I have recently been doing a course in childcare and needed to get a pad which I could make notes in but which would also be suitable for providing paper which could be slotted into a lever arch file, I chose the A4 version of the Pukka Pad.

I bought my pad from Asda when I was doing my weekly shop but they are widely available all over, the pads come in a range of sizes A4, A5 and half of A5 size and the prices range too from about £2.50 to £4 depending on the size.

There are 3 different front covers that I have seen, the original is a turquoise colour with 200 on the front to show how many sheets are inside and a little bit of red along with the name of the pad, there is also a pink and purple striped fronted book and then a green and blue striped fronted book both of which are more attractive than the original book although of course the inside of the pad is no different.

The spine of the pad is a black plastic spiral meaning that every sheet is held securely in the pad, there are 4 holes in every piece of paper although my file only used the centre 2 holes. When you do wish to remove the pages there is a very fine perforation running down every page which makes it very easy to remove the paper and gives a nice neat edge to your work.

The paper is great quality and doesn't rip easily, the paper is lined and has plenty of space between the lines, I have found some pads are no good as the lining is too narrow and I have quite big rounded writing but these pads are fine for me. The paper is thick enough that no ink transfers through the page so you are able to write on both sides of the paper without making it unreadable.

I completed all my childcare coursework in one of these pads and I would recommend them, they cost more than a lot of writing pads but the quality is worth paying for.