To what extent are the school responsible for (Reception aged) kids belongings?

[Crunchymum]

It's all kicked off on my parents group as one of the kids has lost an expensive (think Nike or similar jumper). A few parents are saying it needs to be reported to the office whereas another mum helpfully said "this is why I never send them in with anything valuable or expensive".

One parent in particular has taken umbrage to this and has demanded we all start to log any lost items with the school office (copying in the headteacher!). This particular parent's child has lost at least 3 expensive items this term.

Of course it's now kicked off as another parents has helpfully pointed out that if the child keeps on losing expensive things maybe they should stop being sent in with expensive things (I haven't replied and won't but I'm definitely more on the side with this parent!)

What do we think? Should the school take some level of responsibility or are the parents asking for trouble sending in things they don't want lost? 🤔

I got VERY familiar with DD’s infant school lost property box.
The office staff or cleaners were used to me having to rummage around for her sweatshirt an hour or so after school (we had a childminder and although she checked DD had everything, sometimes things were simply ‘lost’).
I would NEVER have expected the teachers to sort this out.

Yes, just teachers, run round the school at home time, check the assembly hall, the lunch room, the classroom next door, the classroom not next door, all corridors, the playground….. five year old children shed their clothes like snakes shed their skin, except a lot faster and In more unpredictable places.

Going by the mountain of un-named coats, expensive water bottles, food flasks, glasses, doorkeys, hats, gloves, scarves, trainers, earbuds and pencil cases in Reception this week, knowing that 6th form have got almost as much in their Reception and PE have an entire room full of unclaimed kit, that parent has got 12-14 years of pain ahead of her.

I'm sorry but this belief that labelling will solve all is missguided .

Labelling my son's belongings did not stop them going missing never to be found .Maybe partly due to the school not having a system other than a huge box which was kept in a cupboard .The existence of which was not widely publicised - enquiries about lost items were always met with a " is it labelled ? " and then a shrug when iabelling was confirmed -and the cupboard often locked .

3 form entry ,several playgrounds ,gym on upper floors ,dining hall distant from classroom .So various locations ,various staff .Labelling could not compete with these factors ,nor the stealing of stuff from the lost property box by parents who were not deterred by a name on an article .

Well it's certainly blown up on the group chat.

Some people won't be told (to be fair the child who keeps losing expensive things does have everything labelled but the tone of the mothers messages became a bit accusatory. This kid isn't even the one who lost anything this time!!) She is trying to encourage a mass complaint from the parents who have "all suffered from things go missing, never to be seen again" and demand the school "take action". She then got shitty when someone asked what action she expects the school to take .

The parent who actually lost the 'Nike jumper' and has since found it. At home 😳

I am glad my older kids group chats are nothing like this. Reception is a bit batshit this year!

They must have parents like the one who told me she never named anything her child wore, but that she identified his clothes in lost property by how they felt - as though no one else used fabric conditioner. Could have been worse, she could have sniffed out her kids stuff.

Mine have lost actual outdoor coats at school they throw them off in the playground. It's really daft sending 4 and 5 year olds in with expensive clothing if I was the school and people whinged I would just ban it. Bonkers carry on

Should the school take some level of responsibility or are the parents asking for trouble sending in things they don't want lost?

Of course parents are asking for trouble. Good lord, no wonder teachers are the profession in droves.

We always had jumper baskets. Things still get lost, often out on the playground. They mostly filter back through Lost Property though it can take weeks.

Best thing you can do as a parent is stop moaning about it and volunteer to go in and sort out the lost property, say around the end of each half term. It needs someone to go through and match jumpers to class lists, and office staff/TAs rarely have the time. Or failing that, check lost property yourself (and message parents of any kids whose names you recognise going through the pile, or grab the item if you'll see them)

Also just labelling with surname, initials or "Jacob Mc" is really unhelpful, even if you think yours is the only one in the school. All these make it much harder for anyone who doesn't know the child personally to track them down on class lists. And pen wears off. There's always a pile of jumpers left with indecipherable biro/Sharpie marks. Mainly though people simply don't label stuff and are then surprised that no one magically knows which 4 year old a particular black coat belongs to.

I work in an SEND school.

It drives me mad how many come in in uniform that isn’t labelled!!

Some parents think that their child is the only one you deal with.

A child soiled himself and we cleaned him up, gave him spare clothes to wear and washed his uniform.
We gave the clean uniform back to him the next day but it didn’t get to mum somehow.
She had a massive go at us over it.
We’ve asked her to bring in spare uniform or we’ll send the soiled clothes home in a bag but she refuses both.

Never send anything that you aren’t willing to lose.

Always label everything and then 99% of the time you’ll get it back.

All clothes should be named

why are Nike etc going into school

is there not an uniform

even if named clothes go missing

God knows why

but our wats app often asks if have seen jumper pe stuff etc. all is named

usually appears by end of term

My Y2 DD’s class has a kid with a ‘nose’ who can identify to which family every lost garment belongs. I fully expect her to earn a fortune running her own winery or perfume house in her adult years.

@viques

They must have parents like the one who told me she never named anything her child wore, but that she identified his clothes in lost property by how they felt - as though no one else used fabric conditioner. Could have been worse, she could have sniffed out her kids stuff.

I've seen loads of kids (and parents) sniff a set of jumpers until they find the right one-I'm not convinced it's fabric conditioner they're after the whiff of though!! It's always fascinated me! 😂

Lots of kids in my class sniff the jumpers to decide which one is theirs. This is surprisingly common in schools and these kids are KS2!

I was on playground duty today at lunch. I picked up 11 coats as the kids were going in. One of them was named. One! I then had to spend ten minutes that I should have been in class (TA, not teacher) sticking my head in each of the 14 classrooms trying to reunite children with their coats.

I think as a child I was probably one who could tell my clothes by scent (although as the daughter of two teachers all my clothes were very definitely labelled!) 😅 - other people's laundry almost always smells "off/wrong" to me - either because it had a faint aroma of the person who had been wearing it, or because the laundry detergent or fabric conditioner it has been washed in is definitely Not Mine.

I became a teacher though, not a perfume specialist 😁

🤫