It's that time of the year again where we hang up the bikinis and swimsuits and get out the jumpers as it veers towards winter once again.

I'm heading into sixth form this year and although I am nervous I also have to say that I'm really excited to start studying the subjects that I want to study rather than sitting in an English lesson bored out of my mind studying Shakespeare. This year I'm taking Biology, Psychology, Geography and PE. At my school we're advised to take either 4 or 5 subjects, one of which we are able to drop at the end of year 12 so we only end up with 3 or 4 subjects going into year 13. Three out of the four subjects that I'm taking next year I have already done at GCSE so I know that I enjoy these subjects. Psychology however, I've never done before so I'm excited to start learning a new course yet also worried that I'm not going to like it as I've never covered or even looked at any of the syllabus before.

What I do enjoy about going back to school is back to school shopping and because I'm now going into sixth form the ragged uniform has been abolished and now we're able to wear what we want- within reason. I also love stationary shopping and the prospect of new pens and paper really excites me and every year I have the new school year resolution where I attempt to make all of my books and folders as neat as possible although this rarely ever happens.

Without further ado I'll get on with what I've bought for this coming school year.

 I have to say that I have a soft spot in my heart for new pens and no matter how many of the beautiful Stabilo pens I have sitting on my desk I had to try and reason with myself that I do, in fact, need more. The Helix pencils in the top left hand corner were £1.50 from Wilkinson's for a pack of 12 and I have to say that these are very good quality pencils. Helix is probably most well know for the math sets which I had throughout secondary and I no longer need as I haven't taken maths for A-level but I wanted to see if the pencils matched the quality of the maths set which I'm sure they will. I also bought some stabilo highlighters (top right) which were £2.69 from Staples and I thought these would be really handy for highlighting worksheets as this makes it easier to understand information. I also like these highlighters because they're nice and thin which makes it easy to slip into my pencil case and they wont take up too much room.
The Stabilo fine liners in the middle are undoubtedly my favourite back to school purchase, I was going to buy the 30 pack from amazon for around £12 but this 20 pack was in Wilkinson's for £5 which I think is such a good deal considering they're usually a lot more expensive in other high street stores. The BIC ball point pens were also from Wilkinson's and these we're £1.50- the same price as the Helix pencils and these are my favourite pens, they last for so long and they're such good writers. The BIC coloured pencils are from Ryman Stationary and they were £3.99. I thought these would be really good for Geography and also for making some good revision notes when exam season starts again.

I tend to go crazy in the accessory section of the back to school part of the shop as I realistically have about 30 rubbers sat in the bottom of my desk but here I am again buying a new one to start the new year. The ruler was 79p from Ryman Stationary, the pritt stick was £2.29, again from Ryman Stationary. Everything else here was from Wilkinson's- Own brand sharpener- 35p, Helix rubber- 50p, Pencil case- £1.20, Stapler- 75p and the staples were 50p for 2500.

Overall I'm impressed with the price and quality of everything that I bought and I'm looking forward to starting the new school year and I hope anybody reading this is also excited if you're also starting back.