Back to School with Very.co.uk

Sharing is caring!

Back to School with Very.co.uk – This post is a collaboration with Very.co.uk.

Four out of five of us are going back to school this September. Two to Junior school, as Hero moves up to his bigger brother’s school to join him and they become the biggest and smallest in the school, Jensen shimmies up a year to become no longer the smallest fish in the pond of senior school – and I’m heading back to the classroom to my own group of year five children.

Each year that back to school September date circled on the calendar seems to come around faster and faster – and this year we’ve managed to fill our Summer holiday with as many adventures as possible – but not before being sent some amazing back to school essentials from Very.co.uk. We have bags, and shoes, and clothes – and a HUGE bag of sweeties in the Very.co.uk schoolbus which is now a fixture in Hero’s room. So, I decided to ask my boys what were the most exciting things about going back to school each year. Here’s what they came up with, besides the Back to School treats they like me to make like mini apple shaped doughnuts.

New Shoes

There is nothing like a pair of new shoes. Just ask Cinderella. Hero’s feet grew so much this year that he needed new home shoes and school shoes – we generally always opt for Clarks because of previous experience with less expensive brands. Hero was desperate last year for a pair of Marvel Avenger shoes from another brand and although we paid less than half price for them compared to his normal Clarks shoes, they lasted a grand three months before the back was wearing thin and with a painful plastic bit sticking out, and then the sole came apart. Lesson learned. So this year although he’s back to Clarks as they all are, he also managed to get himself a pair of beautiful bright red Kickers boots for home and black boots for school [boots are his thing now]. Jensen got a smart pair of Clarks Scala shoes that made me realise with a little tear how grown up he’s becoming, and Lyoto….well, he chose the exact same pair of Scape Sky Clarks shoes he had last year and is very proud of that. He knows what he likes.

2. A New Bag for Back to School with Very.co.uk

School bags are next on the list. Hero chose a Spiderman one this year because it’s the first year he’s been allowed a backpack and not a book bag, and Lyoto went with his trusty Foxy Lankybox but Jensen, almost snail like in the fact that he needs to carry every single thing he needs for school around on his back day in and day out [ridiculous I know – the school doesn’t have enough lockers for each child, nor time in the day for them to visit them anyway] chose a very hard wearing and durable, comfortable backpack reminiscent of my Army Bergen from Adidas. It’s an Adidas Adventure Toploader and has more pockets than I can count and he’s very pleased with it.

3. New Stationery

This one doesn’t apply for my junior school boys but for me as a teacher and for Jensen at Senior school, besides new uniform it’s one of the most exciting parts of being ready to go back. New pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers and best of all, a new pencil case. Jensen has difficulty handwriting and so this year we’re trying new styles of pens and pencils to see which one might help him. As a teacher I’ve sharpened over 150 pencils already this summer moving into my new classroom and have a blister on my thumb ready for the new school year.

4. A New Teacher

The prospect of a new teacher and a new start each year is always filled with at least a little bit of worry. Luckily for me, my boys all seem happy with their new teachers [although Jensen has a few subject teachers he’d merrily switch this year] and Lyoto’s new teacher is apparently a “giga-chad” according to all of his friends. Me, I’m frantically reading special educational needs notes and matching grades and teacher feedback to small photographs of my new class and trying to memorise them all before I see them again in two weeks’ time.

5. Friends

The best part of back to school for all of us is seeing our friends again. Catching up on stories of summer. swapping sticks of rock from the seaside, showing war wounds from the six weeks of running about in the sunshine; it’s so good to be back. Thank you, Very.co.uk for making it so VERY easy for us this year. Let’s have a great 2022/23!