or do the teachers have enough to do without returning lost property?

[Narnia72]

I'm a parent, just to state my "side".

The school have had enough of the overflowing lost property box, most of which is unlabelled uniform, with the odd lost glove and sock thrown in. They've therefore decided that the box should go, and have gone through the box and returned all labelled items to the relevant child. The unlabelled uniform has gone to the second hand uniform shop to sell (very cheaply, usually to struggling families), and the junk has been binned.

The school has decreed that from now on they won't keep a lost property box, but will put lost items into a box that can be checked through every Friday. Unclaimed, unlabelled items will then go to the second hand shop.

Parents are outraged at this, saying the school is stealing their uniform, and asking why the teachers aren't checking the box and returning labelled stuff to their rightful owners on a regular basis. There is a long rant on the school FB site about it, and parents are saying they're not "spending their hard-earned money if the school is going to throw the uniform out".

1. these people are not reading what is happening but
   
2. is this a reasonable thing to expect of the teachers? Surely the children are old enough/able enough to keep track of their things, and if they don't then it's really the child's fault.
   
   There are people ranting about missing (non-uniform) hats, and all sorts. How on earth are teachers expected to track those down? Now they are ranting about items that have gone missing in school and haven't made it into the lost property box. Should teachers be expected to scour the school and pegs for misappropriated items?
   
   I am tempted to post about special kinds of stupid people, but I thought I'd just check I'm not BU. Do your (state if it makes a difference) schools routinely return lost property?

[Greengardenpixie]

I just cannot believe some of the good quality stuff that is just left abandoned and never claimed in the lost property! I mean good quality jackets and the parents never bother to even notice they are missing!!!!

[Greengardenpixie]

Oh and as a teacher myself i get sick of feeling its my responsiblity to safeguard 28 jumpers!

[DisappointedOne]

Snapes I labelled every one of DD's socks.

[balletgirlmum]

I can see both points of view as a parent of two unorganised asd children who is unable to do Friday pick ups & a dh who is a teacher.

I think that if a labelled item of clothing is found it should be sent to the child's form room rather than being put in lost property in the first place.

Unlabelled items they should allow longer than a week. At ds's school we get an email roughly every half term saying that after x date all unclaimed items will be sent to the 2nd hand uniform/charity shop.

Pity poor dd who was given the end of term job of helping to sort lost property last term. There were several un-named boys dance belts (jock straps) in there!

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

We have a mum at our school who has apparently said that the reason her pfb's stuff goes missing is because other kids are jealous of her lovely stuff and steal it. I shit you not. I have seen said pfb on swimming trips etc and the little madam won't pick her clothes up if they sit at her feet. And the mum had the teacher write in the school newsletter that the pfb had lost a shoe and could everyone please look for it. She was moaning about another lost shoe last week and my friend emerged from the cloakroom with the shoe in her hand bemusedly saying 'but it was in the shoe caddy, with all the other shoes?'. Pfb's mum doesn't look very hard if she can claim that someone's nicked it.

[WankerDeAsalWipe]

DS2 (high school) lost his glasses (and his shoe laces and numerous other items) He checked and I checked numerous times to get them back - there was a pair of glasses but they weren't his so it cost me £80 to replace his ones. Presumably a child went through about a year of wearing the wrong glasses and never noticed that the prescription was probably different and that they didn't fit properly.

[Narnia72]

Sorry to disappear and be unclear - it's a one form entry primary school.

The early years teachers are great at trying to keep kids and jumpers aligned, but it's lunchtime when most things go missing. They come across in jumpers (from a separate building) then take them off and forget them. However, the most irate poster was a mum of a year 4 kid.

I get that if there's a name in it, here is an expectation that it should be able to be returned to its rightful owner, but at this time of year when the school are finding 20 odd jumpers on the field at lunchtime, who should make the time to check all the tags?

I am considering suggesting that those who are so irate organise a rota between themselves to go in and do the sorting for the staff. Then they might appreciate the magnitude of the task.

The reason I'm involved is because I'm on the parent council and trying to improve communication between teachers and parents. It's not working atm!

[Theas18]

Maybe primary school jumpers shoukd be like our secondary PE kit, initials and surname embroidered on the front. Doesn't cost much to have done and as long as you stick to initials I don't reckon it increases the stranger danger rating ( not like a hair band with " billee - grace" on it might do )

I had dads initials surname and phone no on a hoody for £2.50 ( he has dementia).

I know it might double the cost a supermarket sweat shirt but but it makes it un pinch able and should never be lost.

[steppemum]

I helped out in school, and one day was helping to tidy the classroom. It was a warm day and all the kids had taken off their jumpers. there was a huge pile on the edge of the carpet. I sorted them.

28 jumpers

1 was named. (my dds!)

named one returned to child. The rest? Well what is a teacher supposed to do? 27 jumpers, most of them similar size and no identifying marks.

2 days later in playground a parent was moaning, so I had a bit of a go and told her about the 27 unmarked jumpers and how difficult was it to buy a pen and write your child's name in the jumper, and what was the teacher supposed to do? Be psychic?

So, no, no sympathy. Look in the box, name your clothes.

School secretary told me she had a parent who phoned up and shouted at her regularly about her child's missing coat. Every time the secretary asked if it was named 'No, I'm not spoiling a nice coat by writing in it.' Secretary pointed out that as it was an asda's coat, there were half a dozen of them in the school and without a name no-one could find it. Parent swore at her down the phone.
Repeat 6 weeks later, same parent, same coat.

[steppemum]

we also get all the unnamed jumpers given to the PTA to sell.

[steppemum]

Theas - ds secondary is like that, all pe kit embroidered on front, costs £3 per item, but they never go missing and never get lost.