Back-to-school organising tips for parents

With the new school year just around the corner, you may be wondering how to prepare your home for back to school. Use these back-to-school organising tips to help you get the new school year off to a positive start.

After the long summer break getting back to clock watching and living to school timetables can be a big transition. The phone messages and parent apps are about to start pinging at us again. Parent taxis will soon be on constant standby. The information we have to hold in our heads can feel overwhelming. Plus, children who are moving up a school year have extra adjustments and can feel a little wobbly too.

You may want to make the most of the school holidays, but thinking ahead about organising your home and get into good habits will be worthwhile. It can make transition easy and will set you up for success this new school year.

As a mum of three, who has been through the primary years, worked as a Teaching Assistant for several years and now has all my children in secondary school, here are my top back to school organising tips.

Boy sat at a school desk behind school supplies, showing its time to go back to school

1. Get a family calendar

To be truly organised this year get a family calendar that you can add all school the dates to. Put it in a place that’s in full view, so everyone has access to it and can check it easily. This will ensure everyone knows what’s going on and not just one person is responsible.

In addition (or as an alternative) a shared digital calendar with partners and children who can use tech is a good idea. We use our ordinary phone calendar in a shared group and that works for us. We can all add events, which sends alerts to everyone in the group, so we know what’s coming up and when.

As well as events you can add tasks and reminders to your diary to help stay on track. For example, add in the Christmas jumper day plus the reminder to check the jumper fits and buy a new one if need be. Charity shops are great for this, by the way. You don’t have to buy new!

Put all the dates in your calendar IMMEDIATELY. Many of these are released ahead of time, such as terms dates, holidays and teacher training days. Put them in now! As soon as you hear about new dates, like school trips, dress up days, PTA meetings, parents evenings and so on, drop them in.

If you have little or multiple children, colour coding entries or using images can help them access the calendar.

2. Create a reminders board

There’s always a time when you just want to be able to jot down a quick reminder to take something extra to school.

Don’t tell yourself it’ll be fine you’ll remember the cooking ingredients, the £1 for the charity day or the slip that needs to be returned by Friday. Write it down. You may remember but do it anyway.

Having a dry wipe board or chalk board can be really useful to write these things on. Make it visible as it’s the ease of access that will make the difference. We painted a wall in chalk paint in our old house and it worked brilliantly.

Back to school organising is also about encouraging everyone to join in. This way information is shared and has the potential to remembered by all. Communicate it to others and share the responsibility.

3. Put school timetables in a central location

It can never harm to have an extra copy for each child’s timetable in a central location, ideally the kitchen. Yes, they need to be responsible, but you can model and encourage too. Not all children adapt to this easily and timetables can feel complicated during the early stages of secondary school.

It can be useful if timetables are colour-coded, particularly if there is specific equipment to remember one some days. For example, colour-coding PE classes in orange is an easy visual reminder that children need extra kit on those days. Visual reminders in picture format can also work better than writing for some children (and parents). Pick what works best for your family.

Whilst I encourage packing bags the night before, a quick check over this timetable in the morning gives that extra boost of confidence before you leave the house.

4. Create a drop zone for paperwork

This is an important back to school organising tip for anyone who struggles with keeping on top of the amount of stuff that comes home from school.

Create a designated drop zone for the flurry of permission slips, artwork and forms to be completed. It’s a must if you want to be organised during the school year.

Create at least two containers so you can separate what is just for keeping from the paperwork that needs actioning. Artwork and mementos will go in one. Forms to complete, things to pay or remember for later on will go in the other. It means you won’t be rummaging amongst the craft projects for the essential items when you need them.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Upright magazine files, a couple of in-trays or hanging wall files can do the job brilliantly. Just choose what works for you.

Empty these trays at the end of each term, taking time to go through artwork and creations with children, so that you keep only the best of the best. Make sure any actions are completed, calendars updated, and boxes are clear. The term breaks will feel lighter as a result, and you’ll be set up for a fresh start once again.

5. Create a homework station

Set up a designated place for homework in a distraction free zone so that children have a place to complete homework tasks easily.

Girl sat at her school homework station to help organise for back to school

Ideally this would be a desk that is away from the busyness of the rest of the house, the TV and other distractions. One that once homework is complete, they can walk away from, so they have that true break from school.

Organise it with everything they need such as stationery, electronics and creative items so they are in easy reach. This will allow them to get straight to work and focus on the task in hand and not waste time looking for what they need.

It’s fine if this is the kitchen or dining table, it can still be set up for success. Make sure it is clean and clear ready for your child when they need to use it and that what they need is close by. Rolling carts and rotating storage caddies are useful storage options for multi-use areas like this. Or simply pop things in a dedicated drawer nearby.

6. Organise school uniform in one drawer or zone

Separating school uniform from every day clothes is a really simple way to make school mornings run more smoothly. Put everything you can into the same drawer or couple of drawers and the same section of the wardrobe. Then children know where everything is – and where everything can be put away.

Drawer dividers can be used to separate small items like school socks, tights and ties and also sports kit items.

I’d also recommend putting personal care items in a set place. Hair combs and brushes, hair accessories, deodorant and can easily be set out on a tray or in a small container, so they are easy to access.

When everything has a specific place within your home, the easier it will be for your child to get ready each day. It minimises the chance of items being lost, of routines not being followed and the chaos of the morning getting out of control.

7. Organise lunchboxes and snacks

Set aside an area in a cupboard for lunch boxes, containers, bags and bottles that children need for school. Remember to keep only what you need. If your child has outgrown items from previous years, declutter them now. No-one needs to play lunchbox Jenga in the morning!

To help making putting lunches together easier, use different storage boxes or containers in the fridge and the cupboard. Group similar items together such as fruit, snacks, crisps and so on.

If you want your children to get involved, make sure all items are at an accessible height. Put the lunchboxes in a lower cupboard and use the lowest shelves in the pantry and fridge for easy access.

8. Make it easy to put coats, bags and shoes away

When children come home from school, it’s important to encourage them to put things away straight away. This minimises the risk of things getting lost. That stray shoe is what’s going to cause stress in the morning.

To make this easy, everything needs a place. Use child height hooks for coats, easy to drop in basket for shoes, and a set place for their school bag. If you have space, add a container for the seasonal items like hats and gloves as these small items can easily wander. Encourage children with their own front door key to put it straight back in their bag ready for the next day.

9. Decide where to put items when they aren’t in use

Your child won’t need to take the same items into school every day. This is particularly so for secondary school children, who will only need to take the books and equipment for the lessons they have that day.

For them to feel organised going back to school, establish a place for books and other items when they aren’t needed. It saves things getting lost and acts as a bit of a school bag packing station.

A basket or a tub is all that’s needed, so items can be dropped in. Plastic pouches can be used to organise small items inside, and a couple of magazine file boxes are useful to keep books upright and organised.

10. Label everything

During my time as a Teaching Assistant, I spent a lot of time sorting through miscellaneous items and responding to requests from parents about missing kit. The amount of stuff that wasn’t labelled was incredible.

Absolutely label everything. Especially second-hand items that have someone else’s name in. You may recognise the name and know this now belongs to your child, but no one else will.

Things get lost, mixed up and disappear because children lose things all the time. It’s inevitable and labelling something doesn’t mean you’ll 100% get it back (just ask my son about his coat…), but it gives you a much better chance.

There are loads of solutions out there from hand sewn, iron on, stick on and just a permanent marker that won’t wash off. Do whatever feels right for you.

Boring as it is, label, label, label.