Every year, the same situation repeats itself: we receive the supply list at the end of June, we postpone the purchases, and then we find ourselves in half-empty aisles at the beginning of September, paying full price for 24×32 notebooks and soft binders. For the 2026 school year, it’s better to change the method and review the offers before the stocks dwindle.
Supplies sold individually and sustainability: the real lever for savings in 2026
Back-to-school catalogs highlight pre-packaged lots (pack of 10 notebooks, assortment of pens). The classic reflex is to jump on them because the displayed price seems low. In practice, we end up with excess notebooks or pens that are unsuitable for the level required by the teacher.
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Buying supplies individually is gaining ground. Several retailers, including Leclerc, now offer supplies sold piece by piece, allowing you to stick exactly to the list without unnecessary surplus. In a back-to-school budget, avoiding three extra notebooks and a pack of markers that are never opened represents a concrete saving.
Sustainability also comes into play. A sturdy backpack reused for two years costs less than a model replaced every September. When browsing the Leclerc back-to-school catalog 2026, it’s better to identify items designed to last rather than focusing solely on the lowest unit price.
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School list 2026: what the new recommendations change for your purchases
The Ministry of National Education now recommends that institutions avoid lists imposing a specific brand. The stated goal: not to penalize the most vulnerable families by forcing them to buy a specific product that is often more expensive.
In practice, this means that if your child’s list still mentions a brand name, you have the right to ask the school if an equivalent is accepted. This point changes the purchasing strategy: instead of looking for a promotion on the requested brand, you can compare with Leclerc’s private label or other references on promotion in the catalog.
Group purchases and supply exchanges
The ministry also encourages group purchases among parents and supply exchanges organized by local associations. Before filling your cart, check if your school or town hall organizes this type of initiative. You can find second-hand items in good condition, particularly scientific calculators and dictionaries, which are among the most expensive items on the list.
- Graphing calculators required in high school are often resold by senior students at a reduced price during these exchanges.
- Bilingual dictionaries change little from one edition to another: a second-hand copy works perfectly.
- Sturdy binders and dividers in good condition can be recycled from year to year without loss of quality.
Leclerc back-to-school promotions: spotting the real good deals in the catalog
A back-to-school catalog contains dozens of pages. Not all promotions are equal. Some offers concern high-margin items (licensed backpacks, fancy pencil cases) where the discount compensates for an inflated starting price. Others relate to basic supplies whose catalog price is genuinely below market.
Compare the price per notebook, not the price of the lot
Thinking in terms of unit price rather than lot price helps to avoid false good deals. A pack of 5 notebooks at a low price can end up being more expensive per unit than a single notebook sold on promotion from another reference. It takes thirty seconds with your phone’s calculator, and the answer is immediate.
Leclerc flyers generally display the unit price in small print. Make it a habit to read it systematically, especially for pens, binder sheets, and notebook protectors.
High-tech items: caution is advised
The 2026 school regulations tighten restrictions on phones and connected devices in schools, according to the official bulletin of July 2, 2026. Some digital accessories highlighted in the catalogs lose their usefulness in class. Before buying a tablet or headphones presented in back-to-school promotions, check the school’s internal regulations. Returns vary on this point, but the trend is clearly towards removing screens from classrooms.
Preparing your Leclerc shopping list: a concrete method before consulting the flyer
Rather than flipping through the catalog page by page and being tempted, it’s better to prepare a list sorted into three columns before opening it.
- Column 1: items that must be bought new (notebooks, sheets, glue, consumable pens).
- Column 2: items recoverable from the previous year (ruler, compass, binders, pencil case in good condition).
- Column 3: items available second-hand or through group purchases (calculator, dictionary, sports bag).
Once this list is established, only look at the Leclerc catalog for column 1. The rest goes through other channels (supply exchange, resale among parents, reuse). This method reduces the time spent in-store and limits impulse purchases.
The Leclerc back-to-school catalog remains a useful tool for comparing prices on basic consumables. The retailer offers competitive prices on common supplies, and occasional promotional offers allow for saving a few extra euros. The real gain is made upstream, in sorting what we buy new, what we reuse, and what we find second-hand.