Do you label your children's school uniform, and if not why?

[ItWasnaMeGuv]

I ask because after more than 20 years working as an assistant in primary schools, still we end up with mounds of lost property which is not labelled and never, ever claimed [and frustrated emoticon].

When we find labelled items we can get them returned to their owners straight away, which is lovely. Sometimes items are clearly expensive, coats for example. I am always astounded that items like this are not claimed.

I know with my own kids, everything was labelled as I couldn't afford to keep buying replacements. I would be interested to know if there are any mumsnetters who do not label school uniforms. Why not? It is really helpful, to everyone.

Genius!

I spent over an hour yesterday labelling everything with wash proof sticky labels, two sets of everything including new shoes, trainers for PE, water bottles, rain coats, normal coats…etc

I can’t imagine not labelling stuff, especially in the younger years. Mine are Y1 & Y3 and so far we’ve never lost anything.

I work in a school and agree to an extent. I think the problems happen when the child loses the item somewhere else in the school rather than it just being taken off in the classroom.
Our school has no space for lost property so unless you have time to wander the school with the random bits and pieces that might end up near your classroom then it is unlikely to be reunited with it's owner. Even if labelled this can be a time consuming task unless you have staff who have been there a long time and remember teaching a particular child and what year they would be in.
We also have a lot of second hand uniform and that doesn't always get relabelled so you then don't have a clue as the name is from a few years ago!

I don’t. I have good intentions but I never seem to get around to it. We have somehow never lost anything anyway.

I feel sorry for the kids who have to keep a track of their stuff against all the odds. It’s ok if they are in their own classroom and they know where to put it but if the are at lunch or in PE their jumper just ends up in a pile of identical jumpers.

Sharpie doesn’t work well enough, I don’t know why people think it does. Their names just end up looking like squashed wood lice. I once had a little girl in my class whose mother embroidered an M on the cuff of her jumper.

I do label most stuff. We’re in the last couple of years of our primary school journey (2 children) and all labelled stuff used to be returned to the classroom. Recently they’ve stopped doing that and it ends up all in the same lost property bin- I really don’t have the will to be searching through hundreds of damp jumpers trying to find ours. I just hope the school donate them at the end!

Carry on for secondary too, The uniform is more expensive and when it cost £50-£100 not to mention trainers to replace PE kits. You have to label!! My nametags do some subtle designs and work really well.

Biro works fine. It doesn’t bleed into the fabric like a marker can do.

I used to label things but they were just dumped in the lost and found box anyway. So now I never label anything and just go through the lost and found box whenever I'm missing anything.
I think many parents don't even realise things are missing because most people have far too many clothes, my DC certainly do!

This.

I do manage to stick a label in coats and obviously do water bottles and lunch boxes.

Touch wood we've not lost anything though.

Same here. Sew them elsewhere in the garment I put them in the seam or on the hem.

I just write it on the labels with very thin Sharpie. The ink doesn’t smudge or bleed into the fabric if you use the thin one, easy to read all year long.

Ooooo I like this. I already do it on swimming towels. I'm going to do it on jumpers / PE kit. Great suggestion!

It was so great because every kid also knew an M on a jumper meant it was Maria’s jumper. They were falling over themselves to give her belongings back to her.

I think there's a difference between a neat label on a care label on the side of the garment and Sharpie writing on the main label in the neck.

PP didn’t say she wrote the name at the neck though.
Presumably she’d write the name the same place she’d put a label?

I work in a school, just write initials in biro on one of the labels and we will get it back to you.

Found out very fast even with a name stuff wouldn’t come back so found it pointless.

Always amused me however seeing random shoes in lost property like how has a parent not come for them.

I’ve got 5 kids and have only ever used a pen or sharpie (that we already have) to label their clothes. Sharpie names/ initials last multiple kids and costs nothing, I’ve never understood to the need to buy and then have to stick on multiple labels, what a waste of time and money.

Really?? It’s a kids school jumper, who gives a toss if it’s a crap white label or a crap sharpie name?

Same

I mean, the person who owns it might.

I'm really quite a particular person but I think when you reach the stage when something like this is bothering you on a school jumper you probably need to think about not letting the small things get to you.

Indeed. Most schools jumpers have two tag locations one on the neck and one inside near the bottom. If I've checked both and neither have a name and there's no other clear indicators of who it belongs to e.g. A stamp or stitched in tag then I did indeed write on the name tag label which was usually at the bottom of the jumper with a fine Sharpie.

Almost all jumpers these days have a tag where the wash care label is exactly for this purpose. If parents cared that much then truthfully I think they should have labelled their child's property.

We got several brand new gingham dresses, twin sets, from a local supermarket a couple of years ago in ages 4 to 12. The largest size was £14. I had a stand at the Christmas Fayre and had them for sale £2 for a pair of new school dresses. I sold one all afternoon. Then, at the parents evening later I had them out again (by all the lost property) for a "donation" to the school. No one interested. Now, I give them to pupils who start at our school from another area, together with a capsule uniform from lost property.

Had I had the opportunity to buy brand new gingham dress sets for my DD I would have bought one of each size . That's just me though.