To think school uniform does not just walk off

[Chattymummyhere]

One of my children is on half days as its their first week in reception class, they have a bag they use for spare clothes incase of accidents so they can change, this bag went in with the children on day one and has not left school since unless a child has had an accident, so to go in on day 3 and find my child's bag missing off their peg, checked the other pegs with the teacher to make sure it had not been knocked off then put on a random peg..

Means a parent has taken my child's spare clothes bag? The parents are not allowed in the cloakroom at pick up the children are brought out by their teacher and individually handed over to a parent with any extra info needed passed on, the teachers gather the children and their belongings...

So surely the bag could of only gone missing at a drop off as that's the only time you can go into a cloakroom which means an afternoon child's parent has stolen my child's spare clothes and his bag?

Providing this is not a complete accident made by a teacher
Who an earth would steal a 4year olds belongings??? Or if it was an accident why has a parent not rang the school to say they have the wrong bag???

Parents do steal things.
Was the bag names? And the clothes?
I'd give the school til the end of the week to find it if it's been misplaced.

Perhaps someone else picked up the child and didn't know the bag was the wrong one? How many days in are you now and how long has the bag been missing? I'd give the school/parents the benefit of doubt for a few days as it may turn up after a weekend.

Tbh I'm surprised you have to take a full set of spare clothes. Ours only asked for spare underwear (to be kept in pe bag) as they'd change the dc into school spares or pe kit if necessary.

Probably the same parents who cut the 2 name labels out of ds2 brand new jumper.....sadly for them they did not notice I had written his name with a sharpie on the inside of the sleeve.

Parents do steal things.

Parents also tell their children to steal things.

DS frequently came out of school wearing an old, too small jumper which wasn't his. They'd obviously been swapped.

Same child had them. Every time.

Once he even saw me coming back with DS holding the too small jumper and immediately started taking off the jumper he was wearing. Was DS's. But I'd known that already.

Lots of parents just don't really check what their children bring home, this is just one of those situations you get when your DC start nursery/school. You can't really expect teachers to spend ages sorting out lost property. Just ensure that you only send old stuff in as 'spares'.

It goes on throughout your child's school career - my DS lost a brand new rugby top (£30) clearly named, on his first week at secondary school, it never turned up, I got him a replacement from the charity shop. About six months later he bought home a really nice condition rugby top in his size, picked upi by mistake in the changing room, it was unamed I am afraid I let him keep it & put his name in it .

If this is your DC's first week and the bag's gone missing 3 days in, that means it went missing today, right?

I'm surprised you're even thinking about theft at this early point.

It'll probably turn up in a random corner of the classroom under a chair...once the teacher has time to search properly.

It may well turn up, teachers 'looking for things' is truly appalling. Stuff spends months sitting under benches and tables with no one bothering to pick it up and read the names. It's unbelievably annoying!

Teachers just throw jumpers left on the field in the clock room rather than spend 30 sec returning them to the right peg (it's not a big school).

The upset caused by teachers always being to busy to help DCs take care of their own and other pupils belongings is a disgrace.

Stressed parents, get cross with DCs for losing things and small DCs get upset at losing things they like.

All parties forget that young children, right up to Y6 are very bad at looking for things. They are real creatures of habit, they can look straight through their coat if it's on the wrong years pegs. Think how bad they are at noticing mess.

Lost properly has been checked, teacher and my self checked the whole cloakroom (no reason for it to leave the cloakroom as toilets are there too), office rang to keep an eye out for a bag being handed in, bag and all contents has child's name on it.

And parents are not allowed in cloakrooms at pick up time...

Child is very upset and they love school and where very proud of helping pack said bag and taking it to school.

The bag and shirt/jumper are of the school branded type but they are not expensive I just don't get people that steal and more so from little children.. Child is now worried someone is going to steal their lunch box and coat.. Very sad that a 4 year old is now scared to take things to school.

Will give it till Friday pick up to allow plenty of time but then I don't know if its not back I don't see why I should have to pay to replace it but like hell will the school...

It's supposed to be a "nice" school, very over subscribed with brilliant reports, I knew we may lose a couple of jumpers or maybe a shoe but never a whole bag full of uniform..

My DD is terrible at losing her stuff.

We give it a couple of weeks and by then someone has usually found it abandoned in the loo/playground/wherever she's put it down and forgotten about it and put it in the lost property or given it back to her to lose again

We have had stuff stolen - we've had a couple of jumpers returned with labels cut off/new name labels sewn on over original labels so I've taken to writing in marker pen on the actual fabric of the clothing. I took her school jumper to the embroidery company that the school uses and had her name embroidered into the logo iyswim. It does happen, but it's quite rare and it's usually down to rubbish looking/absent minded kids

My younger son is very slight. On Monday he put 'his' school uniform waterproof jacket.

