First time School Goer questions

mirrorwall14

Hi everyone, could I pick the brains of parents of school kids please? I have a four year old starting this September

Uniform wise I’m trying to figure out what I need
Pants: 5? One for every day or is that overkill?
School jumper: I assume I need more than one. Two?
Shirts: long or short sleeve? 5 again?
School tracksuit: is one set ok?
Tie: one and a spare maybe?

Where do we go for the generics? Everything is created except shirts (white) and trousers (navy) so any advice on where is good for those?

Second main question, lunchbox? Or lunchbag with containers? He will be waiting for the bus until 3 so I want to make sure he has enough to have another snack after school if needs be. I use a lunchbag myself with loads of pots that have the same lids (can’t be handling losing top or bottom) but maybe a dedicated lunchbox with compartments is better?

Any other advice for a first timer?

cobweb

When my smallie started school many years ago. I found I needed 5 long sleeved shirts, 2 uniforms, two tracksuit sets (knees were a thing that kept going), one school jumper and 2 ties which I increased to 3 as i left one in minders just in case.

My little one was a lover of mess and a muck magnet so it was easier since i was working to have a uniform ready to go instead of waiting for one to dry overnight.

The lunchbox/ bag depends on how you think your child will manage. I just went lunchbox and bottle of water.

I have become a minor share holder in the lunchbox industry having bought different types over the years but find Sistema lunchbox cube the best so far . Its in Lidl at the moment and also Woodies. I also have various drinks containers and this year introduced a small flask for warm drinks in winter which went down very well.

As for lunch ideas generally the schools have a healthy eating policy so maybe
a small sandwich/crackers with ham or other protein (no peanut butter or chocolate spread due to allergies)
chopped up fruit especially chop up grapes (choking hazard) or peeled mandarin or chopped strawberries etc depending on what your child eats and a drink. Most kids bring in water to drink in a bpa bottle. I find Aldi or lidl has a good range of bottles which I have picked up over the years in different themes Harry Potter Star wars Aliens Sloths (minor shareholder in them too lol)

Some kids bring in pasta or rice with a spoon. Yogurts awkward for junior infants as they rarely finish them and can mess up bag. Some kids like the cheese dips with breadsticks All plastics or wraps on food generally go in lunchbox/bag to be brought home due to green policy in school.

Ive a fussy eater so generally its a slice of ham maybe half a croissant and chopped apple. Sometimes the cracker might be toast with butter or flavoured crackers (seems to like garlic).

Ham alternates with chicken or turkey or a meat free day with chopped carrot sticks peppers etc

All depends on what you can get little one to eat.

Try to encourage child not to swap food in school as other kids might have allergies (this goes on a lot) and also lets you know what is coming home regularly in lunch box so likes and dislikes and whats easy to eat as little ones might not finish lunch due to chatting.

My kid is still coming home occasionally with uneaten lunches as chatting too much forgets to eat 2nd class.

Also if lunch is coming home regularly drop a note to the teacher if you are worried as it could be due to child chatting and forgetting to take out lunch or some other reason and good for teacher to know so they can watch and see if there is an issue. Some kids might not like their lunch and not eat it or tell parents they dont like it but will tell teacher. My own at one stage wouldnt eat lunch as another child kept commenting on the other lunches and even though they had same lunch my little one felt they were different

Hope this helps

BrookieD

Morning
so OP here is the way we did it.

Uniform wise I’m trying to figure out what I need
Pants: 5? One for every day - yes indeed
School jumper: Two Jumpers
Shirts: long or short sleeve? not 5 may 3, One in wash, One On, One ready to wear
School tracksuit: Need to purchase, check with School, Also see if you can source one from last year as some get donated back, YOu can cut the legs down to make shorts in warm weather.
Tie: one and a spare maybe? Yes Two is fine.
Trousers: Two, We cycle between days - Also again see if you can get a cheaper 3rd pair to cut down for shorts.

We swear by Marks and Spencer - Price wise it makes a difference to spend just a fraction more in the long term, We can get easy two years between growth spurts as they are also very hardy and easy to wash and require little ironing.


