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Saskatoon school takes stress out of back-to-school shopping

Tips on how not to spend a fortune on back-to-school supplies

Tired of searching stores for the perfect geometry kit? Have no idea where to buy a purple gluestick? St. Bernard School in Saskatoon has a deal for you!

For the second year in a row, the Catholic school is buying all of its students' school supplies for them. Parents are charged a flat fee of $60 ($30 for kindergarten students), and given all the supplies students will need for the year.

"We had a lot of parents coming to talk to us about feeling stressed out at the beginning of the year," principal Luisa Giocoli told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning. "We thought, how can we make this easier? It's stressful for the students, it's stressful for the teachers and it's stressful for the parents."

All the school supplies are purchased from the school's office supply distributor, meaning the school is able to get the best prices for families.

There is a hitch, however. While many students are interested in buying personalized school supplies, the mandatory plan provides everyone with the same, uniform equipment. However, Giocoli said the school does its best to try and accommodate small differences.

"Teachers have been very flexible with some of the different requests that they've encountered," she said. "If a student comes and says, 'I really want this binder,' perhaps that binder could be used for home communication, and that binder is used to go back and forth from home to school."

The school has set up a number of different options for parents who have difficulty coming up with the flat fee. Some parents are allowed to pay the amount in installments, and the school's community council is also able to help some families pay for the supplies.

"The feedback that we've been getting is that parents are extremely thankful for this," said Giocoli. "It is a lot of work, but at the end, everyone benefits."