To make my son pay

You do sound a bit mean OP, unless your DS gets loads of pocket money.

One of my DC used to lose things. I made sure they were as well named as possible to increase the chance of them being returned (a sewn in label on a non- uniform hoodie meant it was returned from a skatepark kn the other side of town!) He still
loses things now he's an adult and has to replace every thing himself! We can now see he very probably has ADD (his sibling has been diagnosed) which explains a lot.

I would provide the AirTags and buy the new coat and name it well. It never sits well with me when parents make DC pay to replace essential items, but then I didn't give my DC much pocket money so replacing a coat would have been like me giving up six months wages.

Get a non branded black puffer off ASOS, trust me it won't go missing again, and if it does you will find it in lost property as nobody will bother taking it home - problem solved

Try Vinted OP, my DD just bought a fantastic coat for £15, warm, stylish and I great condition. there are some good deals to be found.

My child’s pre-walking shoes were stolen from outside the (internal) nursery door once. 19 years ago and I’m still annoyed about it!

For naming things I've found using gold or silver sharpie and putting a phone number and name works well on the inevitable black school uniform. Survives washing, easy to see and isn't possible to rip out like name labels.

When DC were at school no one wanted to go through the lost property because of all the smelly, dirty rugby kit mixed in with everything else. At one stage the PTA went through it, washed items and returned those with labels (for a donation) and sold the rest. If he went into school with it and it is not in lost property, then where has it gone? There was a spate of expensive things going missing at DC’s school. I sewed in hidden labels as well as the obvious labels in blazers etc. He once came out minus a new shoe after a sports match and was told to buy a new pair. I contacted the school and made them look for it, someone had thrown it behind the sports lockers for a ‘joke’.

The amount of theft in schools is ridiculous. I only buy cheaper non branded coats and stuff anyway but I learnt my lesson back in pre-school when some brand new shoes went missing.

DC had done a dance class in socks and when they went to put their shoes on, they couldn’t find them and the only pair left were the same style but very worn and a size smaller. I was livid as they never turned up. Clearly the other parent would immediately have realised that their kid had the wrong shoes on but felt entitled to keep them. This was in a naice middle class area too.

Vinted is your best bet. You’ll definitely get something there

Sounds fair, he should buy a lanyard for the bus pass as well. If it he doesn't want to wear it, that's part of the punishment/learning process.

Kids lose coats at school.

If his was nice it could very well have been stolen.

I personally would buy him a new one as I don't think it's his fault as must have been taken by someone else. Was it labelled? No. So he trusted, and someone took it.

Buy him a new one but say it can't be a super desirable one for school. He can't be without a coat.

Then let him do his security on it, with the air tag.

Poor lad.

Boys seem to be quite careless with mislaying coats and jackets, or is it that they just don't attach importance to the value of clothes (particularly if they're not paying for the items!). DS lost one during his secondary school days. When we went in to see if we could find it in the lost property pile at his school, there were loads, some of which were expensive branded ones. DS's was there, of course. But without me with him, doubt he'd have ever bothered to check.

They guve a rough location but not pinpoint accuracy.

Oh I don't know, my next door neighbour can tell when their cat is in my house!

I’m going to nick the AirTag idea for one of my form. ADHD diagnosis, forever forgetting/losing stuff. Fab idea! We have a huge storage cupboard that is emptied at the end of each term, loads of stuff goes unclaimed, even with names written on! I had to give a boy’s coat to his sister when he claimed it wasn’t his, despite the name tag sewn in!

I forgot to say mine were always losing wallets and bus and train tickets and phones as well then they get older and stop losing stuff

Don't make him pay for a new one he's probably stressed about losing it and feels guilty

Teenage boys grow out of this.a lot of stuff is stolen at secondary school, calculator, pencil case, PE kit, jumpers, coats , ties, it comes with the territory

Personally I wouldn’t make him pay. I went through this with my son at primary and secondary school, football games, mates houses. No mater what we tried he continued to lose/forget things. Don’t think he ever managed to go into class with a pen despite
me going through a ton of them.
Recently diagnosed with ADHD so it all makes a bit more sense. Not saying that’s the same for your Son, but it doesn’t sound like he is doing it on purpose, he literally just forgets!

When my son lost his entire sports kit I off to go to the school and help him look for it.
He soon found it….

Get him into the charity shop habit. Or EBay/vinted. We’ve had some great finds.

I didn't get a choice over weather I "minded" second hand as it was all my mum could afford. I second everyone else who has said Vinted as there are some absolute bargains to be had and often the stuff doesn't even look worn.

@theywill I have 2 kids in secondary so yes I do have experience. It was only last month my DD lost her school shoes after a pe club, I rushed out to buy new shoes for the next day but rang the office to check lost property. The pe teacher took time out of their morning to email me to let me know she had sent an email to other teachers in that department and double checked with the office again. My DD went back to lost property when the office staff emailed the pe teacher to say a pair of shoes had been handed in and my DD picked them out as hers…… so yes a teacher got involved to help. Infact 3 staff members contributed to the return of the shoes. Might not always be the case but your wrong to suggest a teacher wont help

I would go for Vinted. My son is also always losing stuff so for school it's a Primark mens puffa jacket because they are cheap to replace. At home he wears gilets (autistic, doesn't like sleeves on coats but can't really have them to school as the uniform code is strict). I don't mind spending money on decent brands for those.

On Vinted you can get some absolute bargains in decent brands, think Nike for example. That's what I'd do. Air tag is a great idea going forward.

Does he mind second hand stuff!

The point of the secret label is that the visible one can easily be removed. If you include a hidden label as well you can identify a stolen coat.