Lunch box with separate compartments, We have a double stack where the main bottom layer is for rolls/sandwich and then three compartments on top 1) Drinks Carton, 2/3) Fruit.

Yes at times they forget to eat, more important is drinking, while he they live and maybe grumpy when hundry, dehydration is way worse so encourage the drinking.

Good luck, Jeez hard to believe we are near coming out of this now with our two boys....... eeeek i am getting old

RioM

Uniform: I wouldn't find the need for five of everything. I usually buy from Dunnes ( although the quality is not what it used to be).
Start with, two of everything. They will have PE one or two days. If not messed up a uniform should last two days.
Always short sleeve shirts ( no messy cuffs)
I always buy 1 real tie it looks better and lasts longer.
If you need to get more uniform Dunnes deliver within 24 hours.

As for lunch, he needs to be able to open everything himself. An additional lunchbag might get lost on a bus.

jlm29

My little guy just wore the school tracksuit for the first two years. Now he wears his full uniform three days, and his PE tracksuit two days.
I’d imagine no school will have small kids changing clothes, so he won’t be wearing full uniform 5 days, so no need to buy five- maybe suss out from someone what the story is around how many days they wear which uniform and plan from there.

I have clean shirts/t-shirts for every day, and 2 pairs of trousers and 2 school jumpers, I prob bought two school sweatshirts at the start of the year, and a couple of tracksuits, but the knees go in the tracksuits, so ended up buying more throughout the year. If you get them to change out of uniform when they come home, it helps- most of the mess gets made at home I find!

As regards where to buy- I’m normally a great advocate of spending a bit more for stuff to last longer (esp for siblings), but I don’t know does it make much difference with some things. The t-shirts wouldn’t be white enough by the end of the year to get passed on, the trousers from M&S still had holes in the knees by the end of the year, and same with tracksuits.

shesty

Same here Mirrorwall.We are mainly tracksuit for our school-they have a uniform but many don't wear it.I bought her a basic uniform in M& S last week, pinafore, cardigan, one pack of shirts and some tights.The tracksuit comes from a local supply shop.She has to have a white polo tshirt for it, so I have a few of those from M&S (white, they will go grey and also she is a magnet for mess and gets rid of her jumper wherever possible).My only thought was to buy some tshirts in the next size up too, for the inevitable growth spurt mid-winter, when those tshirts are out of stock in the shops!!I did check with the tracksuit shop, and they stock all year round, so. i got two and we will see how they go.I work so I need a spare, can't wash and dry overnight.

She has a basic box for playschool, we experimented a lot in the last two years with them.I have bought one Yumbox to try out, has compartments but I don't know if it is a bit slim.Google it and see.If she doesn't like it,I'll just use it.We will see how it goes.They just have Dunnes bottles the last two years -I bought her a kid's Klean Kanteen bottle, as a few have them here, again we will see how it goes.

Dravokivich

Ehm my guy just finished junior infants. At the start of the year he had 2 pairs of trousers, 3 short sleeved shirts (only becuase they came in a multi pack), 1 long sleeve shirt , 1 jumper, 1 tracksuit, 3 t shirts (due to multi pack). I could have done without the multi packs. And my lad is a rough'un. Constantly falling over. The only thing that needed fixing was a small rip on his school jumper.

If I'm to recommend anything, if your school requires a specific jumper or tracksuit top, get the next age up. To get as much time from them as possible.

To be honest, all the other stuff you can easily replace in the fly if needed. The shops are heavily stocked now, but they still sell the stuff during the year.

ted1

BrookieD wrote: »

Morning
so OP here is the way we did it.

Uniform wise I’m trying to figure out what I need
Pants: 5? One for every day - yes indeed
School jumper: Two Jumpers
Shirts: long or short sleeve? not 5 may 3, One in wash, One On, One ready to wear
School tracksuit: Need to purchase, check with School, Also see if you can source one from last year as some get donated back, YOu can cut the legs down to make shorts in warm weather.
Tie: one and a spare maybe? Yes Two is fine.
Trousers: Two, We cycle between days - Also again see if you can get a cheaper 3rd pair to cut down for shorts.

