How To Get Your Teen Daughter School-Ready For September

Last Updated on: 10th August 2025, 10:51 pm

If your teen is anything like mine, she will hate the back-to-school shop. It should be easy, but it never is. It should be easy. She hasn’t needed a skirt or blazer for years. I bought a blazer that was 6 sizes too big when she started secondary school. And her skirts have lasted for years. I get her new blouses a couple of times a year, but thats her uniform sorted every year. So what else do you need to get your teen daughter school-ready for September? It changes as your kids get older; they need more than at primary school. But they also want extras. So here is a great list to get your teen ready for September.

School Shoes

When I was at school, my mum always made me wear the ugliest shoes to school. She insisted I had Clarks, but they were ugly shoes back then. And they were always the ones in the sale, so they were the shoes that nobody else would have. I hated these shoes, and people at school would take the piss out of me. So I would have a pair of shoes that I would keep in my school bag, and would change them when I was on my way to school. I never wanted this for my children. They have always been allowed to choose their own shoes from an early age. It is no different with Tilly. She chooses to wear boots, and every year she buys the same old boots from Sports Direct. These are £28 and a pair usually lasts her 6 months to a year.

Grab Some Notebooks

As they progress through secondary school, they will need to remember more and more. Encourage your kids to make mind maps; these are ideal for retaining information. Get them some notebooks to write their notes and draw their mind maps. You literally can buy notebooks anywhere. But personally, the Spiral notebooks are the best ones as they are easy to turn the page. Get a different selection of size notebooks. Smaller ones to pop in their pockets or the side of their bag, and a couple of bigger ones for the important notes. Look in Poundland for some good spiral notebooks. These were £1 each. Going back to school doesn’t need to be expensive. If you have a Cricut machine or they have some stickers, they can decorate the notebooks.

A Decent School Bag

Your Teenage daughter will probably want to start year 7 with a fashionable bag. A bag she has seen celebs use or one that she has seen on Instagram. But after year 7, they seem to realise that a backpack is more convenient and easier to use. But it will need to be the right bag. Let them choose it – if you buy the wrong one, they won’t use it. Or they will be embarrassed by it. Tilly always gets a bag from Sports Direct; she has a plain black one.

Pens, Pencils And Maths Set

You can buy a good selection of blue and black pens from somewhere like Poundland, just make sure they are decent pens. You want to get those pens where the ink flows nicely, and they write nicely too. This will help them to keep their handwriting neat and readable. I usually buy a pack of 20 or 30 for the year. This stops you from having to buy more pens, and if they lose them, they can grab a new one when they need. They will need a clear pencil case for exams and also a maths set too.

Grab Some Post-It Notes For Revision

I have got these awesome transparent Post-it notes. Your child can make notes and place them on pages, whilst still being able to see some of the words underneath. The glittery ones are jazzy and will make it easier to find the notes that your kid needs. These are awesome for exam revision or for making notes in books that you need to remember in a lesson. If you are buying some Post-it notes, you should get some in different sizes, for different uses. These came from WHSmith for an awesome price of £2 a set.

Your Teen Daughter Will Need Tights! Loads Of Them

Teenagers go through a pair of tights a day, and I’m not exaggerating! They will go to school looking pristine, and by 3 pm, they will not only have ladders in their tights. They will also have giant holes. So my suggestion is to go for the thicker tights. A 60 or 80 denier pair of tights is what you need. They will still eventually get holes in them. But they will last slightly longer than thinner ones. Thicker tights are better for the winter; teenage girls roll their skirts right up, so thicker tights give them a little bit of dignity back. I buy these tights from Superdrug and they are £7 for 2 pairs, but always on a bogohp offer. I have also bought thick tights from Primark. But do not buy them woollen tights – thats not cool!

A Raincoat To Get Your Daughter School-Ready

If your teenage daughter is just starting at secondary school, I am telling you now, she will not wear a coat. It is not cool, and nobody else wears one. If she wears a blazer, she will think that it is adequate enough, but we know better. So grab her a Pac-a-Mac or Kag-in-a-Bag, whatever you call it. A small raincoat to pop in her school bag. It is there if it rains, then, and she will stay dry. They are usually about £15 from places like Mountain Warehouse, Primark or other good clothes shops. Make sure it’s a cool one!

Highlighters To Help Highlight Notes And Phrases

A set of different coloured highlighters will encourage your teenager to be organised with her notes. I love this set from WHSmith which only cost £4.00. It has 12 different slimline highlighters in a desk tray to easily keep them at hand for when she needs them. They are chisel-tipped for easy highlighting. There are 6 colours with a dark and a light one in each colour.

Get Your Teenage Daughter School-Ready With A Spare Phone Lead And Power Bank

I hate that Tilly doesn’t always charge her phone at night. So she goes to school with a half-charged phone, and it often runs down. So she has a phone lead and a power bank in her school bag. No more worries about not being able to track her on her way home from school. I don’t have to worry about not being able to get in touch with her throughout the day. Now I just have to make sure the power bank is charged up!

Get Your Teen Daughter School-Ready With Some Hairbands

She will need hundreds! Teenage girls wear 2 or 3 bands in their hair at a time. And sometimes they break them or lose them. So get a couple of packets of hair bands, and pop them in a tub. Then they will be stocked up. There will be no first day of school panic because they can’t do their hair. My teen also uses hair bands when she needs to roll up some school work, and there is nothing to keep it secure.

Treat Them To Some Perfume To Help Get Your Teen Daughter School-Ready

Teenage girls do not care how big a bottle is; they will still carry it around in their school bag. So you can treat her to some perfume before the big day. This will help her feel confident at school. It will help her to feel like she smells awesome. And it will give her a talking point with her friends. Whatever your budget is, there is a perfume for your daughter. Whether it is the high-end fragrance or one of the budget perfumes that you can afford, it will all make her feel good. A perfume box set is a lovely gift; often, they have a full-size bottle and a smaller version of the same perfume. Or it will have a body lotion to help their perfume last longer.

For budget perfumes, there is always the So! body sprays, they are a couple of pounds each and such good value. But my daughter Tilly uses the Layering Lab perfumes because they are a dupe of proper fragrances at a fraction of the price. Buy them in box sets like these ones, because they are smaller for the school bag. There is also a better selection, so she can use a different perfume every day. You can find the list of Layering Lab dupes here.

Win A Back To School Bundle

Would you like to win a small bundle to help get your teenage daughter school-ready? We have a little bundle with the following items for you.

• A 100 ml Bottle Of Britney Spears Perfume
• Pens
• Clear Pencil Case Filled With School Products
• Maths Set
• 3 Packs Of Facial Wipes

You do not need to enter all of the entries, but each additional entry gives you 5 more chances to win.

Terms And Conditions

• UK Entries only
• You must be over 13 to enter
• All comments on the blog or Instagram need to be over 8 words; otherwise, they go to spam and it won’t count.
• If you say you have entered with a specific entry, you must have done it; otherwise, all entries are void