12 back-to-school tech and accessories that will change the game for your child

Back to school shopping rarely stays in one aisle. One minute it’s shoes, the next it’s a tablet, then a pencil case shaped like a wizard’s trunk. We went through this year’s list across tech, stationery, footwear and the small extras that make the whole thing bearable, and picked out what’s genuinely worth the spend.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A11 LTE (8.7″, 64GB)

An 8.7-inch screen sounds small until you remember it’s going in a school bag every day, and the Tab A11 LTE is sized specifically for that, not for lounging on a sofa. The built-in SIM slot means it can double as a basic phone for calls in a pinch, which matters more than you’d expect for a child who doesn’t have their own mobile yet, and Samsung backs it with seven years of software updates from launch, genuinely unusual longevity at this price point. A microSD slot and headphone jack are still here too, both of which flagship tablets dropped years ago and both of which actually matter for a school-aged user swapping in games, ebooks and wired headphones.

There’s no fingerprint sensor or NFC, and the display uses standard LCD rather than anything fancier, though that also means no risk of the screen burn-in that affects OLED tablets after years of the same home screen icons sitting in one place. One thing worth flagging directly: this specific 64GB grey listing shows as out of stock on Samsung’s own UK site at the time of writing, so check current availability before planning around it, or look at the 128GB version instead.

Legami Meow Wireless Mouse and Keyboard Set

Homework on a shared family laptop goes more smoothly with kit that’s actually sized and styled for a child rather than borrowed adult peripherals, and Legami’s Meow set leans fully into that with a purple keyboard and matching pink mouse that make a desk feel like it belongs to them specifically. Both connect wirelessly through a single USB receiver, with a Type-C adapter included for newer laptops that have dropped full-size USB ports entirely, and everything runs off two included AAA batteries rather than needing its own charging cable to keep track of. It’s built for general study and light use rather than gaming, which is exactly the brief for a homework station rather than a battlestation.

JBL Junior 320BT Headset (Purple)

Kids’ headphones live or die on one feature that has nothing to do with sound quality: whether the volume is actually capped at a safe level, and JBL’s Safe Sound limits the JR320BT to 85dB regardless of how high the volume slider gets pushed. The companion JBL Headphones app goes further, letting a parent set a maximum volume and daily listening time and pull weekly usage reports, all locked behind a PIN so a determined child can’t just override it. Fifty hours of battery life is a genuinely big number for headphones this size, and they fold flat for the school bag alongside a set of stickers for personalising the finish.
They’re Bluetooth only rather than including a wired fallback, so a flat battery does mean no sound at all until it’s charged.

Pinwheel Plus 6

Pinwheel’s entire pitch is what the phone doesn’t have: no social media, no web browser, no way to download anything outside its own vetted library of over 1,200 apps, each rated for safety before a child ever sees it. The hardware itself is a proper Samsung device rather than a stripped-down budget phone, with a Super AMOLED display and a genuine triple-lens camera, so it doesn’t look or feel like a consolation prize next to a sibling’s smartphone.
Parents get a Caregiver Portal for remote monitoring, text message oversight, contact and app scheduling, and location tracking, though it’s worth being clear this isn’t a one-off purchase: the portal runs on its own quarterly or annual subscription on top of the phone itself, and a separate mobile plan from a carrier of your choice is still needed. For a first phone a parent can actually feel in control of, that ongoing cost buys real peace of mind.

VTech Kidizoom Smart Watch Max

A 1.69-inch colour touchscreen is a proper size for small hands to actually use, and the Kidizoom Smart Watch Max fills it with genuinely varied things to do rather than one gimmick stretched thin: dual cameras for selfies and short videos, eight reaction and puzzle games, a MIDI music player, and a voice recorder with the obligatory silly voice-changing effects. A parental control area lets you switch games off entirely when it’s time to focus, and the whole thing charges over USB rather than needing a proprietary dock that inevitably goes missing. It won’t do anything close to what an adult smartwatch does, no messaging, no real connectivity, but that’s rather the point for the age group it’s built for, and the price reflects it too.

Before you check out on the back-to-school list

Kids’ tech often comes with an ongoing cost, not just a sticker price. Devices like the Pinwheel Plus 6 need a separate monitoring subscription and mobile plan on top of the phone itself. Factor in the monthly cost before comparing it directly to a one-off toy purchase.