We swear by Marks and Spencer - Price wise it makes a difference to spend just a fraction more in the long term, We can get easy two years between growth spurts as they are also very hardy and easy to wash and require little ironing.


Lunch box with separate compartments, We have a double stack where the main bottom layer is for rolls/sandwich and then three compartments on top 1) Drinks Carton, 2/3) Fruit.

Yes at times they forget to eat, more important is drinking, while he they live and maybe grumpy when hundry, dehydration is way worse so encourage the drinking.

Good luck, Jeez hard to believe we are near coming out of this now with our two boys....... eeeek i am getting old

Pants are trousers..... I assume by 5 you mean underpants..

Digs

My eldest is heading into first class. Her school only wear tracksuits, no traditional uniform.
I’ve found two tracksuits (jumper and trousers) are perfectly adequate and I then have 5 polo shirts. She completely mucks in and often comes home covered in paint and half her lunch but I find rotating between the two tracksuits totally fine. She absolutely flies through runners I have to say, constantly wearing the toes out of them!!

Lunch box wise I find the traditional old school lunchboxes to be the best for us as they are roomier. I’ve tried a few with all those compartments and found them annoying to be honest. Unable to fit certain fruits etc in, so the big oldschool ones suit us best and a standard Water bottle. I’m not one for cutting fancy shapes into sandwiches or anything so lunches are quite practical in this house.

Like a PP said anything can be picked up along the way.

fineso.mom

This has some good ideas.

https://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Consumer-info/Healthy-lunchboxes.aspx
Just to add...please label every item belonging to your child..from tie to shirts to lunchbox,bottles and bag.
Basically anything they carry into school. You wouldn't believe the amount of stuff left at the end of the year in lost and found. Including good winter coats.
It just makes life so much easier for everyone.

afkasurfjunkie

Tracksuit here too. So I got 2 and I’ll get a few polo shirts. Kids generally bring an old t shirt for messy art and they wouldn’t be outside in muck at school so 2 is plenty for me. I’m keeping the same lunchbox he had in playschool. A sistema one with 3 little compartments. Handy for a small sambo and pieces of fruit and a few little snacks. Yogurts are not allowed.

Just wondering what would be a good brand of runners? No colour specified.

tscul32

I've 3 boys and they're not the cleanest. First one I got 2 jumpers, 2 shirts, 2 trousers and 1 tracksuit with crested tee shirt. The other two I got one jumper and 1 tracksuit and 1 tee shirt, always kept an old one as an emergency spare. Mine usually had pe 2 days so tracksuit those days. If it was dirty I'd wash otherwise I wouldn't. Same for shirts, trousers, jumper. No need to have multiples of everything unless you really need them.

happywithlife

I'll leave the uniform aside as others have commented only I will add get shorts now next age up for next summer as they can be hard to get in May when it first gets warm.

Re lunch for smallies - best advise I got was to write down what I feed him on a typical day at home between school hours - its typically far less than what I'd put in a lunch box so that will give you an idea.
Initially mine found it hard to remember 2 lunches so I had a small box for small break and a bigger box for big break - both fit into the one lunch bag. Also check clips when buying and make sure the child (not parent) can actually open & close the clips. I always stand drink bottle in side pocket as have to find one that truly will not spill.
Label everything as advised.
If you are giving cultlery invest in good reusable plastics as safer. If they're constantly loosing spoons use cheaper plastic ones - my nephew was a terror for throwing away a spoon in his yoghurt pot but as others have said our school is green flag so now all rubbish comes home anyway. For that reason make sure the lunch bag is washable or at least has a zip all the way round that allows you to open the bag right up - sticky food is a terror to wash.

BrookieD

ted1 wrote: »

Pants are trousers..... I assume by 5 you mean underpants..

Sorry i am not american so Pants are underwear and trousers are such...:P

BrookieD

BrookieD wrote: »

Sorry i am not american so Pants are underwear and trousers are such...:P

Pants = trousers in Ireland it’s only in England that pants = underpants.

I’d say I was in my 20’s before I heard that pants = underpants to some people (an English person giving me a funny look when I was talking about pants).

