Helpful Tips for New Parents please!!!

[englishangel]

Lordy, you say the socks are too small, who wears size 2 football boots? My feet were their adult size (7) when I went to Hertford and my offspring certainly took at least a 6 when they went to senior school. My one-time next-door neighbour (RIP) had a grand-daughter the same age as my oldest and at 11 she took a 9 shoe, ended up a 10. She wasn't even particularly tall, 5'6 or so.

[thriftymatron]

Exactly! They were over-ordered by the old school shop and so far I have only sold them for younger siblings and staff children. A very few pupils arrive each year wearing such tiny sizes so I just want to move them on, hence the price. They originally cost £16. There are also a number of size 26/28 chest old style reversible rugby shirts (completely gold on the inside, not just a gold band) for £5 (were £33) and at the other extreme, I have some adult XL navy swim shorts (£5 instead of £11.50)! I don't want these items to sit and rot on the shelves, so I hope someone out there may have a use for them. I have already advertised the footwear to existing parents through the EOT mailshot, but had little response.

[Eruresto]

Bouncy-bounce! Hello, I'm in Grecians now, but still vividly remember my days as a young second former...

As many have already said, tuck is a good thing. My housemaster said to my year at the beginning of the first term that we wouldn't make friends by giving them food - and to some extent this is true; all you do is show yourself as someone who gives food away. But it does help cement friendships. I found haribo starmix to be very good here. One thing I might suggest is not giving your child the main brand tuck, as it will make them a target for scroungers - who never managed to get anything out of my closely guarded locker I would suggest instead getting the next best thing - e.g. getting the own brand coke instead of branded - tastes the same but doesn't have the same image. And then things like getting Puffins not penguins, all that sort of thing helps.

In terms of clothing, the kit they put on the required list is a "if you have all this you will never be found wanting" list. I seem to remember there being a thing about crested v-necks; this of course is not necessary, a basic one will do. Whether boy or girl, a good pair of shoes are essential - mine are practically hiking boots, but they need to be, the amount of walking you do. (I was in Peele and so quarter of a mile from Dining Hall and classrooms - part of the reason I now walk so quickly) DMs aren't really necessary; I don't think I've had them since LE/UF and nobody's minded.

[lonelymom]

DMs aren't really necessary;

That is very true, but I do think they are worth spending a little bit more on because they are extremely hardwearing and polish up very well. However, if your child's feet are growing extremely fast you might not think it's worth the extra expense. I have, however, noticed that there are some very reasonably-priced DMs on a very well-known auction site at the moment

[Eruresto]

Yes, I'd agree there. Certainly if you're in the band or similar, and are thus going to be on show a lot, you might want them. My shoes are big chunky ones at the moment, and while they're as comfy as anything, they don't take polish well. That said, they do make a FANTASTIC noise as I go up cloisters

[J.R.]

In the good old days, we were issued with regulation shoes. Several hours of the good old army 'spit & polish' would give you a shine that lasted for ages and they were very easy to buff clean when slightly grubby. Absolutely essential under the hawk-eye of 'Bill' Bailey the Bandmaster of the time.

[YadaYada]

This is going to seem like an extremely dense question I am sure but I really have no idea so am going to ask anyway!

By tuck I think you mean snacks? Drinks too? What sort of thing (other than Haribo) do kids take? and how much is right?

Brand new territory for us!

[lonelymom]

It's not a stupid question at all, in fact, it's something I wish I'd asked when my daughter started. My daughter takes lots of tuck with her, and it all goes very quickly. Can I just say, that she doesn't take ALL of this back everytime, just a selection of the following items. Firstly, I always make sure she takes back a big bag of apples and a bag or oranges. She takes a small coolbag to put in the fridge with yoghurts, cheese and ham in it. Obviously this has a short lifespan, but she enjoys making cheese and ham toasties while she can. She also has chocolate spread, marmite and lemon curd to put on the toast (not all at the same time I hope, although nothing suprises me anymore). She takes lots of those Supernoodle things, although as Euresto said, there are cheaper varieties, and actually she says she prefers the cheaper ones. Then there's squash, hot chocolate powder and milkshake powder. Then there's crisps, rice cakes, pot noodles, cake bars, snacks such as biscuits, kitkats, penguins and twix, and of course chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. So, as you can see, basically anything goes...

[Momto2]

If I remember the early years tuck tended to be more sweet stuff - sweets, chocolate, peanut butter/jam/choc spread as bread is provided in house. Noodles were a favourite of my son. Fruit but not too much as this is provided in Dining Hall and it doesn't keep well! Also jars of hot chocolate (milk is provided) and squash rather than cans of fizzy stuff. As they have got older they have had more access to cooking facilities and now take pizza bases, cheese, pasta etc.

I would 100% agree with Euresto about the brand name products - easy target for the older children to scrounge or worse - the basic stuff is fine.

Hope that helps a little.

[Momto2]

Snap lonelymom - pretty much identical stuff

[lonelymom]

I forgot to answer the second part of your question, how much? There isn't really a correct amount, it's just whatever your son/daughter will need. My daughter takes a small suitcase full! She doesn't eat it all though, some of it carries over into the next three-week stint. Some of it, like the chocolate always gets eaten, but the squash, crisps, noodles etc last for longer. If you have trouble judging the amount to take, don't worry, because the tuck shop sells everything if he/she runs out.

[YadaYada]

That's excellent, thanks. Would never have thought of some of that stuff!

[midget]

I think our staff would have died of shock if anyone had suggested making snacks between meals!

[lonelymom]

My daughter says that the food at CH is good, but sometimes there's just not enough of it! She's very sporty so I think she just burns it all off quickly, and so relies on her cheese and ham toasties etc to keep her going.

[fra828]

I echo Midget's remark-It's so amazing how times have changed re food at CH! We didn't even have a tuck shop at Hertford, just rations of tuck on Wednesdays and weekends-same with home jams. Crisps! Pot noodles! Loads of chocolate! All between meals! Whatever happened to healthy eating so pushed by this government! ? But that said, CH these days sounds like a great place to be at school, bang up to date with 21st century, not like the antiquated prison-like place in Hertford that, 40 years ago, was years and years behind the times;(were we really in the 60s?!) and yes I do feel bitter cos I felt no incentive to work there, had not enough encouragement from staff, and therefore kind of wasted my education. BUT friendships, that's another matter, I valued those greatly and that has continued into my adult life.