It swung like a cape. Someone has taken his, and will resemble a sausage in a skin. I'm on the out-look for that child.

I'm tired of uniform going missing. I label everything...

Also, a couple of times a term a note is put into the weekly news letter reminding parents to check as pencil case/coat/whatever has gone missing and we usually get a pile of stuff back shortly after

Worra the reason for thinking theft is there is no reason for it to of been off the peg, my child has not had an accident, never lost clothes/bags at a very busy preschool, teachers deal with handover and making sure the children have the right bags/coats... None of the children leaving morning sessions yesterday came out with a spare clothes bag, bag was there yesterday morning gone by this morning.

That only leaves the pupils and parents going into the cloakroom at afternoon drop off.

It might turn up (thought this might not be soon - DS lost a jumper that reappeared after 6 months).

It might have been taken (DD's new cardigan from the 1st week of Reception).

I'd give it a week before worrying though.

I doubt that a parent has actually gone into the cloakroom to steal a bag though.

It's more likely it's been knocked off the peg, and maybe put on a different peg.
Are they school bags, ie do all the DCs have the same bag?

*'It may well turn up, teachers 'looking for things' is truly appalling. Stuff spends months sitting under benches and tables with no one bothering to pick it up and read the names. It's unbelievably annoying!

Teachers just throw jumpers left on the field in the clock room rather than spend 30 sec returning them to the right peg (it's not a big school).

The upset caused by teachers always being to busy to help DCs take care of their own and other pupils belongings is a disgrace.

Stressed parents, get cross with DCs for losing things and small DCs get upset at losing things they like.

All parties forget that young children, right up to Y6 are very bad at looking for things. They are real creatures of habit, they can look straight through their coat if it's on the wrong years pegs. Think how bad they are at noticing mess.*

Starball, this is the sort of ridiculous mollycoddling that parents now expect of teachers?
I could understand if the child was YR, Y1 or had additional needs, but after that the child should be responsible for their own kit and be prepared to look properly.
These are the same children we are being told on another thread are responsible enough to walk home alone and schools are being over-protective about safeguarding? Children who can't find their own bloody jumpers, or hand their stuff up properly? Or look in LP for missing items?

I'm afraid school uniform DOES just walk off by itself. ( not literally, but you know what I mean.)

No matter if it is named or not. Fact of life.

at the idea of children being taught to steal to order.

Lots of parents at my school complain about similar issues. To date we've had nothing go missing, and nothing come home with us that wasn't ours. I think it must be just luck.

I lost count of all the stuff that ds lost when he was at school. Everything named, labelled and in the right place too. Even brand new school shoes one time, and on another occasion a full PE bag with new trainers and a Holland football strip, all named and easily identifiable as Not Belonging To Your Own Child.

All nicked, every last bit of it. He was bullied horribly and I suspect a link ...

Tantrums there are a lot of the same bag and a lot of different bags, all the official school bags have name on the outside and inside of the bag..

The only reason for the bag to come home is if the child has had an accident so to me being a parent with my child's bag coming home would mean I would empty it that night as the clothes inside would need washing, discover its still a brand new unworn kit and ring the school first thing if I was not in till the afternoon or if I was a morning class take it straight back in the morning.

The bags each side of my child's pegs are still there and belong to the opposite gender so would be very easy to know your child has come home with the wrong bag when going to wash the "dirty" clothes.

One year dd "lost" her PE sweatshirt around Christmas time - checked lost property, teacher checked classroom and requested the children check their pe kits incase they had accidentally picked up the sweatshirt.

Year later dd changing in pe when her friend was having trouble locating her sweatshirt. Dd spots a sweatshirt in the vicinity only to notice that her name was inside the collar - it was the one she'd lost the previous year.

Things do turn up - often at the bottom of an ironing pile that has been sitting at someone's house for some time.

I've had this so many times. Two brand new coats went last year, one of them a thick, expensive Winter coat. It was the second day she'd worn it.

My personal favourite is the scooter. They have a bike/scooter shed so a lot of kids go into school on theirs. Went to get my daughter's scooter at the end of the day and it wasn't there, but a similar one (in bad nick) had been left. So I assumed someone had accidentally picked up the wrong one, would realise their mistake and bring ours back. Nope, next day the other one had gone too.

The school put a note in the news letter asking for it to be brought back and it never was. Seriously, you see a scooter in better condition than your child's so take that instead? if had been a genuine mistake they'd have realised at some point and returned it.

Was the scooter locked, named and postcoded?

I would agree with writing in permanent marker pen on the actual clothes (not label) It is sad to have to do it, but it does stop them walking. Mine also have very clear sewn in name tags, which I sew at each end so they are like hooks, so everything can be hung up.

In the end things do come back, some things have been hidden (ds class think this is very funny)

Some parents take every bag home everyday, so may have been picked up by accident and if so it may take a long time to come back.