Uniform, Shoes, Haircuts: the Last-Fortnight Scramble, Sorted

It's mid-August. You're somewhere between "we've got ages yet" and "term starts in a fortnight and nobody has shoes that fit." If your stomach just dropped a little, you're in good company — this is the week most of us look up from the paddling pool and remember September is a real month.

Here's the honest truth before we start: the list of things you could do before term starts is endless. The list of things you must do is short. Let's separate the two.

1. Shoes first, because shoes take longest

If one thing deserves a proper slot in your diary, it's the shoe fitting. The last Saturday before term is famously the worst day of the year to walk into a shoe shop — ticket queues, frazzled staff, and half the sizes gone. If you can go on a weekday morning, even the last week of August is usually fine. If weekends are your only option, go early and go now rather than later.

And if the shop is out of your child's size? A well-fitting pair of plain black trainers will get you through the first week while you order the proper pair. No teacher is inspecting soles on day one.

2. The uniform try-on afternoon

Children grow sideways and upwards all summer, usually without asking permission. Pick one afternoon, tip the uniform drawer onto the bed, and have a try-on session. You're checking three things: does it fasten, does it reach, and is it decent enough for the school photo that always seems to happen in week two.

Most of it will still fit, or nearly fit. Trousers an inch short are fine for a term. The things that genuinely need replacing usually come down to one or two items — which is a much calmer shopping trip than "we need everything."

Check the PE kit at the same time, including plimsolls or trainers. PE kit is the classic thing that fitted in July and mysteriously doesn't in September.

3. Name labels: a marker pen counts

Somewhere along the way, naming school clothes became a cottage industry of woven labels, stamps and iron-on kits. If you enjoy that, lovely. If you don't: a laundry marker pen on the care label is completely fine and takes about four minutes for a whole uniform. The lost property box does not care how elegant your labelling is — it only cares that a name exists.

Priority order, if you're rationing effort: jumpers and cardigans (removed daily, lost constantly), then coats, then water bottles and lunch boxes. Socks can live dangerously.

4. Haircuts, but only if you'd book one anyway

The fringe trim panic is real, and mostly optional. If your child's hair is in their eyes, book something in the next week — barbers and hairdressers fill up fast in late August, same as shoe shops. If the hair is basically fine, it's basically fine. "First day of term" is not a formal occasion, whatever the photos on the class WhatsApp suggest.

5. Book bags, water bottles and the small stuff

Have a quick dig for the book bag, the water bottle and the lunch box. Give them a wash, check the water bottle still seals (this one matters — a leaked bottle can soak a reading book and ruin a Tuesday), and replace only what's actually broken. New stationery is a joy if your child loves it and an expense if they don't; most primary schools provide what's needed anyway.

6. Start nudging bedtimes back

This is the quiet one that makes the biggest difference. Summer bedtimes drift — that's what summer is for — but a child who's been going down at half nine will find an 8am start genuinely hard. In the last week, nudge bedtime earlier by fifteen or twenty minutes every couple of nights. You don't need a military schedule; you just need the first Monday not to be a shock.

While you're at it, one or two normal-time mornings before term starts helps everyone remember what 7am feels like. Including you.

7. Give yourself permission to skip the rest

Here's what your child actually needs on the first day back: shoes that fit, clothes that roughly fit, a decent night's sleep, and a parent who isn't running on fumes. That's the whole list.

They do not need a colour-coded pencil case, a Pinterest-worthy first-day photo setup, twelve labelled glue sticks, or a summer's worth of workbooks completed. Teachers spend the first week settling children in, not auditing their equipment. The gaps get filled as they appear.

The takeaway

The last fortnight of the holidays isn't a project to be managed — it's the end of the summer, and your kids will remember the ice creams, not the labels. Do the shoes, do the try-on, write the names in with whatever pen is nearest, and nudge the bedtimes.

Everything else is polish. And polish, most parents eventually work out, is optional.