What to put in a period kit for school

A period kit for school needs seven things: pads or tampons in the amount she really uses, liners, a spare pair of underwear, a disposal bag, wipes, pain relief if the school allows it, and somewhere to write the date down. It should live in the bag she carries every day, and it should lie flat.

Here's why each of those matters.

She'll get caught out at school first

School is where she spends most of her waking hours. She's in uniform, she often hasn't got a bag on her, and her cycle hasn't settled into anything predictable yet.

A kit won't stop that happening. What it changes is what happens next, and whether she has to solve it in front of people or can just deal with it and go back to class.

Why a kit beats the front office

Most schools keep supplies at the office or with the nurse, and that system works well enough. It just costs her something each time: leaving class, finding an adult, explaining, then walking back in late while the room looks up.

Some girls don't mind any of that. Plenty do, and the ones who mind will often sit through the lesson hoping instead.

What goes in a school period kit

• Pads or tampons, whichever she already uses. More than you'd think. Four will cover a school day; two only if her flow is light.
• Liners, for the days either side when she isn't sure yet.
• A spare pair of underwear. It's the item most often left out and the one that makes the biggest difference on a bad day.
• A disposal bag. School bins aren't always where you'd want them to be.
• Wipes.
• Pain relief, if the school permits it. Check the policy first. Many Australian schools require medication to be held at the office and given out by staff, so this one may not be hers to carry.
• Something to write the date on. Not to make a project of it. Just so next month isn't a guess.

Where it should live

In the bag she carries every day, not in her locker. A locker is on the wrong floor about half the time and it's shut during the exact lesson she needs it.

Flat matters more than small. A pouch that bulges gets moved to the locker within a fortnight, and then it may as well not exist. Something that lies against the back of a school bag tends to stay there.

Restocking without making it a conversation

Pick a fixed time. Sunday evening, when the uniform gets sorted, works for most families. It becomes a habit instead of a discussion, and nobody has to point out that anything was used.

If you'd rather it were entirely hers, keep the refills somewhere she can reach on her own.

The part that isn't about supplies

A stocked kit tells her somebody thought about this in advance, that it was expected, and that there's a plan for it. At thirteen, that lands harder than anything inside the case.

Which size suits a school bag

The Small is 190 × 150 mm and 25 mm thick, roughly a paperback. It has four tampon loops, labelled sections for pads, liners, pain relief and a disposal bag, and a full-width pocket behind the calendar for spare underwear.

The Large has ten loops and a deeper pocket. It's worth it if she boards, plays sport after school, or has heavy days where four won't get her home. There's a fuller breakdown in Small or Large.

Both sizes are in the period kit for school collection.