Back to school has happened. 3 schools, 4 different uniforms, a school run that takes 45 minutes minimum twice a day, a sixth former for the first time and an awful lot of school uniform.
I always leave it late, always. This year I managed to leave it to the last 2 days, which was particularly foolish and made it far harder than it needed to be. And my goodness it is hard. Not only do I resent it but I’m plagued by children who dare to be thin/slim and so much of clothing is cut for girls with tummies these days. And then there are the quirks of the different schools: canvas shoes acceptable at one and not the other, skinny trousers okay at one (with a fingers width of space at the ankle) or only woven and straight at another. And it can’t only be me that finds that EVERYONE ELSE has also been shopping for their 13 year old. This year we managed to snaffle the last fitted girls blouses with tie button collars in England in a size 15 for Maddy I think – Fran needed age 12! Luckily for us Sainsburys (who kindly sponsored some of their uniform) do a pretty good range of trousers, shirts and skirts so if you can navigate the inevitable traumas of size, style and availability, you can get nearly everything you need there. They do sizes big enough to cover the bigger girls but really excel at the junior end with cardigans and jumpers and shoes too. We’ve had shirts from them for the girls the last few years and they’ve always been great, well made, easy to wash and a nice fit for not tucking in but not getting yelled at.
They also fell on the delivery of stationery that arrived.
As a sixth former, Fran has entered the realm of files and loose leaf paper so was delighted with these for ‘home’ files while the younger girls who had bravely not indulged in new pencil cases, upgraded with glee. There really is nothing nicer than a pencil case for the start of term…
As for the notepads, totally divine and I didn’t manage to keep hold of a single one of them. I’ve got a desperate love of notepads – I’m going to have to go and buy my own though I think!
And so, here we go again for another year. I have very mixed feelings about it; they all seem happy, though Josie wobbled the night before as usual and they all seem happy in their particular schools. I’m just… disappointed it turned out this way. But as a family we are heading into a period of change anyway I think, so it is probably for the best. Watch this space.
Disclosure: Sainsburys provided us with stationery and a voucher to purchase uniform.
Sounds like a military operation each morning!
Are there no school buses to make it easier for you?
Sadly not. They chose to be outside of catchment so no bus pass and actually no direct bus either.
That stationery is lovely!