Which size bag for secondary?

[Justonemorebubbles]

Have Heard so many speak about Jansport and Eastpak. Which bag is a good size for secondary?
Eastpak has so many options. Is the day park big enough for laptop and books? Or better to go for Ja sport cool student? Which one do most kids go for?

thank you!

Go big! Some days they’ll have a PE kit & food tech ingredients and maybe a packed lunch!

@TokyoSushithank you! think they need a separate bag for pe. Don’t want to go to big and looks silly and be targeted. Which size Eastpak or jansport do most kids go for? Tooo many options on the website

Yes separate bag for PE, but at our school at least it definitely needs to go in the main bag! We have Nike/Berghaus rucksacks around here so can’t help with sizing!

We have PE kit in a JD Sports bag, that then goes in your main bag!

Year 7s are generally 87% backpack in the first half term. Don't go Ninja Turtle size, as all it takes are three boisterous year 11s in a hurry for the lunch queue and they're on their backs with their legs in the air as they get picked up by the 6th form girls.

In our parts Satch bags are very popular. They are not cheap but will last for the whole of high school and are big, designed for everything. Our DDs is made of recycled bottles. And they do ship to the UK (it’s where we bought ours).

https://www.satch.com/de/alle-schulrucksaecke?kb=gasb9763200713162883165347&utmsource=google&utmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=searchbrand&utmcontent=&utmterm=&gadsource=1&gadcampaignid=9763200713&gbraid=0AAAAADJTAXf0P9ocVFeCKL32NeuVg9yNv&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnovFBhDnARIsAO4V7mDaiSETmp88qgyYTgV0cZi6WxC9KgtwqXNYCQz98SFDGOpdjuJZFhQaAhZCEALwwcB

@NeverDropYourMooncupthis is exactly my fear! Don’t want to go to big and this happens! All such a mind boggle!

thanks all! My search continues! Wish there was a shop nearby to look a the items and not just online!

My DDs have got a Kanken and a Hershel supply one and their sizes fit A4 but not much bigger than that.
dd1 school have all sorts but dd2 comp most kids have a plain Nike black bag

I am afraid in my son's school only Nike.🙄

My DCs have found the Eastpak padded pak'r (medium, 24l) absolutely fine for Y7-11. Things like PE kit, food tech ingredients etc. were usually taken in a separate cloth bag shoved into the top of the backpack.

We went for the Eastpak out of office for both mine - they have been excellent and glad we went for it rather than something smaller. PE kit bag squeezed into bag when possible also here - the shoes alone are v bulky (eldest a size 10). Did look huge on DS2 (shorter than his brother) in yr 7 though.

A thick plastic carrier bag for ingredients, one for lunch & drinks and one for books is a much better idea - we regularly have kids whose stuff is soaked through due to something leaking, whether due to splits, not sealing something properly or because the container isn't completely airtight.

Dd had a regular size backpack in Y7 and y8 and that was fine - on food tech days she’d take an extra plastic bag with the stuff in. PE kit in separate tote bag.

Many girls switched to shoulder bags quite quickly but my dd has stuck with backpack as she has a 40 min walk to and from school and wants hands free so she can use her phone as she walks!

So she for y9 and y10 she has a deeply uncool huge backpack so she can stuff her puffer coat in it (very important to get a coat that will squish into your bag) along with her folders and text books and all her art supplies, water bottle etc. This was her choice and she scorns the girls laden down with stuff while she speeds home easily!

So I’d say start with something inexpensive and average size and expect dd might want to replace it at Christmas for something stupid and trendy, or possibly even upgrade to something even more sensible depending on the crowd she runs with.

We have the jansport big student which is huge and also has lots of extra pockets to help keep DCs organised.

All schools around here have biggish hold alls for PE kit, they don’t in any backpack!
Backpacks are medium a4 size, black, around 20l

My son got Jansport Main Campus when he started in yr7 last year and loves if

Thank you all! All super helpful! Ds likes the look of the eastpak bags so has helped narrow it down to Parker and out of office.

We've gone Out of Office and it's heavily discounted on Amazon currently so that's a bonus. It looks good and I think the laptop compartment will be handy for keeping homework safe from packed lunches etc.

So far we've navigated ten years of secondary school with backpacks and cloth bags. Our DC put things in plastic bags inside the cloth bags but find the long handles of the cloth bags make it easier to carry the extra items if they decide they don't want them in their backpack.