BrookieD

Kailee Rapid Rocker wrote: »

Pants = trousers in Ireland it’s only in England that pants = underpants.

I’d say I was in my 20’s before I heard that pants = underpants to some people (an English person giving me a funny look when I was talking about pants).

I would 100% disagree with the above, never have i heard any irish person refer to trousers as pants.....
But its off topic and dont really car about it... haha

pwurple

Lads ye must be made of money! 5 sets ?

Your school will have sent a uniform list, no?


Pants: 5? Two
School jumper: One , they take it off a lot, mine do anyway, schools are like furnaces and kids overheat a lot.
Shirts: long or short sleeve? 3.
School tracksuit: is one set ok? Depends, how many days do they wear it? Can it be interchanged... we wore shorts with tracksuit top for example.
Tie: one and a spare maybe? Not many JInfants wear ties anymore, is that defo on your list? One is loads.


What you don't have there is labels. Get some kind of sewn on tag or identifier.... everything else, fabric pens, the lot. It all wears or washes off though a few kids. I sewed on a green button on the side (inside), just so I knew it was ours from the lost and found pile.

Peppery

I’ve taught infants and one piece of advice I always give is to practise eating lunch before starting school. So practise taking the box out of the back and laying out any items, eating and then putting any rubbish back in the lunch box. Practise how to keep as clean as possible (not always possible!) when eating and make as little mess as possible. Eating lunch in school can stress some kids out if they’re used to sitting with a parent and getting help.

Digs

pwurple wrote: »

Lads ye must be made of money! 5 sets ?

Your school will have sent a uniform list, no?


Pants: 5? Two
School jumper: One , they take it off a lot, mine do anyway, schools are like furnaces and kids overheat a lot.
Shirts: long or short sleeve? 3.
School tracksuit: is one set ok? Depends, how many days do they wear it? Can it be interchanged... we wore shorts with tracksuit top for example.
Tie: one and a spare maybe? Not many JInfants wear ties anymore, is that defo on your list? One is loads.


What you don't have there is labels. Get some kind of sewn on tag or identifier.... everything else, fabric pens, the lot. It all wears or washes off though a few kids. I sewed on a green button on the side (inside), just so I knew it was ours from the lost and found pile.

Eh yoinking the green button idea thanks!! The marker always flippin fades eventually!

jlm29

Digs wrote: »

Eh yoinking the green button idea thanks!! The marker always flippin fades eventually!

I got labels online the last few years. I think it was From namelabel. ie
They do different packs, I got a pack with labels for books, clothes, shoes and pencils and lunchboxes. The quality was great. The iron on labels have lasted the full year with plenty washing. The labels for the books have colour and a little picture too, so they’re easily recognised by kids who can’t read yet

barneyrub

Def not that much stuff... Pure waste.

1 pair trousers
1 2pack of shirts or polo shirts
1 jumper

Tracksuit x1 with 2 pack of polo shirts

If you must get a spare in the next size up. Will do in emergencies if needed and will do for next year then.

jlm29

Just to add- I’ve never had any trouble picking stuff up during the year. There’s always stuff in dunnes if you’re stuck.
On the other hand, I have two other kids coming behind my eldest who will wear the same main school uniform, and a third again who will wear the same PE uniform, so I never get too bent out of shape about buying extra, they’ll all get worn eventually! If you have other kids coming behind, depending on gender you might be the same.

pwurple

jlm29 wrote: »

I got labels online the last few years. I think it was From namelabel. ie
They do different packs, I got a pack with labels for books, clothes, shoes and pencils and lunchboxes. The quality was great. The iron on labels have lasted the full year with plenty washing. The labels for the books have colour and a little picture too, so they’re easily recognised by kids who can’t read yet

Yes I tried those too... but they only lasted the year. I need stuff to go through a couple of kids and a few years. ;o)

jlm29

pwurple wrote: »

Yes I tried those too... but they only lasted the year. I need stuff to go through a couple of kids and a few years. ;o)

I can deal with doing them again for the second child, so long as they make it far enough for that to happen, that’s the main thing!

