When the children break up for summer, it feels like a long break from routine, but before you know it, the nights are drawing in and September is beckoning. With a little planning, you can protect your children’s uniform for the autumn term, and by following a few simple rules, you can maintain a steady equilibrium with regards to maintaining uniform as the busy school term kicks in.
We advise that you start a uniform routine with your children as early as possible. When we worked with the consumer champion Kate Hardcastle a few years ago, she told us that her children are very much involved in preparing and protecting their school uniforms, and cleaning their shoes is a Sunday night ritual. We have found that encouraging children to take ownership of their uniform helps them to build independence and a sense of ownership over their belongings, which can in turn help them to remember to bring everything home with them at the end of the school day!
We suggest making this part of the bedtime routine each evening and consolidating it into three simple steps:
1. Lay out school uniforms onto the floor into a human shape so your child can enjoy creating a model and dressing it in the way they dress themselves. Stretching and laying out uniforms on the floor can also help to reduce creasing.
2. Put school shoes next to the front door. How much time is wasted each morning in the panic looking for school shoes? Lots of families experience this, but with a little routine, you can remove that added stress from a busy morning.
3. Forest school or PE kit – is this required for the following day? Check it is complete in the kit bag and place it next to the door with the school shoes.
For older children who may need to bring cooking ingredients or field trip supplies, it may be helpful to add another step to your routine. You can customise this as needed for your child’s scholastic needs.
Additionally, Sunday night is a great opportunity to check that your child’s school shoes are ready for the week. Brush off any excess mud and rub the leather gently with a soft cloth, or with a little polish to maintain their durability and appearance. Here you can find more information on how to make uniforms last longer.
Over the weekend, or during the summer holidays, it’s a good idea to store uniforms in the same spot in the wardrobe as this can alleviate any concerns you might be harbouring over whether all items have returned from school intact. This also helps to avoid pieces of clothing going missing in between school days. For children who share a wardrobe, using a divider to clearly differentiate between uniforms will help to avoid arguments and the risk of getting items mixed up, or not noticing that items are missing.
Try to instil a routine of putting a blazer into the wardrobe or coat cupboard at the end of the day. Blazers are one of the most expensive items of uniform to replace, so keeping tabs on it at home will help keep everything calm in the busy mornings, or at the start of a new term.
When storing uniforms for longer periods of time, such as over the summer holidays, trouser hangers that clip at the top are the ideal way to hang skirts and trousers to prevent wear and tear from folding and creasing.
Over longer school holidays, shoes should be stored at the bottom of the wardrobe either in a shoe box or in a bag. Before storing, give them one last clean. Gently brush off any debris and rub over with a soft cloth. Add a little water to the cloth for patent leather to remove any stuck-on dirt. Use a little polish on a soft cloth for our dyed-through leather school shoes, followed by a soft bristle shoe brush to buff the leather. This will ensure the shoes are ready for the new term and help to avoid any stains or dirt bedding in and becoming harder to remove.
We have a variety of ways to check if shoes still fit going into a new term. If you buy Start-Rite school shoes you can rely on them to protect your child’s feet until they grow out of them. Head over to our check the fit guidance before you rush to buy a new pair. From around year 5 and throughout secondary school your child’s feet will grow more slowly so you might only need to buy a bigger pair once during the school year.
If you find that your child’s feet have grown over the summer months, then please check out our latest school shoe collection. Every pair of feet is individual and has a specific set of requirements. Our extensive collection has a pair of shoes for every foot. Please chat to one of our Start-Rite retailers about your specific requirements as they are all highly trained in fitting footwear and finding the perfect shoe for the foot.
Author: Vista, published 21-08-2024.
