Getting ready for secondary school is scary. You may not be in any classes with your friends, you will be taught by teachers you have never met before and being in an unfamiliar building can definitely be off putting. Therefore, it is important that you make sure you are the most prepared you can be before starting this new chapter of your life. One way you can do this is by making sure that you have all of the right stationary! This may seem like a little thing, something you should worry about maybe a week before starting school. However, this is not the case! Getting the right stationary is extremely important.
If you want to discover what stationary you actually need, carry on reading and get your parents ready to go out shopping!
Fundamental stationary checklist for students
Stationary is definitely fun to buy, especially when looking at the cute rubbers and mini staplers. However, you need to make sure that you have the essentials before looking at any of the novelty stationary.
To be ready for high school, there is plenty of stationary you are expected to bring with you. Most schools won’t provide you with these!
Check out the following headings if you want to find out what the most important stationary is for school.
School bag
This is an obvious one! If you are going to school, you will need a bag to put all of your stationary in before you actually buy any stationary!
Unlike most primary schools, high schools don’t offer bags that have the school logo on which you are expected to buy. Instead, you have to buy your own school bag.
The best type of bags to buy are backpacks. This is because they are the easiest to carry around, especially when you have to bring heavy textbooks to school.
A great backpack for school can be found on Amazon, if you click here. This backpack is also waterproof, perfect for when you are running to the bus stop in the rain!
Some stylish pupils prefer taking large handbags to school. However, this may not be a wise choice, as you might have to squish your books in to make them fit. This could make the pages all crumpled.
Handbags are also harder to carry too. However, if you do want to be a bit different, a satchel is a great choice! Check out this one from Amazon.
Pencil case
A pencil case is also a must have. You will need one to pack all of your pens and pencils away so that they won’t get lost.
Nowadays, there are so many different pencil case styles you can get. This is true for boys and girls. You need to just make sure that the pencil case you get is big enough to fit everything in!
A simple pencil case like this one from Amazon would be a great choice. If you want to bring lots of pens and pencils to school, then you may consider a bumper pencil case, which can also be found on Amazon here.
It can also be useful to buy a clear pencil case, as these are needed for exams. You can find some good, cheap clear pencil cases on Amazon, if you click here.
Pens
Hundreds of students will be in the high school you go to. This means that teachers are unable to provide every student with a pen.
As a result, this is up to you. Most schools prefer students to write in black pens. It can be good to get packs of these such as this one from Amazon, so that you won’t run out for a while.
It can also be good to have a couple of different coloured pens, for when you are marking tests. Red, blue and green pens would be good for this and can also be found on Amazon.
Pencils
Pencils are essential for lessons such as maths or science. This is because you will need a pencil to draw graphs or tables.
Most subjects also require students to underline the dates and titles with pencils. You can find a big pack of pencils on Amazon, if you click here.
If you really want to, you could also purchase some coloured pencils. These would be useful for geography or art, especially if there aren’t enough coloured pencils for every student.
You can find some coloured pencils on Amazon, if you click here.
Sharpener
Now you have your pencils it is important you have a way of keeping these sharp. There’s very few things more frustrating then trying to draw an accurate line on a graph with a blunt pencil.
Click here to view a simple bog standard sharpener, or if you find yourself sharpening pencils regularly why not treat yourself to an electric sharpener.
Ruler
Rulers are obviously needed to measure things! This is true for maths and any of the sciences. They are also needed for when you are required to draw straight lines.
So many students forget rulers, however they are an essential piece of equipment. Smaller rulers are easier for school because they are able to fit into your pencil case.
Some good 15cm rulers can be found on Amazon here. However, if you prefer larger rulers, this is also a good choice!
You can also find these on Amazon here.
Rubber
If you are drawing shapes and tables, you definitely need a rubber! Rubbers can be life savers in school, when you may have accidentally drawn a table or graph wrong.
You can find some basic rubbers on Amazon if you click here. However, it’s true that funky rubbers can be more fun.
There are so many cool rubbers which could perk you up in school. You could get animal rubbers, burger rubbers and much more!
Some cool animal rubbers can be found on Amazon here.
Calculator
Calculators are essential for the maths and science subjects. They can also be useful for subjects such as geography and business.
Normal calculators are good for working out simple sums. However, in high school, you will find that GCSE Maths will require you to have something called a scientific calculator.
