Boarding school tips (sixth form girl)

[TheOccupier]

DNiece is off to boarding school! Going into Y12. She's been living abroad until now so has never even been to an English school before but has always wanted to do this and is excited.

Am helping DSis pack and prepare but although we have lists (so many lists) from the school we don't really know what we're doing - we didn't go to boarding school ourselves. Can any experienced parents of boarders share any tips please?

Also, I would like to get DN a special gift to mark this new stage of her life - something she can take to school with her that will be useful and nice there and remind her how much her auntie loves her . Does anyone have any ideas? She's going to a mixed school and will be in an all-girls house, I think with her own bedroom.

How about a pillow case with a photo of you all on it - my DD has one with her friends on which she loves … I think her friend got it through an online company….
Or a nice cushion for her bed? She won’t have much room for Knick nacks…

You may find this thread helpful:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/4186572-2021-Boarding-Parents-thread

A good pair of headphones is a good gift for a boarding student. Preferably some noise cancelling ones.

Both my DC were/are weekly boarders. DD now off to Uni in a few weeks, DS about to go back to school in Y10.

They loved it and got a lot out of the experience.

Key things to pack/sort:
Dressing gown /robe
Sliders /slippers
Phone / laptop chargers
Plenty of data on the phone contract for FaceTime home etc
Mattress topper (beds usually a bit lumpy without one)
Own pillow (as above)
Nice bed linen to personalise the space
Photos of family / friends for their notice boards
Battery operated fairy lights
In 6th form DD took her own monitor to hook up to her laptop and found it really useful
Laundry bag (mine were weeklies so home clothes came home for washing)
Towels that aren't the same as everyone else's so easy to identify!

Label everything to avoid confusion. Woven sewn in labels are best. Bring plenty of tights/undies/San pro so as to not run short.
A nice string of pearls or a Pandora bracelet in sterling are good gifts. A good down pillow or duvet is always useful; make sure she has two sets of sheets.

A subscription of some sort
I bought dd a beauty box subscription delivered to school every month which was something she really looked forward to

Thanks so much everyone, I had not seen the other threads so am off for a browse of those. Love the idea of a beauty/subscription box.

Neither DSis nor I can face sewing in nametapes so we've bought Stikins instead - does that sound OK? DNiece is under strict instructions to use mesh bags when she sends her socks/knickers to laundry, so we aren't going to name those.

Stikina are good but I would strongly advise to see in name tapes on high value items like blazers etc.

Stikins are easy to remove...

I would absolutely use good quality sewn in labels.
Stickins can be (fairly easily) peeled off after a few washes.

@ChequerBoard

Stikina are good but I would strongly advise to see in name tapes on high value items like blazers etc.

Stikins are easy to remove...

Sew in name tapes are also very easy to remove! Just a few snips...

Don't be daft, peeling off a sticker takes seconds and needs no equipment. Removing a properly sewn in name tape needs a stitch unpicker, knife or scissors and takes minutes.

There are obvious needle holes where a sewn in tape has been removed, not so with Stickins.

Sewn-on name tapes are and have been compulsory at every boarding school I’ve known, OP. And they go on everything that can be sewn - no exceptions.

You can pay people to do this for you - but you’ve left it a bit late …

Food items always appreciated at school - in my day it was chocolate and nice biscuits...

My "not a godchild" is at boarding school - I send the odd parcel - noodles, sprite and pringles were the request. I send a separate postcard about twice a term (although there has been a request to put them in an envelope to stop other people reading them.... )

With suggestions of stuff to take I would suggest homely stuff for around her bed space - nice cushion/ photos/ maybe some of the LED battery powered lights.

We used to spend a lot of time lounging around in PJs so good quality ones were a nice thing to have.

I would also suggest nice quality towels assuming the school can handle laundering them (we were expected to provide our own but the teenagers school provides for them and can't handle laundering personal towels).

I still have my tuck box and use it as a coffee table (I left school more than 25 yrs ago!) so although it wasn't essential I'm glad I bought one when I went to school.

Both my dc's boarding school specified sew in labels.
Both their duvets and toppers had "1805" written on as well with thick permanent marker!
Battery fairy lights, snugly blanket, cushion, good PJ's and dressing gown, one of those jumper/blanket things.

