Books & Stationery for Grade 7

AliKay on 04/12/2023 - 09:05
Last edited 04/12/2023 - 11:17 by 1 other user

Hi all,

My kids have been going to a small private school in Melbourne and each year, we paid a fixed amount for books and stationery to the school and they managed the rest.

Now my son is going to be in Grade 7 next year and the cost the school is asking seems very steep for books and stationery.

Since we do not have prior experience with this, can someone please advise where to economically buy the books and stationary so that I can organize them all by myself instead of paying the school? Thank you.

• 

  AngoraFish on 04/12/2023 - 09:34

  +2

  It's hard to beat Officeworks for the stationary. They will even normally have the school's stationary list uploaded, although probably not quite this early.

  Obviously if the stationary list includes the usual filler like HB pencils that you already have you don't need to buy them again simply because they're on the booklist.

  Textbooks are not the kind of thing you can get on ebay, really there's not much choice in my experience but to use the school booklist. You might be able to save a few bucks on the English novels, but overall we've never found it worth our while shopping around for these.

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  mskeggs on 04/12/2023 - 09:56

  +4

  Bigw and Kmart also do cheap back to school.
  One thing I noticed is schools are stupidly precise (192pg for English, 148pg for HSIE etc.) but it is quite reasonable to just buy a bunch of 96pg or 128pg exercise books, and if they fill it, send along another. This removes the load of carrying hundreds of blank pages around all year for no purpose.
  Of course, my yr7 kids didn't want to stand out in any way, so insisted on getting the exact page counts. By yr8 that were, "eh, I've got Smith for History, 48pages is all I plan to do."

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  ozprash on 04/12/2023 - 10:07

  +1

  Aldi also should have the back-to-school stationery stuff early Jan. Cheapest that I found for notebooks and folders. Or Officeworks would be close pricewise.

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  mrwoo on 04/12/2023 - 10:15

  +4

  The prices never stand still.

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  Protractor on 04/12/2023 - 10:59

  +1

  Surely the actual text books are available near new second hand? (Enquire locally) Officeworks, and all thr usual retail stores for the stationery. Make you YOU call the shots, not the kids

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  Cho0028 on 04/12/2023 - 11:07

  +1

  Suggest using second hand options which some schools do offer.

  Something that a lot of people don't know is that Campion Education manages most of the back to school booklists in VIC. They essentially have a monopoly on the market as they've bought out a lot of competitors but kept the original name so that people don't know.

  • 

    AliKay on 04/12/2023 - 11:09

    Campion is exactly through which the school has advised to purchase the books/stationery.

    They have a portal and as soon as we enter student's name and grade, the list appears.

    • 

      Cho0028 on 04/12/2023 - 11:14

      +1

      Yeah not surprising. Avoid buying stationary or exercise books there as they mark them up massively. They take advantage of their monopoly and the fact that a lot of parents are lazy and can't be bothered shopping around for stationary items.

      • 

        RM on 04/12/2023 - 11:26

        Cant agree more. And add to the fact that their "last day to order" was 24th Nov and schools only close around 2nd week of Dec.

        No way for a kid to bring books back for parents to sell/buy used ones.

        and then the teach them about sustainability and environment.

        We only bought new books, no stationery. Will look for used books on marketplace nad return the new ones accordingly.

        Most parents are not bothered, they just like the convenience, exactly what Campion wants.

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  Muzeeb on 04/12/2023 - 13:15

  +1

  Stationery - writing materials

  Stationary - not moving

  Thanks.

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  Benoffie on 04/12/2023 - 20:55

  Amazon will have their stationery sale post Xmas. Also look at Amazon US > here as things like Pilot pens are decidedly cheaper.

  Also, dont fall for the one book per subject nonsense unless the teachers are specifically asking for it (say, Art).

  In SA, 99% of work is electronic so any bookwork is for student revision and therefore should be to their personal taste and encourage best study habits. I always recommend 5 subject binders. Saves running to lockers all day, cant forget books and has stash sleeves for handouts. Usually 1 per term does the trick.

  Dont over spend and dont send them with everything. It will get nicked or lost. They dont need 24 coloured pencils and textas etc. Good pens, highlighters, small pack of 12 coloured pencils, HB, rubber, ruler, white out, small stapler, USB stick. That's about it.

  If you really want to bargain hunt, check out Savers etc. Teachers and schools toss end of year school supplies to charities. I get stacks from there to give out to students during the year.

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  vince088 on 04/12/2023 - 21:03

  I had to buy a iPad for my kid's year 7 starting year

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  stickingly on 05/12/2023 - 09:19

  +1

  I think the stationery is a bit of a rort from Campion, they don't need everything on the list. The school doesn't care that they have the exact number and brand of exercise books pens / pencils etc, and my kids never cared. If they find they need something once school starts just go to officeworks and buy it.

  Textbooks you can also get anywhere and may find it a few $$ cheaper, but that is harder.
  One of the reasons is that they tend to change the editions just about every year to force you to buy it new. I had many cases where my younger child couldn't use the textbooks my older child had used the previous year as they had changed. It also makes it hard to sell them. If you do buy second hand make sure it is the correct version / edition.

  Most of the textbooks now also have an electronic /subscription component as well, so even if you buy second hand you need to buy that

  Things like calculators etc you can definitely find cheaper elsewhere