This is the first year I will have two children going to school, and it’s the first time I have had to buy girls school uniform. Although I do feel anxious about the changes September will bring and am sad about summer ending, I know once we are in our new routine things will be okay (I hope!). The school uniform shopping has been the fun bit, with the girls stuff being so exciting that I have to share it with you guys!

This year I have bought the uniform from TU (Sainsbury’s). A friend recommended the brand as the quality is very good and long-lasting. I have made sure they have at least 5 of each item. With coronavirus still lurking around, I want to bung the uniform in the wash basket at the end of each day. So I have bought more than usual this year.

I started school uniform shopping in July – I ordered everything online and got my husband to pick up from our local Sainsbury via Click and Collect. He also picked up a Trolls backpack (£7.50) and lunchbag (£6) while he was there. Lily is even more obsessed with Poppy since Trolls World Tour came out on DVD, so this is making her excited to start school.

Lily is so anti dresses and skirts, which is why she has girls school trousers. The kids tried on their uniform last week and don’t they look so cute?! We bought Tyler’s shoes from Clarks Outlet last week. He has wide fit which is why we like Clarks so we can get the ‘H’ width. These are the Clarks Jack Spark Junior shoes, which are £29.40 instead of £42.

I was planning on getting Clarks shoes for Lily too, but when I saw that Asda were selling Trolls Poppy school shoes, I HAD to get them. How perfect for Lily?! They were only £14 so I have no idea if they will fall apart in the first month – let’s see! I bought them in the next two sizes up too so she can have Poppy shoes for a long time hopefully. Unfortunately I can’t add a link as they are completely out of stock online now, but if you are lucky, you might see some in your local Asda.

As for school socks, Tyler loves having hidden bright colours and this year we found star print ones in Next. They come in a 7-pack for £8 and there’s actually a lot of choice of cool school socks at Next, it’s worth a look. For Lily I chose these frilly socks (5-pack, £4.50) from Sainsburys TU – I mean, come on, how cute?!

As I mentioned earlier, this is the first time I’ve had to buy girls school uniform and the little extra details are adorable. The flowers buttons on the girls polo shirt (3-pack, £3.50) with the scalloped edge collar. I also saw Peter Pan collared versions but they are out of stock. The girls school trousers (2-pack, £6) have bows on the waist and heart buttons. As these are age 4-5 the trousers are elasticated, so you pull on and off, but trousers in bigger sizes have a zip fly.

I have bought items with the logo on from the school uniform shop which I have not pictured here, such as the jumpers/cardi and school tie. I also bought two plain cardis (2-pack, £6) from Sainsburys as extra ones. They have scalloped edges and flower buttons. For their PE kits, I got plain black joggers from Primark (£3.50), plain white T-shirts from Sainsburys (3-pack for £3) and plimsolls from Shoe Zone (£2.50).

And that’s it really. There’s also stationery that I just ordered from Amazon as I couldn’t be bothered to search for everything on the high street. The kids quite enjoyed trying on their uniform and posing for photos. I think they are excited to be going to school together for the first time. It’s really lovely that Lily will be joining Tyler, after all, she’s been seeing this school since was 2 months old on all those school runs! I know they probably won’t see each other in the day, as they will be doing year group bubbles, but it’s nice to know they will be in the same building.

How have you found the back to school shopping this year? Are there any brands that you absolutely recommend?

Sabrina x