Buy school shoes with a little room to grow, not a lot. A thumb’s width of space at the toe is the usual guide for growing feet; too much room defeats the shoe’s support, and too little means a mid-term replacement. Most footwear retailers, Clarks included, offer in-store or app-based foot measuring if you’re not confident guessing.

Check stock before building a shopping list around one specific item. Popular back-to-school lines sell out or get discontinued mid-season more often than you’d expect, the Samsung tablet above included. Keep a second option in mind for anything you’re not prepared to substitute at checkout.

Maped Pastel Glitter Highlighters x4

Highlighters usually mean one of two things going wrong: colours too garish for actual revision notes, or ink that dries out the moment the cap’s left off for five minutes mid-homework. Maped’s pastel glitter set solves the first problem with genuinely muted, easy-on-the-eye shades rather than the usual neon assault, and the bevelled 1 to 5mm tip switches between fine underlining and broader highlighting without needing a second pen. They’re built to survive being left uncapped for longer than most, which matters more than any spec sheet number when the user in question is eight years old and mid-distraction.

Maped Neon 5-Piece Stationery Set

A ruler, two pencils, a sharpener and an eraser sounds like the most basic possible stationery kit, and it is, but Maped’s neon version gets the details right in ways cheaper equivalents don’t. The Twist&Flex ruler bends rather than snapping under a bit of enthusiastic pressure, the sharpener catches its own shavings in an enclosed igloo-shaped shell instead of scattering them across a desk, and the two pencils are FSC-certified rather than sourced from nowhere in particular. At under £4 it’s the kind of set worth buying two or three of, since they inevitably go missing, and at this price that’s a genuinely reasonable strategy.

Harry Potter A4 Bumper Stationery Set

A Hogwarts crest does more to get a reluctant seven-year-old excited about pencil cases than almost anything else on this list, and this bumper set backs the theming up with a genuinely useful spread of contents: two gel pens, two pencils, an eraser, a highlighter, a notebook, a standard pen, a ruler, a sharpener and a tin box to keep it all together, all with a carry handle so it survives being lugged to school and back. It’s officially licensed rather than a generic wizard-adjacent knockoff, and bundling this much into one set is genuinely better value than buying each piece separately from a themed range.

Clarks Cypress Step Kid

Getting a young child into shoes independently each morning is its own small battle, and the Cypress Step Kid is built specifically to shorten it: elasticated laces paired with a riptape strap mean it looks like a proper lace-up trainer while still going on and off in seconds without adult help. The sole is flexible enough to move naturally with a developing gait rather than forcing a stiff, adult-shaped stride onto still-growing feet, and it comes in enough colourways, from plain navy to glitter-trimmed burgundy, that there’s a reasonable chance of avoiding a battle over which pair to wear too.

Kipling Faster

A backpack covered in an actual monkey face is either going to delight or slightly unsettle a small child, and going by Kipling’s own reputation for this design, it’s overwhelmingly the former. Underneath the novelty front is a genuinely practical bag: padded adjustable straps, a top carry handle for when little arms get tired of the straps, and a zipped inside pocket within the main compartment for keeping smaller items like keys or a bus pass from disappearing into the depths. It’s also water repellent, a detail that matters more across a UK school year than almost anything else on the spec sheet.

Legami Snack & Go (Daisy)

A snack box only earns its keep if it survives being upended in a bag at least weekly, and Legami’s Snack & Go range builds specifically for that with a secure, leak-resistant seal rather than a simple lift-off lid. The Daisy design is unmistakably Legami’s own aesthetic, bright and a little chaotic in the best way, and it’s sized for the kind of mid-morning snack that actually gets eaten rather than traded away at the school gate. It’s a small, inexpensive thing to add to a shopping list, but it’s also one of the items most likely to get lost by October, so buying a spare isn’t a bad instinct.

Pokémon Center Pikachu, Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile pins (4-pack)

A Gen 2 starter lineup is a specific, slightly nostalgic pick for anyone who grew up on the original games rather than the newest generation, and this four-pack of enamel pins covers Pikachu alongside Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile, the three starters from Pokémon Gold and Silver. They’re officially licensed rather than the enamel pin knockoffs that flood marketplaces, made from zinc alloy with hard enamel fill, and they’re exactly the kind of low-cost extra that turns a pencil case or bag strap into something a child actually wants to show off to friends at school.

Whatever ends up in the trolley, the tech on this list is the part worth double-checking before you buy: stock, subscriptions and software support all vary in ways a pencil case never will.