Every school orders the same things in the same fortnight. Here is the calendar that makes January boring instead of frantic.
Every school in the country needs the same things at the same time, and the fortnight before term is when they all ask. Nothing is slow. A thousand schools discover the same deadline in the same week, and the ones who ordered in October are not in that queue.
The deadline is published early. The Ministry of Education issued its 2026 calendar in a circular dated 9 October 2025, with a 13-week first term running from 5 January to 2 April. If the pattern holds, the 2027 dates will appear around the same time, and every order on this page counts back from the first day of term, not from New Year.
This is the calendar that keeps a bursar out of it.
October and November: the things with real lead times
Branded diaries. Custom notebooks and diaries from KSh 300 need cover artwork, a proof, and a production run. Dated material is worse than late: a diary that arrives in February has lost weeks of its own usefulness.
Exercise and assessment books. Assessment books from KSh 150, with the school's own cover. Volume, so lead time.
Uniform and games kit. Jersey sets from KSh 800, plus PE kit and house colours. Sizing takes longer than printing does, which catches schools out every year: the sizing count, not the production, is the bottleneck.
December: approve everything
Not order. Approve. Artwork signed off, sizes confirmed, quantities agreed. This is the month when a school is quiet and decisions can be made, and it is almost always the month that gets skipped.
A job with approved artwork sitting ready in December prints in January without drama. A job whose artwork is still being discussed in January is why January is frantic.
Waiting for exact enrolment numbers: enrolment is never final in time. Order to last year's number plus a margin, and place a small top-up order once numbers settle. A top-up is a minor job, whereas the whole order placed late is a scramble for everybody.
January: collection and top-up
What arrives in January should be things that were decided in December. The only new January work is the top-up: the extra 30 diaries for pupils nobody expected, the sizes that ran short.
Budget for that top-up instead of being annoyed by it. It happens every year at every school, and treating it as a planned part of the order, not an emergency, is the difference between a calm term start and a bad one.
The list, so nothing is forgotten
- Pupils' diaries and homework books
- Exercise books and assessment books with the school cover
- Examination and revision booklets
- PE kit, games kit, house colours
- Uniform items and badges
- Staff name badges and visitor cards
- Certificates for prize giving: needed in term three, ordered in term two by anyone sensible
- Signage: room numbers, direction signs, notice boards
The last two are the ones that appear on nobody's January list and then become urgent later in the year. Ordering them alongside the January run is cheaper and simpler than a separate small order in May.
Why the queue exists, and what it costs you
It is worth understanding, not resenting. Schools all work to the same calendar, so demand for exactly these items arrives in a two-week window every year across the entire country. No printer holds capacity idle for eleven months to absorb that fortnight, and none could.
What the queue costs a late school is not usually money. It is choice. Late orders get whatever paper, cover stock and delivery slot remains, and the specification quietly narrows. A school that ordered in November chose its cover finish. A school ordering on the 4th of January takes what is available.
That is the real argument for the calendar above. It is not that late work is worse work; it is that late work is chosen from a shorter list.
Two things that make every future year easier
Keep the artwork files, with the year on the filename. A reprint from approved artwork is quick; a reprint that starts with finding who made the cover in 2024 is not.
And write down the quantities used, not ordered, at the end of the year. That single number turns next October's guess into a decision, and it takes ten minutes.
The products themselves, as opposed to the timing, are in the school supplies guide. For the uniform side, the sizing mistakes apply exactly as they do to corporate clothing: the count is where the money goes.
Sources: The Standard, Ministry releases the 2026 school calendar (news, October 2025) (read 14 Oct 2026).
Common questions
When should a school place its January order?
Artwork and sizing settled by early December, order placed before the holidays. Production in January is not the constraint. Approvals are, and approvals are impossible when the school is closed and the people who must sign off are away. December is the month that decides whether January is calm.
Can we order a small top-up later?
Yes, and you should plan for one. Artwork is kept, so a top-up does not repeat setup and is straightforward to produce. The per-item cost is higher on a small run, which is why it is better as a planned top-up of 30 items than as the whole order placed late.
Do you print the school's own cover design?
Yes: covers, crests, mottos, house colours, whatever the school uses. Supply the original artwork file if it exists. If the only version anyone can find is a photograph of a printed book, it can usually be redrawn, but that takes time and is much better handled in October than in January.
Do you deliver to schools outside Nairobi?
Yes, anywhere in Kenya, and the courier cost is on the quote before you agree. For schools some distance away it is worth combining the year's predictable printing into fewer deliveries: diaries, books, kit and certificates together, not four separate consignments across the year.
