Guest Posted February 7, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 We had a wear your own clothes day (to finish our topic on clothes) on friday and managed to raise £66. We plan on buying some clothes for when it rains and wondered if anyone had any suggestions/experiences they could share. As we have 77 chn in our FSU we don't want to buy enough for everyone as we can't afford it and would have no where to store the clothes so thought we'd just buy a set of 6 so we could just take smaller groups out at a time in the wet weather. What I'm not sure about is what size wellies to get-think the average size in my reception class is about 8-does this sound about right? Are there any rules when it comes to buying wellies? eg get them a size bigger or whatever? I'd obviously have to get a variety of sizes as we cater for 3-5year olds any suggestions on sizes? Think I'll be ok getting wellies, have seen some cheap ones in shops and can also look in charity shops but I'm a bit more concerned about the raincoats and I've never seen waterproof trousers going cheap. Surely if we're going to do it properly we'd need waterproof trousers so we can splash in the puddles?!
Rea Posted February 7, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 I always used to get my childrens waterproofs from the army and navy store, they were quite cheap, about £8 for trousers and £6 for the coat, although I dont suppose thats cheap when you've got loads to but is it? You could try asking for donations of unwanted waterproffs from higher up the school.
Magenta Posted February 7, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 Zim, We got our waterpfoof stuff from Featherstone Education, they sell leggings too. I think size 8 might be a bit small, my son is in Reception and wears 9 and his friend wears size 10, and I'm sure some in our Unit have bigger than that!
Guest Posted February 7, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 Thanks Rea and Magenta. I got 4 pairs of wellies today. They were only £2 and £3 so I got 1 pair of 8s 2pairs of 9s and then a 13and a 1/2 coz it jumped to this size! No other sizes available but I thought this was really good value . Am I right in thinking that its ok for them to be a size too big? I'm now gonna look out for a 10 or 11 so we have 5 pairs. How many sets of wet weather clothes do you have Magenta and do you find the Featherstone jackets durable? I'm really tempted to just order them as a set of 5 jackets/leggings comes to a £5er each (including postage) which seems good value if they're good quality- when comparing to the £8/£6 ones Rea got but I hate not being able to see them for myself! Might shop around for a bit-any other suggestions of places to look anywhere else anyone? Don't want to spend anymore than a £5 but I guess I'm not gonna get em any cheaper? Saw £1 rain coats today (thank god for my boyfriend coming shopping with me who pointed out that I'd be lucky if they lasted 5 minutes! ) Thanks. Would be interested in anyone elses suggesstions/experiences of wet weather play/clothes
Guest Sycamore Posted February 7, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 Hi I get all my children to bring in wellies, but I appreciate I work in an affluent area so this isn't an issue. I have bought 10 sets of waterproof dungarees- at 12.00 a go, they are expensive but from Sweden and very hard wearing and fit all sizes. They are ffrom a company called Raindrops. I also bought there waterproof gloves that are worn over their own gloves so they can use the water tray without freezing. Again from RAindrops. They are expensive I know but are built to last. Good luck.
Guest Posted February 7, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 Our parents have donated used wellies for us. We have two outdoor raincoats that I purchased a few years ago from Woolies for my own kids! Milletts sell waterproofs at fairly reasonable prices, but I don't know how small they go! How about umbrellas too?
Guest Posted February 7, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 We have just purchased an all in one outdoor wetsuit for all our children in reception.They cost £15 from Millets and we are have a sponsered 'welly throwing comp to raise money for wellies!
Guest Posted February 8, 2005 Posted February 8, 2005 ThaNKS FOR ALL YOUR IDEAS. The waterroof dungarees sounds great Sycamore-esecially if its one size fits all and I'm thinking of £5 each for top/bottoms so it only works out at a couple more pound each. How did you afford it? Did parents help? How easy are they to get on and off? ASPK-must look in woolies and millets, thanks. Umberellas would be a cheap option too. For some reason I always steer away from umberellas, think its because they don't let them have them in the main school playground because there are so many children in one small place and they could cause injuries when putting them up/down but there's no need to worry with smalller, supervised groups. Shooting star-how did you afford a wetsuit for every single reception child? We keep being reminded that the budget is EXTREMELY tight (may have to loose staff so whinging about not having enough resources seems petty !) So it was great having a fundraiser and I would like to have a half termly event to raise money but not sure if the head would be keen. I think the parents would gladly support us as they can see that the money raised is directly benefiting their child but the head's point of view is that we don't want to ask too much of parents as there are lots of things we have to raise money for so we can't KEEP ON expecting our parents to put their hands in their pockets. This is partly because the shool is in a poor area (many parents on benefits) and also because its Catholic and parents have to pay an annual fee-can't remember quite how much but its quite a lot (at least £20 I think) towards building funds which isn't paid by the government because it isn't a state school (I think traditionally church schools are funded by the church community but this is a problem nowadays because fewer and fewer people attend church) Whoops! Just read back-went off on a bit of a tangent there! Let me know how the welly throwing competition goes shooting star! What a great idea! Anymore ideas anyone? I want to write a letter to thank parents for their support and inform them that we will be purchasing some rainy day clothes with the money so thought i'd mention the benefits of outdoor play and why we shouldn't let the rain prevent us from getting fresh air and excersise and to suggest that they send their child in with appropriate clothing on wet days. Any good phrases I could use in the letter? Its just that some parents probably think we're mad to even consider going out in the rain! Also what do you think about such letters that advise parents how to dress their children? Some people find them condesending but we have so many parents and its got to be a case of 'one letter fits all' I'm afraid so I'll be targetting the parent who always dresses their child in approprite clearly labelled clothing at the same time as the one who sends their child in January with bare legs and no coat . Another of our children comes in with wellies when it rains and I'm all-fantastci-we'll beable to splash in the puddles untill I realise she hasn't bought a change of indoor footwear !!
Rea Posted February 8, 2005 Posted February 8, 2005 Zim, if shooting star means the same thing as we had for our boys it's really gagool like material but it's an all in one. Cant remembetr how much though, but it was great.
Magenta Posted February 8, 2005 Posted February 8, 2005 Zim, we currently have 6 sets of outdoor gear. I thought the stuff from Featherstone was quite good quality, but just thick plastic. We sent a letter to parents asking for old jackets, wellies etc. but didn't get any response at all - perhaps not too surprising when our children come dressed similarly to yours Zim, several wearing open toed sandals and denhim jackets all winter!
Guest Posted February 8, 2005 Posted February 8, 2005 Hi We looked at www.uptofive.co.uk and www,littletrekkers.co.uk for our waterproofs. We only bought 10 sets of tops and bottoms. The quality was excellent although expensive. The staff managed to save money from their budget and so this was what they spent their money on. They also bought 2 adult sets from Millets sale. As for wellies, we have asked the parents to supply just as they do for pumps for action kids. I know that this is expensive for parents - but just a word of warning about wellies. A friend of mines child fell over in wellies that were too big for them, banged his head and unfortunatley died. Just bear this in mind if the children are outside and the wellies don't fit too well - risk assessment where would the blame lie. Sorry to sound so down on this but certainly wouldn't want something like this to happen again.
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