Name labels in secondary school uniform

Name EVERYTHING!!! Secondary is worse than primary for losing stuff because they move around the entire school site. Plus the kit tends to me more expensive.

Write large across inside of hems so labels can't be cut out. Scratch name into back of calculator.

Yes. I use the little etched button labels that you screw into clothing. They are small and relatively unobtrusive

I use these pre-cut woven labels, I chose different background colours so I could tell which DC it belonged to. I ticked the pure colour box. The example on the screen is pretty accurate.

I labelled all jumpers as they can remove them in summer, a couple of shirts and trousers that they wore specifically on PE days and I labelled all their PE stuff, including socks.

I use a sewing machine and zig zag stitch the edges of the labels. On the shirts they are sewn onto the back of the collar but the stitching is hidden by the tie and obviously the other part of the collar folded down.

I also labelled shoes. Ds1 is year 11 and Ds2 is year 8. Only ever lost 1 sock, and the labels are bright colours so easy to see inside a shirt or on the inside waistband of the trousers.

I also sewed labels into their bag, sports bag and their coats.

Anything stationery wise is just sharpied with initials.

Sharpie everything! On DSS's PE kit I ended up putting his initials on the outside bottom corner, otherwise people just seemed to brazenly take them!

Definitely label everything that you would find annoying/expensive to replace. And label them on the garment itself, rather than on the care tag or naming label. Expensive things like blazers may get the labels cut out by dishonest people. So I write names on the inside using Sharpie.

Yes, definitely name everything, especially if there's the slightest chance it can get lost (although I do draw the line at labelling underwear and 'everyday' socks and even our DC have managed not to lose these when changing for Games / PE). We mainly use normal sew on or iron on labels - I splashed out on a battery powered label maker, but the ink does fade eventually - but as in primary school, sometimes resort to marker pens, e.g. writing DS2's surname (quite unusual and he is the only one with it at the school) on the sole of his sports socks.

DD spent 4 years at a school where names had to be embroidered on the outside of sports items by the uniform suppliers, which saved on sewing but was a pain when it came to buying stuff second hand.