Some Uniform thoughts For Starr King & Jose Ortega Elementary Schools
(These tips apply to pretty much any school with uniforms in San Francisco, sometimes the bottoms are navy blue, sometimes black, sometimes khaki.)
Uniform requirements:
Starr King’s uniform is navy blue bottoms and a white, collared shirt on top.
Jose Ortega’s uniform is the same, though light-blue and navy shirts are also allowed.
Any colored shoes, socks and tights are fine.
Land’s End Preferred School Program:
If you buy your uniforms at Land’s End, each school is part of their Preferred School program and the school gets some money back from purchases. Each schools’ number is below.
Starr King: 900138058.
Jose Ortega : 900139296.
Suggestions from current parents:
Where do you get uniforms?
– I ordered a bunch of stuff from http://www.thechildrenswearoutlet.com/shop/ last year. The shirts were fine. I wish I had bought more of them. The bottoms were really variable in sizes-we bought a skirt that though it said it was a 6, seemed more like an 8.
– Thrift Town (2101 Mission Street) for pants, shorts, jackets, and sweaters. They tend not to have white polo shirts, which I bought new.
– I also bought some jumpers/skirts at thrift stores (which were fine). Most thrift stores have a small stock of random uniform stuff all year, but I found that at the end of the summer Thrift Town had a big rack of things. I had a harder time finding good white shirts or pants there and after a year I see why.
– Ross/Marshalls also had a good selection of various brands in the fall. This might be a good inexpensive choice for non-standard sizes.
– Now Gap/Crazy8s/all department stores have uniforms in the late summer/fall. Sears ran a promotion that said that if they didn’t have the size you wanted it would be free last fall
– Burlington Coat Factory, They have white polo style shirts available for boys and girls throughout the school year. Girls size 7 pants have been elusive at the Howard/5th Street store
What brands are good/bad?
– I would say Lands End, Polo. I got 6 or so shirts from Amazon; French Toast was the brand (cheap! like $7 each). They are mediocre quality, tho’ my son likes them.
– Kindergarteners need elastic waistbands so that it’s easier for them to handle the bathroom on their own! I liked the cargo pants from Children’s Place for this reason, but they seem to wear out just before the year ends.
– We like the polyester jumpers and skirts from French Toast (frenchtoast.com). They don’t get all gnarly, curly and faded in the wash like cotton ones. Cute styles, too.
– Though the French Toast white polo shirts don’t hold up as well as Lands End.
– Gymboree (my fave); French toast on line (runs small); Target; Kohls(my 2nd fave)
– Lands End endures! Can last the whole year
Is there a good place to buy for different sized-kids (some uniform pants are too big if you’ve got a really thin kid, for example)
– Some of the Target skorts have adjustable waist bands which is helpful for my slim girl.
– Some Lands End clothes have adjustable waist bands
What will the kid really wear (i.e. skirts? jumpers? Sweaters? hoodies?)
– I suggest layering a white or blue knit shirt under a polo or dress on cooler days. I’ve bought a lot of cute navy-blue sweaters from Lands’ End over the years, and the most recent one was lost on the second day of school. It disappeared when my daughter left it on the bench during recess. Knit shirts are cheaper to replace.
– Littler girls seem to like skirts and jumpers, later on they only seem to want to wear pants. For under skirts and jumper, bicycle shorts are a great way to avoid the dreaded “I see London, I see France…” problem.
– All the kinder girls seem to wear short skirts or short dresses with blue (or other color) leggings underneath (or colorful tights). My son refused to wear any long-sleeved white shirt. (button-down, turtleneck, polo-style — nada.) He wears hoodie sweaters and jackets.
– My son wore shorts for a few days, but EVERY time he wore shorts, he came home with skinned (bloody) knees. I don’t know whether it was just unlucky, or my son is particularly clumsy, but be aware that very active kids + shorts = scabby knees. My son is OK wearing pants, so we just went w/that.
– Skorts and jumpers. Mine won’t wear pants. In K she loved the blue dresses w/ short sleeves (no white shirt needed) from Target. I bought a couple for first grade and she didn’t wear them all year. Hoodies are a must but needn’t be uniform colors. I got a white hoodie and a navy sweater before learning that hoodies are free choice and my girl rarely wore those. She chose her pink or pink- hearts hoodies instead.
– A few months into the school year my daughter decided that she really didn’t want to wear skirts or dresses anymore-so I would advise if you have a girl being cautious about your selection.
– What my daughter wants to wear are navy yoga pants from target and long sleeve, non-ruffle collared shirts. Every day. Regardless if you have a kinder kid I would advise making sure that kids are able to get the pants on and off without assistance. I didn’t think of this and we had an accident before she was able to get her pants off.
