BACK TO SCHOOL CHECKLIST: WHAT TO PACK?

Are you or your little ones heading back to school? Take a look through our back to school supplies list to help you save time and money on your back to school shopping. We all know back to school shopping can be a tiresome affair- so to keep you stress free, consult our school supplies checklist which covers everything from back to school outfits to high school essentials.

We’ve compiled a comprehensive shopping list for all your school supplies from stationary, uniform and lunch boxes, and more. Whether you are heading back to high-school or college after summer break or taking your children to play school or elementary school, we’ve got a variety of back to school supply needs covered.

Back to school Checklist tips for parents

How’re you and your kids feeling about the prospect of heading back to school after a long break? Excited, nervous, perhaps a little overwhelmed? While all these feelings are totally normal, there are strategies you can use to help prevent the overwhelm from taking over.

1: Give your kids the right amount of notice

While you don’t want your kids to feel like their summer vacation is ticking away, giving them some notice of when “back to school” will start can soften that transition time and help them prepare emotionally.

You could use a calendar, planner, or chart to visualize where they’re at in their summer break. You could also schedule any important dates or activities that will be related to them returning to school.

2: Plan in back-to-school shopping

While this doesn’t have to be a rigid plan, setting aside some time to ensure your kids have everything they need for the new academic year can help you both feel like it’s not an overwhelming, last-minute rush.

Use the handy checklist I’ve included in this article to help you work out exactly what they’ll need. If you’re able to spend some time making an inventory of what your child already has—and what’s worn out and needs replacing—this can help make the back to school checklist a little easier.

3: Make the unknown, known

Change and transition can be tricky for the best of us. Whether your children are changing teachers, classrooms, or even schools, there’s an element of the unknown there that is bound to make them feel a little nervous.

If they’re staying at the same school but switching teachers, they may well have an idea of who their new teacher will be and what they’re like. In this case, taking the time to speak to your child may be enough. This will give them the opportunity to talk through any concerns they might have and understand that feeling nervous is completely normal when there’s change ahead.

If your kid is due to change schools and enter into a whole new environment, there are steps you can take to help ease some of that uncertainty. You could try to arrange a tour of the school campus and perhaps a meeting with their new teacher. If they’re worried about their new journey to school, you could discuss it with them and potentially do some practice runs together.

4: Reintroduce routines in advance

Summer break can be an opportunity for the whole family to be more flexible and relaxed when it comes to day-to-day routines. There are many positives that can come from this “free time.” However, as parents we know that routine and structure are very important when it comes to heading back to school.

Rather than everyone having a difficulty with trying to get back to routines like bedtimes back in sync, try a phasing in approach. This can tie in with giving your kids notice that back to school is on the horizon and preparation for it has begun. When it comes to sorting out their sleeping patterns, having a 2-week head start on earlier nights and earlier rises can be beneficial for both you and your kids.

5: Screen time and digital boundaries

Hopefully your children have had plenty of opportunity to get away from screens and try out loads of fun and exciting activities over the summer. However, it’s also completely normal if rules around screen times have relaxed. As with everything else in life it can be a difficult balance to strike.

But just because some of those limits may have relaxed a little, doesn’t mean that there isn’t time to reign it in a bit before the new school year.As digital devices are becoming more and more prevalent in our children’s educational activities, it’s crucial that we help them develop boundaries around the technology they use in their leisure time.

10 THINGS YOU NEED TO DO TO HAVE A STRESS FREE SCHOOL SEASON

• Sign up for fall sports and activities
• Sort through last year’s school uniform and determine what you need to buy
• Go over the school calendar and add it to your family calendar
• Shop for School Clothes – consider waiting for Fall to buy winter clothes
• Transition to earlier bedtime
• Transition to earlier wake-up time
• Create, Clean, and organize study spaces
• Create an organized drop zone for backpacks, shoes, and outerwear
• Shop for school supplies
• Create a Backpack Station and a place for school papers

Ultimate back to school checklist for students

Following are the school essential that are necessary for school students to check before going school after vacations:

Stationery 

As everyone knows this is the most important (and the most fun) part of your back to school planning. From diaries to pens and copies sets we've covered everything you need to stay organized and be prepared this school year.

Pens

Now we know this is an obvious one, it should go without saying that you’ll be needing pens, but it wouldn’t be a back to school checklist if we didn’t include them now would it? Whether you need black, blue, green or red we’ve got plenty of sets to suit everyone’s needs.

Pencils

Another obvious one is, of course, pencils, but just because they’re an essential doesn’t mean they have to be boring, we've got lots of fun sets available in-store and online that will get you through those first-day blues.

Note Pads

Make all those essential to do lists in one of our notepads. An essential back to school
Item, you’ll be a bit lost without one on your first day back! 

Folders

Keep all your new and important papers together in one place, an essential if you’re starting university this September.

Academic Diary

New Year, new diary! Never miss a lesson, a project deadline or a event again. Grab yourself one of our amazing academic diaries and get organized this semester!

Erasers

If you’re going to have pencils you’re going to need rubbers! Grab yourself a new set of fun and funky rubbers from our collection.

Gel pens

Let's move on to something a bit more exciting than your standard . We all know that no new school stationery set is complete without some brightly coloured, or maybe even glittery, gel pens- make your school work snazzy this year!

Highlighters

Highlighters, all the important stuff for exam revision and note taking with highlighter pens. Make sure to get lots of different colors and you can color code your highlights!

School bag

And of course, where will all this amazing new stationery go if not in your brand new school bag? We've got a huge range of branded bags available online, perfect for students of all ages!

Water bottle

Did you know that your brain is 75% water? That’s why it’s so important to stay hydrated when you’re studying! Pick up a new refillable water bottle to keep your brain fuelled every day, all whilst helping the environment by ditching plastic bottles

Why do you need a back-to-school checklist?

You want to manage your school’s upcoming academic year like a boss.

A perfectly executed back-to-school checklist:

• Helps you stay abreast of everything and avoid disasters.
• Ensures that you complete all necessary tasks before the academic year starts.
• Enables you to identify potential problems before they arise.
• Reduces stress and anxiety by providing a clear roadmap.
• Allows you to delegate tasks to others and track progress. Because let’s face it, you can’t do it all alone.
• Saves you time and energy by streamlining the planning process.

So, a back-to-school checklist is necessary to avoid a school-year disaster.

Your sanity (and your students) will thank you for it.

Conclusion

School shopping is one of the most important back to school tasks. There is just so much that needs to be done and people feel like they are running out of time for getting everything together. This section on Online Stationery Shop will help you get a head start on your back-to-school shopping list by providing some recommendations on what types of school supplies, school bags, and food items kids need back in their classrooms this coming year.