It’s not just the shopping, it’s the rapid growth of my beanpole 10 year old – she’s not only outgrown last year’s school shoes but her bike as well. So when we were mooching around the shops the other day I wondered if I should really buy her new school kit now or wait a couple of weeks, and with time running out until the #blogladesh/Bangladesh, I decided to put it all on hold.

That said, somebody up there must like me – this problem has now been solved. We got this lovely package delivered today, as photographed by Miniminx.

And then we opened it to find a selection of the Tesco Clothing school uniform range. It’s part of a blogger tagging idea and I really like it because it’s relevant, fun, convenient and great timing, so thanks from me!

Before I go any further, I am going to nominate Linda S Jones of Got Your Hands Full to receive the same pack. So Linda have a look for the rules at the end of the review – I’m sure they’ll send you a twin-pack!

Tops: we got a cardigan which is a wool mix – it’s a simple design and gets a ‘thumbs up’ from both of us. There are several styles in the range and they’re contemporary without trying too hard. I really like the girls Fair Trade Pique Polo shirts which are £4.00 for a pack of two. The Girls Long Sleeved shirts are £10 for three. Bottoms: the skirt is nicely designed and the trousers are a very pale grey – we like the buckled kilt best. There is a good range to choose from on the site and some shorts too which would look good with woolly tights.

I’ve never bought school uniform from Tesco so I am keen to look over the range. We tend to plump for Marks and Spencer and have had a dreadful experience with Asda’s range – the teflon skirt I bought had material so hard and tough that it actually cut my daughter’s leg and drew blood. It went straight in the bin and we never went back there again. It seem the competition on the high street is to provide the cheapest school uniform but retailers tend to forget they have to be of a decent quality, design and hard wearing as well as comfortable.

At first glance the uniforms look fine – although a little small for my daughter. She is just over five feet so she doesn’t fit the 9-10 size and we’re plumping for the 11-12 group. We tend to buy clothes on height rather than age now anyway but it’s worth checking out, especially if you’re buying online. The size guide on the site is found next to the product and it’s really thorough.

So what does Miniminx think? She reckons it’s ‘Alright’ which in child speak is pretty ok, since choosing clothes with a 10 year old is a case of ‘No I’m never wearing that’ or ‘But it’s only a £100 for those boots, they’ll last ages. Well, you get my drift.

I have had a good nosey around the Tesco school uniform range and it’s pretty cool price wise and the designs should have H&M rushing back to the drawing board. I’m particularly impressed by the raincoats which start from around £12 and the range of choice too.

The key issues for choosing school clothes are mobility and wearability – there’s no use wearing a pencil skirt if you’re running around the playground all day and stiff materials make for uncomfortable wearing too, and at worst rashes. The overall look is important. We have spotted some really hip kids uniform in Zara but it’s outlandish and as my daughter said ‘I’d never wear that in a million years’. I think kids like to customise their uniforms but don’t want to look like idiots – like the rest of us.

By the way, I’m taking the pens from the pack to Bangladesh to give away to the children there.

If you’ve been tagged by me and want to get involved, here are the rules; to tag someone else once you’ve got your pack from Clothing at Tesco you simply upload a photo of your pack to your blog, and tag a fellow mummy blogger. Simple.

As children get older homework and exams become more pressured. ChildLine has produced a tip sheet on how to beat the bothers of worry, pressure, and all those mixed up feelings that come with exam time. There is lots to look at and I think that in itself would help relieve a bit of worry for stressed out kids.

Some of the prize beat exam stress tips include:

Do some yoga
Play music
Drink water
Create a study plan
Check out BBC Bitesize

I remember exams; even though they were a very long time ago. I made sure I had a good revision time table which gave me some time off too. Teenagers under pressure need to let off steam and I found the best way to do it was go to gigs – I wonder what my daughter will do when the time comes?

One is SATS – the for and against. The second is tutors – should you or shouldn’t you. The third is private versus public schooling. Big decisions which come with huge responsbility attached to them.

SATS
My daughter’s school is not going to put year 6 through the SATS process this year on the basis it detracts from the more fully rounded education they receive in years 3 to 5 and it also adds undue pressure on the children who are already facing a huge step up as they prepare to leave junior school and head into senior / secondary / high school (or whatever you want to call it). I’m not convinced that this is such a good idea when the grown up world is so competitive in the workplace. The decision has been made without consulting parents and it is neither national nor unilateral. What do you think? Are your children undergoing SATS this year?

Tutors
It seems it is academia or bust for the under 11s. The trend for parents to employ tutors for their children outside of school is one that I am seeing more often among my friends and also school parents I know. They claim their children are behind or not top of the class. Some say their child goes to a school that disapproves of tutors, so they don’t tell the teacher. Others want to give their children a competitive edge, they may have to do entrance exams. It’s a minefield. I don’t use tutors and I’m left wondering if I’m missing a trick.

Secondary School – Pay up or put up?
I am not going to decry the state of the English education system. I don’t have the right. My deep concerns about my daughter’s current education is the lack of sports and arts. Unless you are prepared to go private, you really have to put up with your lot. Or do you? I went through the private system and there was a great deal of pressure to produce results, after all, you pay for a service and you expect a certain level of return on that investment don’t you? Thankfully we still have time to decide on the secondary option. I’m not convinced the independent education sector delivers the social empathy and understanding of society as a whole that the public sector does. Ask me again in a year and I’ll let you know the outcome.

So when the lovely Tara asked me for a photo for her profile on me, I thought, hang on a minute, I’m really happy to talk about my blog and parenting, so I sent her my mugshot.

And she has run a lovely article this month on mychild.co.uk.

Here it is and here I am too…

Thanks to mychild.co.uk for being such a great web site too, we need more of these please.