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Original poster

How to stop kids losing their uniform?

27 replies

TwentyTwenty20 · 27/09/2023 08:08

My son is 4. He's been in school for 3 weeks. He's lost two jumpers, a pair of shoes when he had PE, his tie and has come home with the wrong coat. I have no money. I'm scouring Facebook marketplace for second hand stuff. He has suspected adhd and struggles with losing things. I've spoken to school about it and they're monitoring. The sendco also said adhd fits after spending time with him last week. Not sure how relevant all of that is. Is this just part of it all? Having to buy school uniform every month because it all gets lost?

OP posts:

LizziesTwin · 27/09/2023 08:08

Write his name on every item or sew/iron name tapes in. At least then you’ve got a chance of getting the stuff back.

Lookingforasilverlining · 27/09/2023 08:09

Is it not named? If you’re doing school pick up then it’s wise to check he has his jumper, water bottle and coat at every pick up.

Original poster

TwentyTwenty20 · 27/09/2023 08:09

LizziesTwin · 27/09/2023 08:08

Write his name on every item or sew/iron name tapes in. At least then you’ve got a chance of getting the stuff back.

They've all got labels in.

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Original poster

TwentyTwenty20 · 27/09/2023 08:10

Lookingforasilverlining · 27/09/2023 08:09

Is it not named? If you’re doing school pick up then it’s wise to check he has his jumper, water bottle and coat at every pick up.

It's all labelled but when I ask them they just don't know where it is.

OP posts:

mynameiscalypso · 27/09/2023 08:10

Does it not make its way back to you? I have a reception child and he often comes back without something but usually one of the other parents has it. Do you have a class WhatsApp? 95% of the messages in ours are people looking for lost uniform or they have someone else's uniform.

00100001 · 27/09/2023 08:11

Have you been to lost property?

Whinge · 27/09/2023 08:11

Make sure it's named, and then make sure it's named again in a different area.

It sounds obvious but the amount of jumpers, coats, water bottles etc that turn up at my school with no name is ridiculous.

SiouxsieSiouxStiletto · 27/09/2023 08:12

Double labels? One where it can clearly be seen and one down the sleeve? Do his shoes have shoe labels in as well?

Beamur · 27/09/2023 08:12

Is he losing it at school?
Does school have lost property/second hand stuff to buy?
I think it's not uncommon for little kids to lose uniform but that's a lot!

PuttingDownRoots · 27/09/2023 08:13

They are probably in someone else's laundry pile and the parent hasn't realised! Do you have a parents chat group at all?

What colour are the jumpers? If red or blue, you can write the name in marker pen on the inside of the collar... its more obvious than a name tag.

Only buy generic uniform rather than branded.

TeenDivided · 27/09/2023 08:13

At that age it is often children going home with the wrong item, and then parents not noticing / actively keeping the uniform.

As he is only 4 you could use coloured thread at the back of the neck so you can spot if another child has his jumper on, or even embroider his nme under the school logo.

Also if allowed, you could look through lost property and take something of the same size that isn't labelled - fair exchange is no robbery.

Fistralstorm · 27/09/2023 08:17

Our stuff has gone missing despite it being named 3 times per item. Not even joking.

One larger kid was caught swiping DS's uniform despite being too big for it and not having younger siblings. Very odd but he admitted it but the uniform was never returned. (He was a year 4)

Anyway, I recommend finding a way of naming / identifying the outside of the uniform somehow.

Icedlatteplease · 27/09/2023 08:21

Get a second pe bag. When DC undresses from PE Everything including shoes goes into the second bag. This will take some practice at home

Sew in name tags in very obvious places. It doesn't do much for losing but makes finding the odd bit in the second hand more likely. Believe me I'd love to say iron on works as well but they just dont.

Give up on jumpers. It will never work. Ditto any other items of schoolkids that are in reality non essential.

Whenever there's a second hand sale on pe kit. Buy everything that might even vaguely work. Hide it at home.

Have a spare (named) tie hidden at home. And a second one for the time they lose the tie and it really is essential. Do not tell child. Still drill into child that it is the end of the world if they lose their tie.

Fistralstorm · 27/09/2023 08:21

I also know that in our school where most TA's are parents - they rummage through the lost property and have first dibs on anything left in there. (I was a TA and was told by the school secretary "help yourself!")

greenacrylicpaint · 27/09/2023 08:22

it's part of learning to take care of their own stuff.
he will get better at it.

as pp say, most school has a lost & found. ask the process around that. dc primary had a policy that only dc were able to look in the box but last week of half term parent could have a look and retrieve their items. anything left after that was handed to the pta for their sevlnd hand uniform sale.

