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:

YANBU at ALL.

DD 'lost' a cardigan at school (£15 each, school one) but thought that one of the other girls at school had taken it by mistake. She had, and it WAS a mistake as when I asked the mum she said that yes they had it and would bring it in. I must have asked her 50 bloody times to bring it in but she eventually said that her DD must have worn it to school one day and lost it. A few weeks ago, DD brought the cardigan home and her name had been crossed out and this other girls name written beside it. Then the mum had the bloody cheek to ask for it back. Can you guess this pissed me off?

I've threatened stapling things to his forehead.

Twelve year old is not as bad, but still not great.

We used to just buy cheap as chips uniform in the right colours and if something went, it went - it was a pound or two and we had loads.

Once I did keep a cardi belonging to a girl in ds's class for about a term, that's embarrassing but at the time I'd just put it on the side to go back, as it was named, and it got somehow stuck under a load of other stuff and forgotten and when I mentioned I had it, the other parents didn't seem too fussed so eventually I found it and it went back. I assume they had a few spares too.

Now the uniform is logo'd and very expensive so I'd always return something as we have barely any spares and can't afford to replace.

We know a family who kept someone's named scooter for weeks, despite an email going out to all parents that it was lost.

I avoid logo uniform (that's another thread ) and so far, touch wood, nothing has gone missing.

His friends, in logo uniform, have things go missing all the time. There must be a connection.

As a parent I have had uniform items go astray, some to return and some not, and have received the wrong item which is always washed and returned.

HOWEVER ... as a teacher I get seriously hacked off that so many parents expect me to sort out their uniform disputes. I am there to educate your child, not to arbitrate over whose jumper is whose and to search the cloakroom for it.

Can you imagine the thread? "Little Jemima's homework wasn't marked this week and the teacher had the audacity to say that it was because she was busy looking for someone's jumper!"

I think a better idea would be for all schools to allow pupils to wear supermarket jumpers. Affording £4 for two is easier than replacing jumpers costing over £10 for one.

Teachers can't be expected to deal with it.

My children are responsible and dont 'lose' stuff anywhere else, its not an issue at high school with ds1, its just at primary and beliebe me with five mine have all been taught to be responsible, even ds4 in reception packs his own school nag everyday and when he gets home he knows to hang up.his coat, put his shoes away and then empty out his lunch box and put it in the sink.

Things seem.to go missing on pe/swimming days more and i understamd when they all get changed and clothes are put on chairs/benches etc there is the chance that stuff gets muddled up but i ALWAYS wash and return anything thats not ours!!! Some parents do not it seems.

Plus the two coats were clearly labelled and each child has a labelled peg, i see ds3 hang his up everyday through the window as i wave him goodbye, his pekit is hung on his peg etc as well but the coat vanished and i and his teacher have searched for it.

Ditto ds2 his coat gets hung on his peg or uf he gets hot he puts it in his bag, that bag is like the tardis! Footbal shin pads, goalie gloves etc and yes prized possessions like brand new goalie gloves have gone missinh as well and its not because he doesnt care or look after them as he does but some children (age 10/11 yr6) will pinch things or 'borrow' them and their parents obviously dont care!

I use these labels. They are bomb-proof and I've never had an issue with uniform going missing.

I buy supermarket non logo.jumpers and t-shirts and label them and yes they are cheaper but thats not the point, particularly with three boys at the same primary as i can hand stuff down and with four boys i hand lots of stuff down, so ds3's coat was a good columbia one already worn by ds2 but looked new and ds4 would have grown into it but nope its gone.

I dont expect the teacher to sort it out but ours will look for stuff thats missing or put a sign up in the classroom window which is helpful.

Everything DS owns (school-related) has an easy2name label in it. I do try and teach him to take care of stuff but he has trouble remembering a series of instructions or to put his pants on before his trousers so it's a bit of a losing battle.

HarrySnotter - that is absolutely shocking. I never fail to be amazed by the absolute barefaced cheek of some people.

Horry I fought tooth and nail to try and stop the logos being brought in, so did many of the other parents but the school overruled us all (consultation my arse) and now it is compulsory.

I wouldn't have signed up for this school if I'd known but it seemed unkind to move the children half way through.

I agree with all that's been said.

I now buy dd2 non logoed cardis. They are cheaper and more distinguishable as hardly anyone else in her class has the exact same one.
I find these far less likely to "disappear".

I never got back a brand new logoed jumper my ds had. Interestingly the only jumpers left in the class were the crappy, scruffy ones that looked like my floor clothes. There was no way someone could mistake his new, labelled one for one of those.

