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???

It will turn up....eventually! My advice would be to check EVERY cloakroom in the school first of all.

The best one for me was my ds1 in year 5 who had his club football kit in his bag. He played for a club a long way out of our local area, the shirt had his name printed on the back and the shorts and and socks had his initials.
It was in the bag at school because he had a match straight after school

The whole bag went missing.

2 weeks later, a boy in his class was wearing the whole kit for PE.

When DS questioned him, he said he had lost his PE kit and his mum told him to just keep this one. Because someone at school had kept his pE kit. So that was fair.

DD1 is fantastic at losing her school cardigan.

Luckily most of the time it eventually makes its way back to us probably because i put the name in about 3 different places

Plus its a small school so if anyone took her coat i would be able to spot it a mile off

Lots of parents don't check what their children come home with though. And lots of parents won't be as "efficient" as you are.

DS has on one occasion come home with a pair of school trousers (and was wearing his own) and on another occasion come home with a single shoe (not his own).

In both cases I returned them to school promptly and the other parent had not even noticed their absence (not sure how you can fail to notice if a child comes home minus their trousers or wearing 1 shoe, but there you are).

On the flip side, DD came home minus her own jumper but with a named other jumper of the boy who had the peg next to hers (so obviously both picked up in error). DD returned hers to the boy the next day, but despite a few times of my nagging the parent (and DD nagging the boy) we didn't get DD's back for a good 2 weeks.

Honestly, I know it's annoying, but if your DC has just started Reception, try not to get worried. Particularly if you're making your child anxious.

Most things turn up within a couple of weeks. DD1 is now in Y6 and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of things we have lost permanently over the course of her primary career. I'm led to believe that secondary is a whole different story though...

this always happens at my dc school, pisses me off no end.

funnily enough the uniform in lost property never has tags on
cut off.

The shed the bikes and scooters were in gets locked at the beginning of the day and is opened at the end, but no it wasn't postcoded or anything.

I tend to assume most people think like myself and just wouldn't take what didn't belong to them.

I don't even think it's a case of being efficient. You know what kits your kids have, what uniform etc...after all it's generally us that washes them and puts them into kit bags. I'm most definitely not the most efficient person in the world but I'd notice if there was something in the wash that wasn't ours. If you asked me to describe any of the kid's bikes or scooters off the top of my head I could only give a very vague description but I'd know immediately if they were suddenly in possession of one that wasn't theirs. I just can't understand the mentality of "oh well, we'll keep this too". Bottom line is even if it was taken in complete innocence at some point the mistake would have been realised and it wasn't returned which turns a mistake into plain old theft.

You mightn't check the contents of your child's bag every day, but you'd notice if you had an extra bag, wouldn't you? If there isn't one in it's place, then it hasn't been taken home by a parent.

Not by mistake, anyway...

with expensive items like school logo jumpers, I have been known to write the name in somewhere unseen as well, eg inside the sleeve, then in lost property I can always find it.

Nametapes and permanent ink will only get lost items back from honest folk.

It's almost impossible to deter uniform thieves, unless everything is emblazoned, football-shirt style, on the outside.

well the permanent marker does mean they get back at some point, when the stolen item is taken off on a warm day!

We've had this countless times. I have now resorted to embroidering DDs name on the FRONT of her school sweatshirt/cardigan, under the school badge.

I got it done at a stall at my local car boot/market. Whilst it was being done an awful lot of parents were watching and "ohh, that's a good idea" type mutterings. I'd suggest it happens everywhere.

DD actually caught one of her classmates trying to unpick the stickers in DDs school shoes so she could have them as her own. DD has also "lost" a full pencilcase of pens/pencils/stationery that have her full name embossed on them (from ID Direct - excellent value btw). This was after "losing" her special left-handed pens/stationery that we bought at quite a cost because the school couldn't (DD is the only leftie in the class).

The HM, who is also DD's teacher this year commented on DD's jumper on the first day, and approached DH when he picked her up with "I don't think that is a very good idea" and comments about 'safeguarding' and her full name being on view but DH just shot her down with "Until you sort out the petty thieving that you KNOW is going on here, then this is how we will deal with it"

I'm waiting to see if these jumpers walk...

I did nothing to make them anxious, I waited for the teacher to finish talking to another parent, asked her if she knew where the bag was as it was not on my child's peg.

My child gets anxious about a lot of things, they knew it was their bag that it belongs on their peg, they have not moved it and now it has gone. My child also sometimes wets themself when anxious so doubt today they have had an accident the worse part is unless they have a good trust with you my cd won't tell you they had an accident, they would change themself but due to the bag being missing they would rather sit wet than tell a stranger they wet themself

I won't be putting names on the outside because the uniform is intended to do at least three DC (my two, plus bump, plus passing down).

I could be tempted by the idea of putting the surname on the outside though.

This drives me potty too OP. Basically now I don't buy school uniform with the logo on it as it always walks, as do good quality hats/gloves/coats.

There's nothing you can do except dress your kid in top to toe Asda/Tesco. Funnily enough, that never goes missing ...

kiriwawa that's a good point. The parents who complain about things going missing dress their children in every logo item available. DS's generics have been safe.

That is, at our school.

DD does ballet after school. Left her new Lelli Kelly's under her clothes when she changed. At pick up I found a scruffy old pair in the same size instead. Luckily(!) mum who "borrowed" them hadn't left. I politely noted she must have mistaken my DDs for her DDs. She took them right off without hesitation or apology!

My dd PE top was just taken off her as soon as her back was turned in the changing room, I was so upset it was like bullying as much as stealing, nothing the teacher can do. But now I have sewn a big linen square on front of new top with name and class in permanent ink.

Lampshade - I remember you posting about that flower before!

I'm still stinging about the Polarn O Pyret (fancy Swedish clothing) hat that DS wore for one day before someone half inched it. It was bright red and it's a tiny, tiny school so I can only assume it got taken home. I keep expecting to see a child wearing it around the town. I won't be able to do anything but I will Know and I will let the parent know that I Know. :o

The comment about the branded/logos going missing is because of what they are I understand but those of us who do buy it do so because its the school rules.

All the schools round here give you a price lost when you first looked around last September so that's a year to save up to buy the uniform and you know what prices your looking at, like my local school is a 50p breakfast club type school, my dc's school is a £5 breakfast club school, ok if you cannot afford the logo don't buy it but don't steal it off someone else you never know how much they may have struggled to pay for it for you to just take it.

Back from picking said dc up still no bag, I think parents should not be allowed in the cloakrooms/changing rooms, at lest if a child took it, it was a mistake or you end up feeling pretty sorry for them that they have the type of parents who encourage stealing but an adult stealing from a 4/5 year old is disgusting

Yes, I'm lucky that our school doesn't even try to enforce logos.
On the other hand, I can see that if one had spent the premium to get logo items that then went missing, the temptation to keep a similar-but-not-yours item that came home by accident would be fairly high.

School uniform not only walks, but hides out somewhere dark, until right till the end of term, when it jumps out, makes its presence known (probably by smelling) and is either too small or has to be binned because it has gone mouldy!