to have a bit of a rant about people who steal school uniform

[Kiriwawa]

Yes, I know it's dull and it's been done before.

But I'm just bloody annoyed this evening (doing end of term washing in a slatternly way).

DS has SEN. He's a bit shit at remembering to dress himself properly after PE so quite often comes out without his jumper on. Usually, I realise, we go back and find it and all is well. Because he forgets to put stuff on a lot, we get to root around in lockers and in the school hall and anywhere else he might have left something.

If it's not in the school, it stands to reason that another child has taken it home. So it should come back really shouldn't it, but it bloody doesn't. Last term he had stolen lost 1 jumper. This term, it's 1 jumper and 1 fleece. That's about £40 worth of kit.

I sew nametags in the back of all his clothes and I sew them round all sides. They don't fall out. I can understand that you don't necessarily look at every single item of clothing every week but at the end of term, you surely realise if your child has an extra jumper? Or a frigging fleece which costs £18?

So AIBU to think some parents are thieving fucking bastards? :mad:

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Yanbu.

One of my dc's have even had a gel wheelchair seat pad pinched its shocking what some parents won't return.

We've also lost shoes coats jumpers all named all new its a pain in the arse.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

I used to write on DSs school uniform in permanent marker, on the outside, in plain view. This was after losing several labelled sweaters. I took great delight one day in pointing out to one of the Smug Mummies, that her son was wearing my DSs jumper.
"I think not"...
"Well Im certain those are his initials on the back of the collar"...
She returned it with bad grace and dragged her child back to the classroom to locate his own sweater.
For once I was the Smug Mummy!

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Yeah the whole 'teaching your kids not to loose things' I'd love to know how to do this because no matter what, no matter how many times I've tried (and not matter what I have tried, lists, reminders, making them replace stuff, making them go back and look for it, practising checking his bag etc) and how many times my kids have lost things that really matter to them they don't learn that lesson. One of my sons managed to loose a pair of shorts while wearing them in a store and he was not little. That takes skill. He also managed to loose a pair of shoes while wearing them. I used to check the lost and found weekly with him in primary school and there was always a couple of his things. He is almost 17 and still looses stuff, but it is not through lack of trying when he was young.

[SquinkiesRule]

I'm shocked at how much stuff goes missing, Dd's school doesn't have uniforms. We are waiting for that pleasure when we move back to UK, her school has over 700 kids and she has only lost one fleece in 3 years at the school and that was this winter. My boys went to the same school and probably lost one a year each.
I'm terrible for remembering to write names in anything. I'm going to have to get a new permanent marker pen ready for those UK uniforms. One thing I know for sure after reading on here so much, she'll be in the Asda and Tesco uniforms nothing too expensive. Just in case our school is rife with uniform thieves.

[teacherandguideleader]

I remember dealing with a uniform issue a few years ago. A girl had lost her nice new shirt and the only one left was a disgustingly grubby un-named shirt. I knew which child had taken the shirt but dealing with it was a nightmare. The girl who had taken it refused to take the shirt off to check for a name and went into a complete meltdown about being accused of taking it (she wasn't accused as I'd asked all the girls to check).

I did feel quite sorry for her, she was obviously so embarrassed to be wearing the awful one she had been sent in. She went home in the nice new one and I doubt her mum would have cared enough to check for a name - judging by the previous one it never went near the laundry.

I don't see the problem with going through lost property on the last day of term as usually whatever is left goes to the charity shop.

[LtEveDallas]

I'm looking forward to my local market starting up again now it's 'summer' because there is a stall that does embroidery on clothing. I've decided I'm going to get DDs name embroidered onto the front of all her jumpers/cardis under the school badge, and on the arse pocket of her trousers.

I'm sick to death of it. She's Yr3 and I would think that she has gone through 3-4 sweatshirts every single year she has been at this school - and I'm sick of it. We've also 'lost' shoes, daps and trainers - and had one pair of shoes turn up with the name scribbled out inside - so obviously a parent.

We've had the blatent stealing as well. At Xmas, because I was sick of buying pens/pencils/rubbers every couple of weeks, I bought her the named stuff from ID Direct. 24 felt tips, pencils, colouring pencils, ruler, pencil case and biros. All with her full name embossed in gold letters.

At the start of March DD was off school for a week with the dreaded flu bug. When she went back everything was gone except the pencil case. The whole lot. I was furious, DD was really upset. The school did nothing. They have obviously gone home or DD would see them using them in the classroom.

It has completely changed my view of the school and I cannot wait to move and put it behind us.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Yanbu. Our logo'd school cardis/jumpers are £10-12 each. I labelled all three and yet one still went missing. Dd once came home with another jumper which I washed dried and returned following day to the mum. Yet no one showed the same curteousy for dd. I know the r expensive but come on, you don't steal someone else's.

Have also had an entire pe kit go missing , named bag on a named peg. I'm
Hoping it shows up beginning of term but as I can't be sure I now have to replace the bag and the kit.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Although the pe kit I am assuming is a case of last day of term rush.

[marriedinwhiteagain]

Easy2name. They do iron on lettering which sticks like teflon. They do it in white for dark stuff and dark for white stuff.

But I will add I have one who would lose his head if it wasn't permanently attached and one at 15 who has lost one >>whispers

[CPtart]

My son was sharing a room with four other boys at cub camp and came home minus a pair of pj bottoms. Not a big deal really but they had his name in and never returned. Old pj bottoms ffs, never returned. One of them must have them!

[lottieandmia]

This makes me angry too. My older dd, with SEN when she was at primary school as part of her ABA programme had her Roxy coat stolen - I just don't understand why people think they can help themselves to other people's stuff.