Icedlatteplease · 27/09/2023 08:24

Tbh DS was allocated whatever jumper of pe kit was unnamed from lost and found. At secondary he actually came out with more pe kit than he went in with. It all got donated to the second hand shop when he left.

Icedlatteplease · 27/09/2023 08:32

I love that optimism!!

Neither DD (ADHD) nor DS (assorted SEN) got better at it, at least not at school.

Not many interventions help either, DD ignored the list Senco gave him and DD lost it. The two bag thing really is the only thing that did help.

DD got better at college when she could pick her only stuff and only carry the really really essential bits (she's heading for Bs and As so she's a bright spark).

Heatwave2023 · 27/09/2023 08:37

Write his name in every single item in Sharpie.

Ask the school to change its PE policy, our school asks that on PE days the kids go in in their PE kit to prevent this kind of thing.

Not everything is ADHD or a syndrome, some of it is just they're so small and learning to manage their life admin for themselves.

Original poster

TwentyTwenty20 · 27/09/2023 08:47

Heatwave2023 · 27/09/2023 08:37

Write his name in every single item in Sharpie.

Ask the school to change its PE policy, our school asks that on PE days the kids go in in their PE kit to prevent this kind of thing.

Not everything is ADHD or a syndrome, some of it is just they're so small and learning to manage their life admin for themselves.

I know not everything is ADHD or a syndrome however his severe behavioural issues have lead his nurseries and clubs to raise the issue with me, I was already aware, and I am watching and waiting.

"Not everything is ADHD" is a daft comment to make to someone whose circs you don't know. Lots of days are a struggle.

OP posts:

LittleLegsKeepGoing · 27/09/2023 08:51

With the school's permission I took the step of having my daughter's initials embroidered professionally in visible places on all her school uniform.

It wasn't too expensive and much cheaper than constantly trying to replace uniform that somehow disappeared despite being labelled in every imaginable way.

The combination of a child that can't seem to keep track of their things and dishonest families who knowingly have other people's belongings and not returning them was costing me a fortune.

Having initials on the front of jumpers etc meant that her kit was no longer attractive to people who would ordinarily just keep it and we had a much better return rate from lost property.

Best of luck!

Bunnycat101 · 27/09/2023 08:55

You need to ask the other parents. Our WhatsApp group is full of kids taking the wrong uniform home at the moment. It does get better but it takes practice for them. The school should have helped with shoes- it’s unacceptable for those to go properly missing. Jumpers are the worst as they leave them everywhere/just pick up random ones. My reception child managed to bring a y5 child’s one back yesterday - no idea how!

it is a new skill for them and can be quite chaotic in the classroom. You have to check every pick-up. My eldest has been terrible for cardigans and water bottles. So far in y3 she hasn’t lost/forgotten anything yet but it’s been a struggle for her over the last few years. You will get into a routine of checking and it will get better.

Heatwave2023 · 27/09/2023 09:36

TwentyTwenty20 · 27/09/2023 08:47

I know not everything is ADHD or a syndrome however his severe behavioural issues have lead his nurseries and clubs to raise the issue with me, I was already aware, and I am watching and waiting.

"Not everything is ADHD" is a daft comment to make to someone whose circs you don't know. Lots of days are a struggle.

Show quote history

I'm not disagreeing with your personal circumstances, it was a general remark.

eurochick · 27/09/2023 10:08

Ours didn't change in school for PE until year 3 and the parents' WhatsApp was absolutely full of lost property queries. Even now in year 5 it gets pretty muddled. My child has lost several things already this term and last night came home with another child's boot bag as well as her own.

90% of stuff turns up a few days later. Usually someone else has taken it home by mistake or it is left in the changing room. If not then I try the parents' WhatsApp group.

At your son's age I think you need to be checking the bag at pick up and going in to look for anything that is missing at that point.

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 27/09/2023 10:10

If it's named it will come back, generally within a couple of weeks but sometimes it can take years! Dc5(6) came out with a jumper that had belonged to dc1(13) at the end of last year. I had wellies handed back to me after 3.5 years too. Should say neither of the above items had been in lost property at any point.

Alwaysfreeolives · 27/09/2023 10:11

Write his name in big letters with sharpie pen on the inside of his clothes / on the collar or somewhere obvious that any child will see if they try to put it on . A lot of stuff doesn’t come back as parents just don’t notice or don’t care that it isn’t theirs . Ask to go in and check lost property

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