Hot water bottle??
Some pound coins for charity home clothes days/cake sales.
Plenty of phone data in case of poor WiFi
Good, but not too expensive earphones/pods (named)

As an Aunty, send a parcel to her each term with tuck, or other little gifts. DD's best parcel I sent (according to her) contained 15 small tubes of Pringles . Noodles also stupidly popular.

A nice gift might be a picture frame, or a ring, or earrings, according to school policy. Again, not too expensive. Things will get lost and o missing.

My daughter was in school during a lockdown, and she took in a projector to watch films through!

Boarding can be great fun, and wonderful, close friendships are formed. I hope she settles in well. Good luck!

Neither DSis nor I can face sewing in nametapes

DN can sew her own name tapes, or at least share the task.

DN can sew her own name tapes, or at least share the task.

As long as sons and nephews are sewing in theirs, too! (Not a phenomenon I have ever witnessed.)

@Edmontine

Sewn-on name tapes are and have been compulsory at every boarding school I’ve known, OP. And they go on everything that can be sewn - no exceptions.

You can pay people to do this for you - but you’ve left it a bit late …

Argh I know we have left it late! As mentioned, we don't know what we're doing... as of this weekend we have found a local lady who will sew in nametapes so I've just ordered some from Cash's but I doubt they will come in time - DN is off to school this Friday so we'll use the Stikins and send her with a sewing kit. Do kids usually bring everything home again for half-term/holidays or does it all get washed at school and left there?

Have gone back through all the school information and all it says is "everything must be named" with no mention of sewn in nametapes. Do sixth-form girls at posh boarding schools really rip off nametapes and steal each other's clothes? Should we get a laundry pen and write her initials on labels/inside blazer sleeves too?

Logically - I cannot answer that question because I have no first or second-hand experience of stuck on name-tapes! They’re just not part of boarding school culture.

I recall taking a child for their first day at boarding prep - a House Mistress hovered over everyone’s unpacking, handing out indelible marker pens to parents wherever she spotted an un-named plimsoll or rucksack. And the one or two last minute items of clothing bought and sent during the first couple of weeks () were not allowed to be used by the child until one of the House Assistants had sewn name-tapes into them. (This was a lot of work and a great nuisance for them.)

By senior school level we made fewer errors. I’m sure most sixth form girls behave impeccably ) as regards clothes - but inevitably, where people are living in a group, things get mislaid or mixed up …

Logically - I cannot answer that question because I have no first or second-hand experience of stuck on name-tapes! They’re just not part of boarding school culture.

Said in a Catherine Tate ‘Aga Saga Woman’ voice surely.

Maybe you need to ensure your niece takes some ‘good brie’ for her tuck box OP.

Don't worry OP this is quite ridiculous. Stick on's are just fine. Boarding schools and the parents you find in them can be as varied as chalk and cheese and many parents take the easy route and don't sew labels. You are about to find out that people are people whatever institution they inhabit - there will be a little 'illicit' borrowing but generally things shouldn't wander far.

OP this was an article written a while back about Carole Middleton...

"She did what?! Is she mad?" scoff any number of mothers and fathers sitting near me. It seems that the one item in the list that really gets people's backs up is the name labels (best say "name tape" if you are talking to Tatler). According to the "mother with a daughter in the same house as Kate at Marlborough" whom Tatler writer Celia Denison spoke to: "It was unthinkable that they would end up resorting to marker pen on labels like the rest of us."

@Hoopa

Don't worry OP this is quite ridiculous. Stick on's are just fine. Boarding schools and the parents you find in them can be as varied as chalk and cheese and many parents take the easy route and don't sew labels. You are about to find out that people are people whatever institution they inhabit - there will be a little 'illicit' borrowing but generally things shouldn't wander far.

This. Stick ons are fine! They just don't last very long ime

DS's school had a "sewing lady" in each boarding house !!
They had to leave the garment which needed repairing or naming, with a polite note asking her to do whatever was required!

I think most schools clear out their rooms at the end of each term. Overseas pupils can usually leave stuff at school, but the bedrooms are cleared out.

I would set DN up with a uk bank account, using your address if necessary. Go henry is generally for younger children.

Warning - washing bags can come undone in the wash!!!!

won't she have access to washing machines etc, to get used to self-caring, ready for going to college.
give her some good multi-colured sharpie permanent markers.
can put name on washing label of garment.
also useful for hard items, laptops etc.