What do you wish you’d bought more of?
– White short-sleeved shirts
– Pink tights and leggings
– More shirts set aside and reserved for after Christmas would have been a good idea. The shirts she’s wearing now are funky-dunky, but I am not buying more until the fall.
– White collared tops, navy blue bottoms.
I try and buy thicker pants for my active son, as we have problems getting holes in the knees. I look year round for stuff on sale and grab it when it is the next size up! I also recommend buying the long sleeved polos when they come out late July/ e…
– White collared tops, navy blue bottoms.
– I try and buy thicker pants for my active son, as we have problems getting holes in the knees. I look year round for stuff on sale and grab it when it is the next size up! I also recommend buying the long sleeved polos when they come out late July/ early August, as they are hard to find when it gets cold (unless you buy online).
– For our daughter it is all about variety as you never know if she’ll want to wear skirts/ dresses 5 days a week.
– A good, sturdy cotton zip up sweater (Lands End makes a nice one) is great for girls. Navy blue held up better than white. My girls worn theirs to school almost every day.
–
What do you wish you’d skipped?
– Long-sleeved white shirts, and maybe some of the shorts (due to the skinned-knee thing)
– This year, dresses
– Fancy long-sleeved shirts that buttoned for girls, which they consistently refused to wear, however cute they looked to me.
– We tried shorts the first year but they never got worn.
– Uniform pants can be heavy and stiff sometimes. We really liked the yoga flare pants that Lands End sells. There are also similar knit pants at Target and sometimes you find them at Costco, though it’s hit or miss there.
When did you buy?
– June – August (you gotta give it more time at a thrift store)
– In August. We went together and it was a fun getting- ready- for- school shopping trip.
– Tip if you like the Lands End yoga flare pants, which are very popular – they tend to run out by Nov, so buy enough because otherwise you’ll get the dreaded “out of stock until July” message
– Shortly before year started, the kids grow like weeds between ages 5-7.
How long do they last?
– The new shirts got stained right away. The thrift store pants are still fine. Nothing is torn or too small, so define “last”…. 🙂 However, when he entered K, he had some 4T garments — those he outgrew by Feb/Mar (he turned 5 in Aug, so I figured I got an extra 6 months out of them).
– How long do they last? My da is still wearing some of the k skorts at the end of 1st grade. they’re not as crisp but are fine.
– Boys will destroy white shirts. You just have to live with it. Stain sticks are your friend.
–
How many of everything do you need?
– We got too much. I got seven or eight skorts/jumpers and some pants that she never ever wore, and probably even more shirts, in K. She outgrew some of the shirts midyear. I bought the larger size at the beginning of the year (on the advice of a 2nd grade parent) and those she still wears a year later.
– In K my daughter was into tights. In 1st she’s more into leggings. If your kid wears pants you can skip this step.
How many of everything do you need?
– pants: 6-8 prs
shorts: 1-2
short-sleeved shirts: 6-8
long-sleeved shirts: 1-2
sweaters/hoodies: 3-4
jackets: 3-4
– 5 outfits so that I don’t have to do laundry mid week.
– At least five white, short-sleeved polo shirts as at a certain point they seem to stop wearing anything else, and they usually get them so dirty in one day that you can’t get by with having them wear them twice.
Do kids outgrow stuff in Kindergarten? Will I need to shop twice?
– Only the 4t stuff.
– A 2nd grade parent advised me to get larger sizes in august/sept bec they need them in jan/feb and uniforms are much much harder to find then.
–
What about shoes?
– I see a lot of Kinders wearing crocs or sandals (boys and girls). My guy is not that guy. Early in the year he wore construction boots, slip on hiking-style (low) shoes, and now he wears basketball shoes (hi-tops). He is athletic and wants to RUN and play on the yard. Some of the girls, though, especially, wear cute girly shoes. Depends on temprament, I think.
– before Kindergarten I got one pair of cute Mary Jane shoes to go with the uniforms (not required, any kind of shoes, hoodies, socks is fine) and my daughter wore them once. Her feet grew a lot over the last couple of years so we’ve gone through quite few tennis shoes.
– Something they can run around in well on the playground.
Other tips:
– When it’s cold, the kids can wear any colored long sleeved shirt as long as a white shirt is worn on top. (Laundry is easier when the long sleeves are dark colored!)
– Ditto that – they’re much more likely to lose a sweater than a long-sleeved shirt that they won’t take off.
– Cotton sweaters they can wear inside in the winter months when it’s cold.
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 
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