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Back to school!

The summer holidays are over

Some students can’t wait for it, others dread it. Yes, it’s September and for ten million pupils up and down the UK, it’s the start of a brand new school year. For many pupils, this can mean starting at a new school, with different teachers, getting to grips with new subjects and trying to make new circles of friends. “A new teacher, new class or especially the move to a new school can seem very daunting,” says Daphne Joseph, of charity Young Minds. “But once young people get used to the changes, they usually settle down.”

Going back to school isn’t exactly cheap. A new uniform, new shoes, stationary and sports kit can all add up. Parents spend an average of £134 (that’s 160 euros) on each child. For the whole country, that’s £1.2billion (or 1.4 billion euros). That’s a whole lot of pencil cases!

More and more of Britain’s schoolchildren are taking gadgets to school with them. One survey says that 37% take a mobile phone, 13% take an iPod and 8% take a games player. And for university students, a laptop and the latest smartphone are now essentials.

One 15-year-old won’t be going back to school at all. Maths genius Arran Fernandez has won a place to study maths at FitzwilliamCollege, Cambridge, one of the UK’s most prestigious universities. Arran is the youngest undergraduate at Cambridge for 200 years. “I’m excited about starting the course and advancing my knowledge of maths,” says Arran. He says he would like to solve the Riemann hypothesis – a theory about prime numbers that has puzzled mathematicians for centuries. How about you? Are you as enthusiastic as Arran about going back to school?

Are you looking forward to a new term? Why? Why not?

What sort of things do you have to buy for school?

Are you starting at a new school/college/university