This is superior to a normal calculator because it has more buttons and can work out more complex equations, in an easy way.
You can find some good scientific calculators on Amazon. If you want to discover what type of scientific calculator is the best for GCSE Maths, check out this article from Think Student.
Highlighters
Highlighters are great additions to your stationary collection! They are great for exams, when you need to highlight the questions.
They are also good for subjects such as history and geography, when you may need to highlight big blocks of text. Of course, highlighters are also great for making notes look colourful, so you are more likely to read them.
You can find some good highlighters on Amazon, if you click here.
Stationary extras
After you have all of the fundamental pieces of stationary, you may find that you need other resources for specific subjects. As a Year 7 student, you will do a variety of different subjects.
Therefore, you need to make sure that you are prepared. This is because the next three years are so important for you, in order to decide your favourite subjects.
If you are prepared, then you will be in a great position to choose which GCSEs you want to do! For example, the get the most out of art, you will need a range of different equipment.
Equipment for GCSE Maths
You may be surprised to learn all of the equipment you need for GCSE Maths. As already mentioned, you definitely need a ruler. This is to measure things, such as shapes.
You also will find that a calculator is an essential tool for GCSE Maths.
As you learn more maths, you will find that you need a protractor and compass too. Protractors are useful for calculating angles.
Compasses are used for drawing circles and arcs, which is also useful for GCSE Maths. Amazon actually sells a maths set, with everything you could ever need in a maths lesson.
You can find this if you click here.
Equipment for GCSE Art
In GCSE Art, you will learn a range of different ways to create fantastic drawings and pictures. In the lower years of high school, you will tend to just draw with a pencil.
However, as you gain experience, you will learn to draw with water colours, oil paints and even charcoal. If you are worried that school art supplies won’t be good enough, then it is definitely worth investing in your own set of art tools.
If you want to find some quality water colours, check out this set from Amazon. Alternatively, Amazon sell some brilliant oil paints which can be found if you click here.
Fine liners are also great additions for GCSE Art. They are good for making your drawings stand out. They can be found on Amazon here in many different colours.
Revision equipment
As a student, you are unlikely to be given your own revision textbooks which you can keep. Instead, you will most likely have to buy your own.
These are easy to find if you just look them up! An example on Amazon is this GCSE History textbook, if you click here. Another brilliant tool for revision is buying flash cards.
These can be used for active recall in revision. You can use these by writing a question on one side and the answer on the other for every topic in any subject!
You can find some cheap revision cards on Amazon, if you click this link. If you want to discover other effective revision strategies, check out this article from Think Student.
A great revision method is also answering exam questions. These can easily be found online on your phone.
However, many students prefer viewing exam questions on a larger screen. Therefore, getting a laptop would be a great investment.
However, this is not essential! Your school will likely have some great computer rooms they will happily let you use.
Optional equipment
After you have bought all of this equipment, you may feel super prepared and think that you can’t possibly need anything else! However, this is not the case for some people.
If you are like me, then buying stationary is one of your favourite things and you feel the need to get everything! If this sounds like you, check out this list to find out what other equipment you could invest in.
Folders
If you enjoy being organised, ring binder folders would be a great idea for you. You can put all of your notes together and label the folders with the different subject names.
You can find some good ring binder folders on Amazon, if you click here. If you buy folders, then it would also be useful to buy plastic wallets, so that you can easily slip in your pieces of paper.
These can also be found on Amazon here.
Staplers and hole punchers
Staplers are great for organisation! If you have lots of loose paper flapping around that needs to go together, having a stapler is a great idea.
You can get mini staplers on Amazon, if you click here. These are great and so convenient to slip into your pencil case.
Likewise, you can get mini hole punchers! These are great for punching holes in pages of notes, so that you can easily slip them into your folders.
You can find mini hole punchers on Amazon here.
Scissors and glue sticks
When there is a cutting and sticking task in class, it can be a battle to get your own scissors and glue sticks! Therefore, it might be useful to invest in your own.
Similarly to staplers and hole punchers, you can get mini scissors and glue sticks. You can find scissors on Amazon if you click here, or mini glue sticks on Amazon, if you click this link.
Just make sure that no one tries to take your scissors and glue for themselves. It is true that there is normally a race for this equipment in school because there never seems to be enough!
Hopefully, this list has told you all you need to know about stationary. Now, you should be prepared for school!
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