It's that time of year again, Back to School! (Although a lot of stores seem to have started their Back to School campaigns before the schools even broke up for the summer!!)  So I thought I'd put together some of my hints & tips to help prepare for the first day back at school.

• Don't leave uniform purchasing until the last minute.  It's surprising how many people do, then have to trawl around multiple shops trying to get the uniform bits that they need.  
• Be realistic about what you need to buy.  Do you want to constantly be washing uniform?  If not then it's wise to buy multiples of things to save trying to get jumpers dry in the middle of winter, ready for the next day.  Does your child really need 4 jumpers right now?  While it's still relatively warm it might be worth putting off buying lots of jumpers- in my experience they soon get whipped off at school and shoved into bags/drawers/a box because they get too warm.
• Label your child's uniform. Especially if they go to a school where uniform with logos on is part of the uniform.  I have spent far too much time sorting through 15 identical jumpers trying to work out which belongs to which child.  You can go as basic as writing your child's name with biro on the washing label, up to buying personalised iron/sew in labels.  The same goes for polo shirts, PE kit, bags, shoes even!  There will often be multiple children with identical clothing to your child, and it's a lot more likely to come home if it's labelled!  (I once went through a stage where everytime a child took a jumper off I had to write their name in it.  It just wastes valuable time.)
• Make sure you know what time your child starts and finishes school on the first day. Especially important if your child is just starting school and has staggered days where they may not be attending for a full day.  There's nothing worse than being late on your child's first day, or being late collecting them on their first day.

What are your best Back to School hints and tips?