Last year ds went on a school tripabroard with senior school. I bought him a brand new pair of sports shorts-an actual team pair such as Barcelona or something. A boy in his year took them home. We asked him for them back he said he would give them back. Then my dh asked his mother (my ds and this boy played rugby together) yes she said. This went on for months with my son asking him to bring them to school or rugby ever weekand my dh speaking to his mothe, every week at rugby. It has now been 12 months and neither one has given them back to my son.
My ds never actually got to wear them. The nerve of some people is astounding.

DC1 lost eight jumpers in one term. I went ballistic. They were all named too. When I went to check lost property there was a mum who was going through the uniform checking what fitted her DC's and taking it - I have no doubt that she has probably rarely bought jumpers for her DC's.

After this incident I bribed my child to come home with his jumper. If he came home with his own jumper every day for a week he would get a magazine /other small treat at the end of the week. It worked - he managed to not lose a jumper since.

Thank goodness because a year later we moved to a school where jumpers are triple the price. I couldn't actually afford eight jumpers at £30 a go, every bloody term also helps that DC1 is the smallest in his year group so they can't be stolen

This bribery trick has been passed on to DC2 and DC3 and seems to be working quite well, as between them we have only lost one jumper so far.

Housework, can you turn up at their house and ask for the shorts?

YANBU.

I also feel your pain.

DD's best friend had her Superdry coat stolen at school. How can you, as a parent, not notice if your child comes home with a brand new £80 coat?!

We dont have lost property boxes anymore so no chance of things being nicked from them. Each 2 classes share a cloakroom (pegs and lockers for all) and at the end of each day I do a sweep around and gather up all left items BEFORE the children go home. Named items are given straight out and non named are kept by me for 1 week. If not collected they go into PTA 2nd hand sale. Surprisingly the PTA get a lot less than they used to when we had the boxes!
But still we get parent not naming things! A few weeks ago my y1/2 were swimming and I had 3 boys and 3 polo shirts. Not one shirt was named (nor any other item of their clothing - I checked) and they all claimed that one particular shirt was theirs. I eventually gave them out according to size of child and shirt but spoke to each parent to explain the situation. I did ask very nicely if they could name their clothes and were told they all were! Hmmm....I think not!
I have been known to write the child's initials myself on the clothes if it is a child who is particularly good at losing stuff!

This used to happen in my daughter's primary school a lot, so the school decided to offer a service where the child's initials could be embroidered onto the front of jumpers, cardigans, coats, school t shirts, P.E. kits etc. It cost a £1 per item and cut down the lost property at school a huge amount.

If a child had the same initals as someone else the school class number would be added, so initials of AB would be AB1, for example. In the event that two children in the same class had the same initials there would be a picture of some sort added too if necessary, although I don't think this was ever needed (small school).

I organise the lost property and spare clothes at school. I have named all the spare clothing with the school name in black laundry pen across the collars, waistbands, everywhere. All the pants/knickers have the name written across the back of them. The socks have the name written across the bottom of the feet. When children need a change of clothes in school, I would say 50% bring back within 7 days. About 10% wait until the end of term (for some reason) and the rest never bring back at all. Us staff never see children re-wearing our stuff so we can only assume it gets thrown away!

Our lost property box has no named items in it. Anything named gets back to the right class eventually when someone recognises where it belongs. You could suggest to your school that named stuff gets put in a box in the office and if you have lost a named item then they could let you in to search for it. That way, if it's named it's unlikely to be pilfered.

I had a parent absolutely indignant when I pointed our her son was wearing my childs new jumper and I would like it back (he had her sons manky old one)
She was trying to make out it was just a jumper and didnt matter who was wearing what and I should let him just keep it.

YANBU - My DD is in Reception class and so far she has lost 1 sweatshirt and 2 cardis. The cardis were only £3 at Asda, but the sweatshirt has the logo on and costs around £8 a time. I bought her two for 50p each in the summer fete, so not too bad, but if I had paid £8, I would be livid.

I use a system called Attachatag, which gives you a little gadget and buttons with the childs name on that you attach to the clothes labels. They are very distinctive and cant be missed, yet somebody has that sweatshirt.

Its not a question of losing things. If the kids get hot, they have to all put their jumpers in the jumper box. so if at the end of the day a sweatshirt goes missing, it means that a child who didnt wear one in, has gone home wearing one.

I asked for a bit to go in the school newsletter asking parents to check all uniform over the holidays and the teacher said it wasnt necessary. Guess what was in the same newsletter - a note from the headteacher saying that children are coming to school not in uniform! I wonder why that is?!!!

A local school embroiders the childs name on the front of their jumper, but of course then it cant be handed down.

I do think it is theft, if you are taking somebody else's clothes. A comment earlier on was shocking, to think that somebody can actually knowingly steal clothes by actually taking them and removing the labels :( Its not finders keepers, she should hand the stuff to the teacher.