Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Hi, I have a daughter starting at CH in September. I am feeling really nervous! however she is absolutely fine. Am I right that she is only to take 2 sets of civvy clothes for three weeks? Should this be just comfy clothes? I know they have pizza nights and special nights occasionally, should I pack anything else for this?

I am really surprised that this question has not come up before.

Hi Poppy. I reckon your daughter might need a bit more than two sets of civvy clothes; I usually pack three or four pairs of jeans/ trousers for my lads, plus half a dozen T shirts and a couple of warm tops. Mind you, being boys they are strangers to the concept of the laundry basket so it all comes home at leave weekend in a festering heap... I guess girls might require more or less depending on their personal habits and whether they like to smarten up for special occasions (another concept which is alien to my boys!).

until my UF i had no civies as i lived so close to school after that i had 1 set of socks/jeans/t-shirt and a denim jacket which was then replaced with a leather jacket. Do they wear civies more often now then - it was Saturday evenings only once UF onwards and never except leave days before that

I've just asked my girls how many sets of civvies they recommend and they both said 'lots!' Once lessons are over the kids change into their civvies so they wear them every day, and all day on Sunday. They also have regular discos (the first one is during the first 3 weeks away), in-house nights, film nights and general socialising out of house, so your daughter may want a fair few sets of clothes.

Thank you so much for your replies. I am rather addicted to this forum and think Its fab. Its great to have this site, I am sure I will use it lots.

Welcome Poppy, hope your daughter will be very happy at CH

Just a word of warning about the Forum - some of us old stagers reminisce about our time at the schools in the dark ages. Things are very different now form our time. I was at as single sex school in Hertford where we had NO civvy clothes at all, and that is just a starter of the differences. Please don't be horrified by our memories.

I agree with Katharine!

"Civvies"? We said "Home Clothes" in a wistful voice, because they weren't allowed!

It does sound fun... film nights, socialising in and out of House; lots of clothes needed!

wurzel wrote:until my UF i had no civies as i lived so close to school after that i had 1 set of socks/jeans/t-shirt and a denim jacket which was then replaced with a leather jacket. Do they wear civies more often now then - it was Saturday evenings only once UF onwards and never except leave days before that

I think on my GE, they allowed those who went to town to wear civvies as there was quite a bit of penguin bashing... the whole school (on my deps or grecians) were allowed to wear civvies after lunch on Saturday and all day Sunday excepting chapel...

This has come a long way from my squits (1992) when I went to my first disco - it was a junior disco in Col A, and we were only allowed to wear 'half civvies' - the choice was either, a nice shirt, with breeches and yellow socks, or a school shirt with jeans!

I would add that 'delicate ' things don't do so well in the school laundry. If she has something nice to wear for a disco or similar I would say don't put it in the laundry -bring it home at the Leave Weekend for some tlc! The wardrobe space is not girl sized so you need to be organised which takes some getting used to. Also some girls quickly get into borrowing each others clothes to add to the variety so don't be surprised if you have someone else's washing to do!

Hi Dinahcat. Thanks for the info on delicates. I hadnt thought of that. I will def tell her to bring nice clothes home to wash! On second thoughts she is so messy and generally drops half her supper drink down her, said items will come back with mould on. I can see a trip to primark on its way so it doesnt matter what gets trashed.

Primark is ideal! As Dinahcat says, the school laundry doesn't differentiate between hot wash and cool wash so everything gets boiled And I'm frequently having to ask my girls who owns the red cardigan etc that I've just washed and ironed. I'm sure these things eventually find their way back to their rightful owner but, just in case, Primark prices are the way to go

Ian,

It's not like it was in our day (how can the eighties seem so long ago???)

When are the girls allowed makeup?

Off topic- sort of A propos 'delicates'

When my daughter went to university and was going to be doing her washing in a commercial machine I bought a couple of small mesh bags http://laundry.applied.org.uk/mesh_bag.htm (there are others if you search for bra washing bags) which stop underwires twisting, hooks getting hooked into other washing and various other things they are prone to. Useful to get bigger ones for socks/tights/underwear as well.