Neyite

If you are in a school where stuff can get stolen go walkies, I recommend turning their sleeve inside out and getting a permanent marker and writing the child's name down the length of the arm (check in a discreet place that it wont seep through to the right side first). A label can get cut out of a jacket or a school jumper but they can't cut a sleeve off!

We needed 5 polo shirts, 3 pairs of trousers and 2-3 crested jumpers because our fella was a muck magnet. And the knees of the trousers used to be worn by the end of the term.

We bought a tie. and a formal shirt. Never used them. He had the school tracksuit for JI and SI but got a preference for the uniform trousers halfway though last year so wont wear the tracksuit bottoms now.

We were lucky that the school provides all materials. We hand €40 in to them and they take care of books, copies and writing materials.

Lunch - make sure they can open and properly close their drinks bottles /lunchboxes before you buy. The amount of bottles we've gone through and then you reach into a soggy bag...:rolleyes:

Regarding school shoes, I've found Clarkes to be woeful quality and don't last. He's hard on shoes and Startrite are the only ones that seem to stand up to the abuse he puts his shoes through to the point they are still grand if battered when he's growing out of them.

Try to network with other parents if you can. I started a whatsapp group and it's a godsend for finding out last minute about choir recitals, bus cancellations, what homework they had or whether or not it's really no-uniform day the next day.

pwurple

Thumbs up on the parents chat for all the information. It drives me completely around the bend when they tell a junior infant something important, and expect that message to be relayed home correctly to an adult 4 hours later. I don't even expect colleagues to manage that, let alone children! Notes in bags are useless. Spilled drinks / food, crumbled into a ball, scribbled on etc. Teachers might as well be flushing any notes down the loo. It's like back in the 20th century in our school, no-one has the ability to send any kind of electronic communication. Smoke signals or a carrier pigeon would probably be more reliable than what they do... it's 2cm scraps of paper in an infants wet bag they insist on, or just a verbal instruction. So yeah, set up a whatsapp is a good idea. Remember to mute any repeated "funny video" senders for your own sanity.

The tears flow big time when they show up in the morning not having remembered to tell anyone about a trip on a bus they need money for, World Book day, Teddy Bear picnic day, random fundraising day. Best to avoid that drama by keeping in touch with the others.

tscul32

pwurple wrote: »

Thumbs up on the parents chat for all the information. It drives me completely around the bend when they tell a junior infant something important, and expect that message to be relayed home correctly to an adult 4 hours later. I don't even expect colleagues to manage that, let alone children! Notes in bags are useless. Spilled drinks / food, crumbled into a ball, scribbled on etc. Teachers might as well be flushing any notes down the loo. It's like back in the 20th century in our school, no-one has the ability to send any kind of electronic communication. Smoke signals or a carrier pigeon would probably be more reliable than what they do... it's 2cm scraps of paper in an infants wet bag they insist on, or just a verbal instruction. So yeah, set up a whatsapp is a good idea. Remember to mute any repeated "funny video" senders for your own sanity.

Thankfully our school give the notes to the kids when they're in the line to go home. So they get handed straight to the collecting adult.

Neyite

tscul32 wrote: »

Thankfully our school give the notes to the kids when they're in the line to go home. So they get handed straight to the collecting adult.

We've a mix. It can be a note in the bag. Usually soggy for reasons I don't plan to dwell on, it can be verbally to the children, but they've also got a text system they use for the whole school. The note and verbal are from the class teacher.

Millem

Mirrorwall my guy is starting too!
I bought:
3 trousers aldi
4 short sleeved shirts (1 lidl, 1 aldi)
3 tracksuit bottoms (1 lidl, 2 aldi)
4 polo shirts (lidl) (aldi had a raised stripe on collar)
€26 approx!

Sistema cube box lidl €7
Sistema beakers x2 €7 lidl

I examined the quality of alot of generic uniforms and thought lidl trousers were too thin but aldi excellent. Lidl tracksuit bottoms excellent, aldi thinner but there were no more left when I went back

Need to get:
2 school ties
2 school crested jumpers
2 pe crested tops
€120 approx!