AIBU No solution to PE kit problem

[Lottikins]

I have 3 of my children at the same secondary school, and I am so fed up of PE kit vanishing.
Last summer term both DS's PE bags vanished. I bought DS2 a whole new PE kit over the summer holidays.Last term he had PE during the day, but when it was hometime he looked for his kit (which he wanted for local basket ball club)and it had disapperaed from the peg.Before the xmas holidays we went through absolutely everything in the cloakrooms in the cubbyholes and the lost property- nothing!
DD went to do PE on Thursday and found her bag unzipped and her PE top missing.
PE kits are supposed to be left on shelves in the cloakroom (completely insecure).The kids have lockers but they are too small to store PE kit in,and dotted anywhere around the school so no tim to fetch them before PElesson.In fact in the case of DS2, his locker is actually within a classroom so he has no access to it most of the time.
The kids get detention if they don't have their complete PE kit so I think they just go and 'borrow' them from someone else's bag.They never turn up agin though.
I have raised the matter with the school who although very understanding can't offer any practical solutions.

Good point DIY.I have just weighed DS2 s school bag and it weighs 15% of his body weight

Ours are encouraged to have wheeled backpacks - their sports kit slots over the handle for carrying around. Can easily be whipped up onto back for going upstairs, but makes travelling to and from school and around school less of a strain.

A lot of children at my school wear their kit under their school uniform (not to my taste but hey ho - I guess if it's getting washed regularly it shouldn't be too minging!). They are also often the children who don't bring a bag to school.

Other than that, the children have their name embroidered onto the front of their t shirts and shorts. Sometimes children lend their kit to their friends so you can never guarantee that the person wearing Sarah's shirt is actually Sarah, but at least you can trace it back to its owner.

I tried the wheeled bag idea, it was a perfectly nice back pack with a pull out handle, it wasn't a lurid colour or granny tartan, it was grey and black. dd (12) refused point blank to even try it. In the same way as coats are not used even in sub-zero temperatures or torrential downpours. I'd love it if there were lockers, with decent locks and big enough, near the PE department, or if wheeled bags were compulsory.

The outside name tags are compulsory here and have reduced the overall theft rate, but since they're sew on, a dedicated thief can tear the tags off. And kit costs so much, as it exclusive supplier, it's worth nicking.

No that is his bag with just his school books in- and they do PE 3 x a week

All games kit at DC's school has to be named on the outside - assuming it did at my senior school (we used to have to embrioder initials on the outside, now I use giant name tapes)

If the school acknowledge that there is a problem, maybe they would consider this?

giant name tapes

It does of course depend on a degree of vigilance from the PE staff - if they pull a child up for wearing something that is not theirs, or which doesn't have a visible name (i.e. might have had the outside label removed, so they then have to prove that it is theirs) then it massively reduces the "borrowing" of missing bits of kit.

I would go with the combination lock idea on the zips of their bags. Presumably the bags are their own choice of style and not regulation so go for distinctive bags with their initials on them very large and visible. So if the thief thwarted by the lock decides to take the whole bag then at least theres a good chance of someone noticing. I. e. 'Hiya JD, why you carrying a bag with the big letters SC on it ?'

I mean you can never wipe it out altogether just make your DCs belongings the more riskier/difficult option for the thieving little buggars .

DS has 2 games kits and needs trainers and football boots. There's no way he could carry that lot round with him all day -thank God they have lockers! He does PE 3x a week.

Thank you everybody for your replies.I have ordered combination locks from Amazon and hopefully that will solve the problem!

All our local high school send you to a local shop to have initials pressed onto the front left side of top and bottom right side of shorts, they are in the school colours and its so obvious if Joe blogs has Sid Smith's kit on. They are very like those linked to above.

Hang on....it is up to the school to sort this problem out not the victims of the theft.
And people wonder why there is so much victim blaming in society. Because this thread shows that we are given the message to accept it right from childhood.

I agree this should be for the school to ultimately sort out - though of course there's nothing wrong with parents & pupils doing what they can - like the lock idea - in the meantime to try and minimise theft.

Leaving aside the issue of lumping heavy bags around all day for a moment, the school clearly aren't being very understanding at all if they insist that bags are left in lockers that can't be got to if they're in a classroom being used for a lesson, or in a location which is too far to get to before PE starts. First off, lockers should be in accessible locations, i.e. not in places where teaching takes place and second, given this problem is a regular occurence for all the kids maybe someone could actually give a bit of consideration and allow the kids to arrive 5 to 10 mins later without penalty if they've had to fetch their bags. They're hardly going to become obese for losing 10 mins of PE.

Otherwise, if that's really beyond the school's understanding they need to allow kids to carry their bags with them if they prefer. If they're worried about stuff being nicked and put in bags in the library or lab they should provide a secure area within those rooms to leave bags - even if they're just dumped in a pile.

The monogrammed PE kits isn't a solution - my son has been wearing 'RW's shorts for the past 2 years, I have no idea who RW is, or indeed who had DS's shorts.

Also monogramming is £1 per letter - start adding that up across rugby shirts, tennis shirts, gym tops, plus all the shorts, socks and varying tracksuits.

Holly- maybe they are my son's - his initials are RW
The school expect PE kit to be left in the unsecure cloakroom.

catsmother, there is almost certainly a solution to this, but students don't often follow it. Eg at our school access to lockers is before registration, 5 mins each at start and end of break, 5 mins each at start and end of lunch and at end of day, so students never have to carry stuff for more than 2 lessons. Some students will still try and use having to go to their lockers as an excuse for being late

At my secondary school it was required that you had kit from the school shop with your name embroidered on the front. We had no cloakrooms so kept our kit with us. This meant it was very hard for it to go missing.

How about it is put to the school that the prefects keep an eye on this area at breaks and lunches? They can keep an eye on who is getting things and if they see ppl going into bags then they can report it to a member of staff.

Get bags with zips that can have a padlock to hold them shut? Obviously doesn't stop the whole bag go missing but stops light fingered children from having a root around.

Also - as this is theft why do the schools not help?

Hollyberry - if your son has taken someone else's kit why did you not take it back - yes your son's has gone missing but surely you shouldn't be accepting his theft of someone else's belongings.

I use indelible black pen to write my Y9 son's initials on the front of his white PE t-shirt. I got sick of things going missing. Same on any white part of his trainers. Tippex on black shorts. It has to be somewhere obvious so that it's no use to a thief. Our school is hot on uniform but they'd never question this, they have too much lost property to dream of stopping sensible parents naming things IME.

Maltamum: I agree. It is disgraceful that both girls and boys don't wear leotards.