As the golden hues of summer begin to fade, the buzz of anticipation for the new school year grows louder. The return to school after a six week break marks a fresh start; a new class, new teachers and a time to embrace new challenges and opportunities. It’s a period filled with the promise of new knowledge, friendships, and experiences. And a hectic mad rush to get the kids prepared for going back to school.
Parents, carers and students from every corner of the UK will be watering down the carefree days of summer and turning their attentions to back to school preparations.
Students will have to transition from those lazy carefree summer days into a structured school routine again, which can be a mix of excitement and nervousness. They will have the thrill of reuniting with classmates they haven’t seen all summer, the curiosity of meeting new teachers, and the eagerness to engage in extracurricular activities. The new school year will bring back those early mornings, homework, and the responsibility that comes with education.
While parents and carers will be looking forward to the new school year starting and counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until that back to school day arrives, it can be a challenging, stressful and expensive period. There are new uniforms to buy, pens, pencils, books and the rest of the school paraphernalia that students need to fill 6 hours a day of routine and learning. But it can also be exciting times. Refreshing tired uniforms and school equipment, preparing for the exciting new challenges ahead. The challenge isn’t getting all the uniform and equipment, especially when moving up to high school, but trying to get it all within budget, especially with the cost of living crisis, and getting good quality items that will last.
And it doesn’t stop with splashing the cash on new things. Crucially parents and carers will need to set the tone for a productive year ahead; encouraging a positive attitude towards learning, and fostering an environment where children can thrive academically and socially. The end of the school holidays can be very stressful indeed.
And what about those educators? The teachers that have been forgotten about that are now frantically trying to get their classrooms in order, making them welcome places to be in and learn in. They will be working away in the background, sorting out those hallowed halls of learning, developing strategies to engage and inspire their students, photocopying and laminating etc. Getting ready to welcome a whole new body of students into their teaching spaces. It is also a stressful time for them, believe it or not, they don’t actually get 6 weeks off. Their passion and dedication are the cornerstones of a successful school year.
But before those school gates open, there is work to be done to ensure a smooth transition from the carefree days of summer to the structured schedule of school days. Routines need to start being put back in place, thing such as consistent bedtimes. Uniform and stationery to be bought. School policies to be checked (especially around uniforms). Emotionally preparing the kids for going back to school – especially if going to a new school and so much more. So, start to bid farewell to the summer and prepare to step into the classrooms once more. And do so with enthusiasm and an open mind.
Back to School Checklist
Let’s start with school uniform and clothing. School uniform can be very expensive to purchase. Before buying anything, take a look at your schools uniform policy. This can be found on their website and should give you a comprehensive list of what is required and if anything needs to be branded items.
Once you know what items you need, decide what bits are needed from the school uniform shop (branded tie, blazer, jumper etc.). Unbranded items can be purchased from local supermarkets, which can save you a small fortune. For those required branded items (school jumper for example), before rushing out to the school uniform shop, if branded items are required, check if your school sell sew on patches as this will save a fortune over buying branded jumpers etc.
If you want to save a bit of cash, have a look and see if there is a school uniform exchange in your area. Sometimes the local council have a scheme. There might be a charity offering the service. Some schools have donated uniform that you can make use of. If you have unneeded old school uniform that is still in good condition, considering donating it so that others can still make use of it.
And when purchasing any school clothing, if you can buy easy-iron items I would recommend it, it saves a lot of time at the weekends by not having to iron so much (or in some cases not having to iron pieces at all).
School Uniform / PE Kit
With all that new school uniform sourced, purchased and making sure that it all fits, don’t forget to label it all. Kids misplace pieces of their uniform all the time, it seems to be an ingrained skill they are born with. If, and when, they misplace an item, the time invested in labelling it all means that there is a good chance you will actually get it back. If you forego this simple task (albeit a time consuming one) and they misplace a piece, the likelihood is that you will never see it again as no one would know who it belongs to, disappearing into the school lost property box or accidentally picked up by someone else. No labels could cost you a small fortune replacing bits (especially if your school insist on very expensive branded items). While labelling might be a time consuming and boring task, it is worth the effort. There are a number of ways to do it: you can write names in with a pen, use name stampers or even have printed name labels that either stick or iron on.
Now that you have purchased all your school uniform and the PE kit, labelled it all and are having a well-deserved break, you can’t rest on your laurels. There is still more to do. Stationery and accessories still need to be purchased.
Accessories
I’ve said it before but I am going to say it again, label anything that needs labelling (bookbag, backpack etc.).
And if you child is starting high school, the fun and expense doesn’t stop there. High school brings an increase in the amount of homework and projects to be completed and they will be more in-depth. With that in mind, you might want to look at getting some tech items to help them along their academic journey.
Technology
If you do invest in a laptop, tablet, desktop computer or even a new smartphone, have a read of my Internet Safety – Staying Safe Online feature.
While the above items are not an exhaustive list of everything that you and your children might need for their back to school prep (and there will even be things there that you probably don’t even need), I hope this small guide helps you in some small way of getting all the items that your child needs before the new academic year starts.
If your school does not require all items of clothing to be branded, make sure to check supermarket deals, they do offer uniforms at very good prices, and at a very good quality. If your school offers the option of sew- or iron-on badges, then I recommend getting these as they can save a small fortune over buying proper branded items.
Going back to school is never cheap, even if you don’t have much to buy. Make sure that you do invest a bit of time and label all items you have purchased. Uniforms and all the back to school accessories can be quite expensive, so you really do want to minimise having to replace items as much as possible (fingers crossed, hopefully none of it) – kids have a habit of putting things down and forgetting where they put it! While labelling it all will not guarantee it won’t be lost, if it is, you have a much better chance of getting it back.
With all that rushing around and purchasing all the new gear required, making sure that it all fits and meets any school policies, finished off by labelling it all, it is finally time to relax and await the big day and those first day at school photos. Well, not quite. Don’t forget the HAIRCUTS! After all, those shiny new uniforms and accessories deserve a nice and tidy smart haircut for that all-important first day back at school photo. Do check the school website for acceptable / not acceptable styles and cuts otherwise that first day back might not go as well as you hoped (yes, some schools have policies regarding hairstyles).
And there is one last thing to do before you can finally earn that long earned break (no, you can’t have six weeks off to recover from the kids). If your children are travelling to school by themselves, don’t forget to purchase any travel passes: school bus passes, public bus passes or train passes (some train companies like Northern have Educational Season Passes – you can save quite a bit of money over regular fares and they can even be used in school holidays).
With a couple of weeks left until schools return and you can take a deep back to school breath, if you plan ahead and make a list of everything needed to buy and do (you can download a simple checklist of the items in this article here), you can reduce the stress and make your life just that little bit easier, and hopefully not forget anything.
Good luck with your back to school preparations, I hope that the first day back / first day at a new school goes really well.
If I have missed anything essential off, please do leave a comment below.