The Scottish Government said a contract has been signed for the first year of its Welcome to School Bags programme, which will see backpacks given to children starting Primary One from August 2027.
According to the Scottish Government, the bags will be available in blue, green, pink, red or yellow, and will be given to around 47,000 pupils starting school that year.
Edinburgh-based APS Group has secured a two-year contract worth £1.35 million annually to assemble and distribute the backpacks to schools across the country ahead of the 2027-28 academic year, the Scottish Government said.
It said each bag will contain a pencil case, pencils, crayons, a notebook, a water bottle and resources to encourage literacy and numeracy practice at home, aimed at helping give all children the same start at primary school. The bags will also include information relevant to families of P1 children, including on social security entitlements and advice for parents and carers on keeping children safe online, the Scottish Government said.
Education Secretary Màiri McAllan said providing every new P1 pupil with a high-quality bag was part of wider work to remove barriers for all at the start of their school journey. She said: “Excellence and equity is my principal ambition for education, and providing every new P1 pupil with a high-quality bag is part of our wider work to remove barriers for all at the very start of their school journey.”
McAllan said children would also have the option of adding a drawing to personalise their bag, to help them start school excited and with all the essentials for their first steps into the classroom. She said the bags “will be delivered in time to be given to children during their transition visits, when the new intake go into primary schools ahead of the summer holidays to get to know their new class.”
The Scottish Government said the bags will be assembled in Scotland to ensure maximum value for money, and that full details of the distribution and returns process would be confirmed in due course.