To expect the school to actually help me find the things that belong to my DD?

[Eve4Walle]

I posted this on chat last night, but genuinely would like to know if I am being unreasonable about any of this?

DD left her cardigan on the school field the week before last (£13 with school logo from Skoolkit) and it still hasn't surfaced. Today she got off the bus which brings her home wearing someone elses fleece (these cost £19 and also have school logo), but the one she's got now is very tatty and bobbly and doesn't have a name in it, unlike her own one, which has been well cared for.

Both her lost/mislaid items had her name sewn in.

So where are they? Are some people so hard up they resort to keeping uniform that comes home by mistake? Even when there is a school 'friends' used uniform shop available?

Or am I reading more into it?

School don't seem bothered about any of it and refuse to help look for them and I am very pissed off that some other child has my girls tidy and well looked after clothes on (which is obv. what is happening, no?).

[SoupDragon]

Personally, I think the school has enough to do without chasing round after every item lost by a child. I speak as someone whose 2 DSs are down to about 2 sweatshirts between them. Out of 8.

[Eve4Walle]

Yes, I know the school has lots to do, but when they ask you to pay through the nose for logo'd items, surely they could be a bit more helpful in making sure they stay with the child they belong to?

What's the point of labelling clothes then?

[cluckyagain]

Have you sent a note home to each child yet - it works for me.

[mankyscotslass]

I know it's annoying, but really, what can the school do?

All ours do is every half term or so remind parents to check name labels on clothes, and to ask parents to encourage children to take responsibility for their possessions. They can't go round checking every item that each child wears.

As SoupDragon says, they have enough to do.

[SoupDragon]

What exactly do you want them to do? Examine every item worn by every child to ensure it has their own name in? Seriously, I've lost enough uniform to be p*ssed off about it but it isn't the school's fault. The teacher will write a note on the whiteboard asking people to look for X's jumper/whatever but they're not going to search the school or the children for it.

I rummage through the lost property box regularly and sometimes hit the jackpot with reclaimed items. The number of unclaimed ones in there is astonishing.

[seeker]

And what would you like teachers not to do in order to spend time sorting through the gigantic lost property box and returning items that children have "left on the school field'?

Has your dd had a look in lost property if she's old enough? Or have you been in to look for yourself?

[gscrym]

I had this with DS. So far we've lost a few sweatshirts, a school fleece and a school jacket. All of them had his name sewn into them. I asked at school who checked the lost property but nothing was there. I also sent notes into school to get put in the bags. Nothing came of that either. I asked DS's teacher if the more expensive items could be replaced as DS had left them where he was told (not allowed to take jackets into class). They said no. I decided that I wasn't going to buy any more stuff with the school logo unless it came from the charity shop.

[SoupDragon]

I have been told by the teachers to look through the lost property box (and it's jam packed) and take any unnamed stuff because they're fed up with it. Some of it is sold at the second hand uniform sale and at the end of the school year it's put on a table out by the door and you are told to help yourself.

[SoupDragon]

Write your child's name in with indelible pen. It can't be picked/ripped off like a sewn label.

[wotulookinat]

How old is your DD?
Lost uniform is an endless battle for schools, and, yes, teachers have far more important things to worry about.
It's frustrating for parents, but there's not much more you can do than name your child's items and hope they take care of them.

[bellavita]

Up to the children I am afraid to make sure they have their own labelled clothes on.

Someone took DS1's pe kit just before Easter (which was all labelled) and we have had to buy all new. He did go to the office every day for the rest of that week and kept visiting the pe changing rooms in case someone had realised it was not theirs and hung the bag up but it never materialised. His pe bag was next to his rucksack outside the canteen with about 300 other bags. I have told him in future he needs to put the bag inside the rucksuck. Unfortunately, on this day he had a packed tea with him as he was involved in an an after school project and there wasn't any room in his bag for the kit.

Labelled sweatshirts have gone missing and never come back.

Yes it is bloody annoying but I think it is one of these things you have to live with I'm afraid.

[BradfordMum]

Herbietea- very well put!

[WowOoo]

I'm with Herbietea and others here too sorry.