My younger dd, in a prep school has never had anything stolen, but it is a much smaller school so I imagine would get noticed more easily. My dd who has SEN will be starting school again this year and I have bought some iron on stuck on you labels - they melt into the fabric so cannot be cut out or removed easily.

[zipzap]

squinkies I've found the easiest way is to have a job lit of fabric markers and permanent markers.

I keep one set upstairs on the landing window sill, one downstairs in the penpot by the front door and one in the car. Occasionally there's even a set in my handbag.

That way I get to intercept unnamed clothing and mark it pretty easily - especially on days where they have to wear their own stuff in which I don't usually label by default; it only gets labelled if going to school or a party. Plus there are some things that the 'permanent' marker fades on; some things faster than others, so if there are pens around you can top it up much more easily there and then rather than having to wait until you get home and then forgetting...

The only thing I haven't been able to find is a White/pale fabric marker as now ds1 has moved up to the next school and his uniform is all navy or dark grey which is a real pain to mark by pen permanently. Does help that they label it for you when you buy it, so every poloshirt and jumper and games kit is labelled by default and all in the same place for each item, making it much easier to check and less of an issue as most stuff is labelled.

In infant school I really think that on the first week day of term when settling kids in, the teachers should ask to see the labels on each item of school uniform and if it's not labelled then whip out a marking pen and do it there and then. Not quite perfect I know, but if parents were warned this was going to happen they would have the choice of doing it themselves and maybe a donation to a school funds box for each one that needed doing so that people didn't use it as as a free labelling service instead of bothering to do it themselves.

Amazed by the number of peopled who have encountered such entitled behaviour even when rightfully challenged! And glad that writing on the outside of the jumper managed to give smug mum her comeuppance!

[DontSweatTheSmallStuff]

I think we must've been lucky (so far), only had one named pair of trouseurs go missing. Not in lost property so someone has them. I understand things getting mixed up and going to the wrong home but if not returned then it is stealing.

And actually it's stealing from children which imho makes the stealers even bigger scummy scum bags.

[lottieandmia]

' The girl who had taken it refused to take the shirt off to check for a name and went into a complete meltdown about being accused of taking it (she wasn't accused as I'd asked all the girls to check).'

If I was her teacher I would have told her she was going to sit in the head's office until she took it off and showed me she had checked. It is not ok for children to learn that it's ok for them to take other people's stuff, no matter how grubby her own shirt was.

[hamdangle]

I don't think DS had a jumper that lasted longer than a month the whole time he was in school and we would usually buy a two or three coats a term. I very rarely had anything turn back up despite regularly going though lost property.

He also lost three pairs of trainers in his first term at high school and has lost two pairs of trainers whilst actually wearing them! Once he went to the park wearing brand new adidas trainers and came back in a hundred year old pair of cheapo trainers! He had taken his trainers off when playing (who does that?) and someone had swapped them!!! Don't know if it was a kid or a parent but either way I was livid!

Some of it is obviously DS' own fault though. I couldn't really blame anyone when he left his black rucksack in Tescos on an out of town shopping park. Someone thought it was a bomb and evacuated Tescos and the whole shopping park for half a day. Bomb squad destroyed the bag including homework and library books.

[PlumSykes]

We are lucky, I think, and not much of this goes on. In fact, out lost property bin is full of clearly named jumpers etc, which no-one ever bothers to collect.

I do think, though, that insisting on your child taking responsibility for their things is key, though. Am quite sure that if they took a prized possession into school, they wouldn't forget to bring it home. By year 2 they should be packing their own bag in the morning, and also making sure they having everything back in it at the end of the day. Am not including kids with SEN in this, obviously.

[LauraSmurf]

As a teacher, I know this happens but am ashamed to say I didn't realise the extent of it. I teach 10/11 year olds and so rarely see parents. Children are expected look after their own stuff.

But I do ensure I mark initials on every childs indoor shoes and sweatshirt at the start of the year. With best intentions I mean to do sporadically throughout the year but I forget. I will definitely do this at the start of next term.

The biggest problem I find is indeed the school ethos on it. I am a parent myself and even when I wasn't my mum taught me to look out for my own belongings as well as everyone else's. So lost, wrong clothing has always been on my radar. I don't mean to generalise, but it's often the single, childless and I'm sorry to say male, teachers who don't care and so it is allowed to carry on.

This year has been my worst for lost items as I share a cloakroom with a 22 year old male NQT who cares little for order, tidiness or rightful owners. He admitted to me he has a cupboard full of clothing collected from the start of the year as he 'can't be bothered to take it all the way to lost property'. It's ridiculous (I took it all down btw, separating out the bits with names first for the office to hold onto).

Sorry that turned into a bit of a thought dump!

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Plumsykes, my kids have regularly lost prized possessions.

[PlumSykes]

How, Self? Did another child take them from them?

[lottieandmia]

'I do think, though, that insisting on your child taking responsibility for their things is key'

I agree with this. I have drummed it into my dd that she must take care of her stuff and that if she loses her hockey socks again, I'm not buying more. The message seems to have gone in but she is 9 now!

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Nope, distracted and disorganised. Mainly distracted, thoughts on other things going on and remember later.

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Lottie, I've done that with mine and made them replace things with their own money or painfully do without. Makes no difference.

I'm serious, how does one teach this.

[zipzap]

hamdangle bet explain that one to the teacher was fun

Still, makes a change from the dog ate my homework I guess!!

[PlumSykes]

Self, that would drive me spare. Not sure what else you can do, esp at his age. Sellotape everything to him before he leaves the house?