Missing school jumpers - to still be irrationally pissed off about this!

[RumblingOn]

Bought DS (Yr1 and still 5 so at young end) 2 new school jumpers after Easter hols named with permanent marker. One went missing on the 1st day he wore it, 2nd the following week. We are not allowed in classrooms so asked teacher to look out for them, still not turned up a few weeks later after re checking lost property so asked again. Teacher then gave me a jumper with no name in and which was obviously an older one, saying that I could have that instead to shut me up!

DS does take his jumper off most days (don't bother sending him in with one on warmer days) and I agree that he does forget to bring them out and I had no problem with this as he would normally bring a few home in one go a few days later but the new ones have never turned up. Teacher says it is his responsibility but my issue is that another child/ren has obviously taken them home and they have not been returned despite his name being in big letters on the label and written into the collar.

I am still steaming that they have been pretty much been nicked! His older well washed jumpers have always turned up, but not the nice fluffy obviously new ones.

Pissed off that I have essentially bought jumpers for another child, and financially we really struggle for money, so DS has been wearing old washed out ones!

AIBU to eye the other parents in DS's class with suspicion?

Small children absolutely do recognise their own clothes Desolate - one kid not recognising their T shirt doesn't prove a general rule!

If there are any distinctive clothing on the floor in the Kindergarten cloakroom my 5 year old boy can usually tell you whose it is (not if its a sock, but shoes, any T shirt or jumper with a picture on, coats, caps/ hats). Comparing clothes on arrival in the morning is always a source of interest for a couple of moments, and in a local shop where a lot of people shop for moderately priced but durable play clothes the kids can point out "Lukas has that T shirt" or whatever.

Of course kids vary and some might not even notice what they are wearing, especially if they are not allowed to choose their own clothing and somebody else chooses their clothes and physically dresses them in the mornings, but in an ordinary situation where kids actually have some say over their clothing and choose and put on their own clothes in the morning they are aware of what they are wearing. My kids and their friends do indeed recognise their own non uniform clothing items. 30 identical jumpers and the same would be unlikely to be true.

*If there are any distinctive items of clothing

Small children absolutely do recognise their own clothes Desolate - one kid not recognising their T shirt doesn't prove a general rule!

Every single school day ends with me holding up a jumper or cardigan and asking who it belongs to. