12.5kg school backpack no lockers

[PalmLady]

My son's Y7 back pack with only the absolute necessary items weighs 12.5kg. There are no lockers for them to use. This seems excessive to me? My son only weighs 35kg himself.

i’m intrigued that “absolutely necessary” weighs that given so much on ipad now

not so for your son?

Similar here

I don’t think a locker would help though. They don’t carry their bags continuously all day. They carry them to/from school (locker wouldn’t help) and between lessons which is 5 min at a time. The main weight is the laptop which wouldn’t get left in a locker anyway.

I agree it’s not ideal that they are carrying a heavy weight a lot but can’t really see a solution other than going back to pen and paper (and even so, I remember having very heavy files and textbooks).

Best thing you can do is persuade your child to carry his bag on 2 shoulders not 1, even if 1 shoulder is “cool”. A wonky spine is not cool.

That was the weight of my bag when i backpacked round south America for 6 Months. Surely not possible?

What does he have in it? I get PE and cooking days means extra bags to carry but that's obviously not every day.

Does the school say everything in it is really necessary or your son?

I ask because mine have a habit of carrying everything with them even if they don't need it for the day.

They dont use their own devices in school in years 7-11. They use books and folders.

But they only need to carry what's required for the subjects they have each day but choose to carry every thing they need for the week.

Pe/games kit is in a separate bag on the days they have that.

Some children use bags on wheels. Is that an option if he really needs everything?

12 and a half kilos???

What has he got in there? A dumbbell??

The bags they are expected to carry are horrendously heavy! So much so, that that I think is the sole reason some parents drive their children to secondary. It is an unreasonable weight to carry. I have a little dream where I have a teacher put on an empty backpack and then fill it one by one with all the essentials and then see what they think! Mine is Year 8 now and 100% the posture has been negatively impacted.

If they have to carry a laptop around that is a lead weight before you put anything else in (and the bag has to be more substantial in order to carry a laptop). Bloody tech!

He only needs that day's books. A planner, pencil case. Shouldn't need text books.

Pe days and Food tech maybe a bit different but there's no way one day's equipment should be 12kg.

What is he taking EVERY DAY that weighs so much?

Ok, let's assume 3 kg for a laptop..
Where do the other 9.5 KGs come from??

Is the boy carrying all his text books around the whole week, instead of swapping in/out as needed for each day?

What could possibly be in there that he needs every day? I take less than that on holiday!

My daughter’s bag is similar. Interesting how many people are assuming that all schools are the same and that pupils don’t take laptops or textbooks! Many, many do.

What's is she putting in there every day that weighs so much?

Hmmm this might be the difference between a good school, using tech, enough text books to hand out so students would take them home, good sports and music provision so extra equipment is needed etc and one requiring improvement.

By the time I left teaching unless it was PE or Food tech most of my students came with their pencil case (ok, a pen and pencil if we were lucky) in their blazer pocket, perhaps their planner if they hadn't lost it and that was all other than their phone. The idea that they might need more than that didn't quite hit home with a lot of parents who thought we should provide it.

Perhaps backpack weight should be included on the league tables.

My DDs bags always seem insanely heavy, no idea why!

The essentials
At least 5 A4 exercise books (some subjects have 2)
Diary
Lunch
Water bottle
2 x pencil cases (one needed every lesson, then the other full of the extras sometimes needed)
Calculator
Umbrella

DD1 needs PE kit 4 days a week, DD2 2 days a week (separate bag). DD2 needs her food bag 2 days a week (plus her rugby bag on one of the PE days).

Is he carrying a large water bottle full of water? Water is very heavy.

Pretty sure that's about what my DoE bag weighed with my share of a tent and the cooking equipment, what on earth is he carrying?! If it's really that much weight, that's untenable.

Absolutely insane but totally believable, particularly in a “good school” with a “broad and balanced curriculum” that involves plenty of exposure to new subjects but not making the Y7s sit in too many double or triple periods per day.

No idea what the solution is as they often need the text books in class as well as at home and multiple folders result in lost notes.

He has his journal, school writing books for each subject, apron, pe kit with trainers, pencil case, 200ml water bottle and food tech ingredients.
It's probably the food tech and pe kit bumping it up more today but it seems so heavy every day.

There's literally nothing today that we could have left out.

He has food tech and PE every single day?

come on op!

Get a timetable and ensure he packs for his lessons

pe kit, trainers, food ingredients etc will add hugely to that 12.5kg 😆

I checked the weight with my luggage scale because it felt so heavy. I'll check it again when he doesn't have a pe day.

@speedmop read OPa update again, she recognises that it is particularly heavy due to PE and Food tech.

Take out the pe kit and food tech ingredients that presumably he doesn't need every day and it doesn't sound so bad.

He has pe twice a week and after school football on one of the days without so he needs the kit 3 times a week. Food tech is every Monday and on days without food tech and pe there's even more books to go in. It's heavy. I remember having books in a locker and only carrying a couple at a time.