The lost property box at our old school was full of so much stuff it was astounding - labelled and unlabelled/named.

A monitor would often go around classes handing stuff back (named items), but I think that there are far more important jobs for school monitors.

[thirtypence]

If she is old enough to catch a bus then she is old enough to pick up her own fleece.

At ds's school they put the lost property in one of 4 bins (one for each house) at the house meeting each week they name and shame. It's also compulsory to go home wearing full uniform - therefore shoes and blazers must be found by hometime.

The schools system can be brilliant and children will still loose stuff.

[frasersmummy]

I anm with you eve4walle

I think the school has some level of responsibilty

If the kids are out doing an activity on the school field then surely when the children move back into the classroom the teacher/TA should check there is nothing left behind.

If the kids can read its also not unreasonable for them to take 2 mins before hometime to ask the kids to look on the label of their fleece and see if it has the right name on it

I know teachers have a lot of kids to deal with .. but these are 2 things that they could do easily and quickly

I do agree that kids as they get older need to take responsibility for their own belongings but its a 2 way stret in my opinion

[HecatesTwopenceworth]

In an ideal world, other parents would return things that didn't belong to their child, but some people are just not very honest, or just don't care enough - or have lost so many items themselves that they see it as 'payback'

Anyway, how many pupils in the school? 80? 100? 200? 500? You seriously expect the staff - 20? 30? of them? to keep track of all of the belongings of every child in the school?

No.

Every child should look after their own things. personal responsibility. Very important thing to teach your child.

apart from anything else - it's not teaching them that annoying "it's someone else's fault" attitude. Cos the world is full of that type and they are just feckers.

[seeker]

I REALLY don't see it as the school's responsibility.

I would put money on the teachers saying until they are blue in the face "Pick up all your stuff" "Put your coat on the peg" "Put your games kit back in your bag" "Put your hat in your tray".

Why not suggest to the PTFA that a few of you go in once a term and sort out the Lost Property bin? Send out a note to all parents that anything unlabelled will be put on a table in the playground for people to help themselves to (with a collection tin for school funds if anyone feels so inclined). Then give back the named stuff, throw away the disgusting stuff, have the table out for a few days and bin what's left. Then do it again all again next term!

[Eve4Walle]

Thirtypence - she's 5, we live in a tiny village and Hampshire CC buses her in and out each day with all the other kids who live in vilages in the catchment area. She gets picked up and dropped off from our house and taken to school in a minibus.

DD is usually quite responsible. Understands the iportance of hanging coats up, putting shoes away etc.

She says what happened with the fleece yesterday was that her teacher MADE her put it on, despite DD protesting that it wasn't hers. What that's all about I don't know.

I do see that the school has lots to do and it's not really their problem, but I'm not buying any of their logo stuff anymore despite them asking all children to wear it.

[seeker]

Honestly, go into school and look for it. You'll find it somewhere!

[SoupDragon]

Yes, go and search the lost property box.

[RustyBear]

"If the kids can read its also not unreasonable for them to take 2 mins before hometime to ask the kids to look on the label of their fleece and see if it has the right name on it"

Have you actually ever been in a primary school classroom just before hometime? They are more concerned with making sure the children have their reading books/homework/head screwed on than checking fleece names.

[Bramshott]

I think the only solution is to go in and look yourself - think of all the places it could be - field, hall, cloakrooms, classrooms etc, and pop in after school to do a recce.

DD1 (6) goes on a school bus too, and it IS more difficult to keep track of stuff when you're not in the playground every day.

I must admit that I would not stump up for a school fleece because of the difficulty in identifying their own one - much better they have a distinctive coat when they're so small.

[OrmIrian]

Why is the school responsible for childrens' possessions? They are responsible for the children. That is enough IMO.

Does your school have a lost property? Might be worth checking there.

[Peachy]

I actually have sympathy with you OP

DS's have lost 6 jumpers this term, at around £15 each. both have levels of Sn / SEN that make retaining things ahrd, or even remembering to look in the lost property room.... where parents are not allowed.

So yes I get narked TBH, we're on a very low income (DH just made redundant, me on Carers Allowance) and frankly I can't afford to keep replacing any more.