of bag

Little piece of laminated paper with couple of key home phone numbers on it in case they lose phone!

Perhaps put the sanitary towels and a new pair of pants in a little purse inside her backpack, just incase she starts her period without realising. Maybe some little sticky notes so she can mark pages of text books for homework etc. Does she also need to carry her books in this bag?!

Door key on a stretchy lanyard attached to inside of bag

Door key on stretchy lanyard attached to inside pocket of blazer. If s/he is going to leave anything on the bus, it is less likely to be the blazer.

(From one who became very good at describing school bags / PE bags to bus company lost property offices once eldest started secondary school).

2 paracetamol ( dc allowed 2 in pencil case to take if necessary)

Ah marching we had lost blazers more times than a bag. Dc took it off at any opportunity.

Phone and portable charger?
Lipsalve
Emergency snack. DC had a couple of high protein cereal bars that went to school with them every day in case trains got cancelled and they were starving.
And if it's a bag like hundreds of others, add an easily identifiable keyring to the outside to customise it. And an address label with surname, initial, house number and postcode as well as your contact number for emergencies.

A glue stick.

The school ones are crap.

When I started secondary my mum un picked a bit of blazer lining and put £5 note in for emergencies.

A small pack of wet wipes, schools are warm, she might want to wipe her underarms. The body spray girls use over their clothes does nothing to cool them or make them smell better.

Just be aware that they get very heavy. When they have 4-6 subjects a day each requiring a text book and an exercise book and a folder of loose sheets etc those bags weigh a ton already..

Decent pencil case with things like a glue stick.

Other than that less is more. She’s got to carry it all around all day. And it isn’t cool being the year 7 who looks ready for a full weekend away 🤣

One thing we did that DC and their teachers loved, was to buy good quality ziplock bags for each subject and label them. That means every loose sheet of paper, exercise book and text book goes into the same place and is easy to find. Also means you can have separate pencil cases for geog and art (loads of coloured pens and pencils) and maths (geometry set etc.) But DS2 has SEN so we had to help him be super organised. Maybe most children don't need that level of help.
We also laminated a tiny print out of his timetable with homework timetable on the back so he could see it all at a glance.

You could add a mini deodorant and packet of mints and a comb or mini hairbrush (and a mini hand fan) so she can freshen up on hot days or after PE.

You are worried about this already? I would chill out and think about this at the end if august.

Yes we also used the ziplock bags. We bought the fabric ones and had a different colour for each subject so that DS2 who is appallingly disorganised could grab and go when he's running late for school!

Unkind and unnecessary post mrpickles

Keep a spare pen and pencil in a separate pocket in the bag in case of forgotten pencil case.

And rather silly MrPickles. Why wouldn't you sort it now if you have some time to do so?

By the time ds finished year 8 he had his phone, headphones and the occasional book. Less is more.

A decent glue stick. School ones are hit and miss (and are usually empty by the end of the first half term).

Schools around here tend to specify what they must have in their pencil case. Have you not had a list? They definitely do not supply glue sticks etc anymore due to cutbacks!

Decorhate
Many schools do.
Then by y9 you're having to lend our pens to students who have half a makeup case, their phone and their power pack with them but couldn't possibly bring more than 1 half used pen in their blazer pocket.

We have to provide a glue stick and it gets used a lot to stick things into books.

I would agree with the plastic wallet or folder - we have a clear ziplock one with an open pocket on the back of it. Timetable in the open pocket (and a map of the school for the early days when you don't know where anything is, both handed out to pupils on the first day) and the main ziplock part for the numerous handouts - DD has had no textbooks at all in Year 7, just printed off booklets and sheets.

You are worried about this already? I would chill out and think about this at the end if august.

Yes, you don't want to be too organised now do you?

We keep it to a minimum but even then it's full. Pencil case, little bag of period supplies (dd only ), key, phone, purse / wallet, the day's books and pe kit when necessary.

One thing my dd has constantly requested over the years, is a mini bottle of hand gel, as she says there is never any soap in the toilets, despite them repeatedly complaining about it.

I haven't started shopping for my youngest yet, but I know a green pen is one of the items on our list. Post it notes, highlighter pens and glue sticks are popular with my eldest dd. The trouble I've found, is ither children going to school without so much as a pen, and snatching things off my kids to 'borrow' - ie break and/or forget to give back!

** other

As a secondary teacher, do t worry about an umbrella or pacamac- they won’t get used! Calculator which is named. Tissues, water bottle and space for lots of books!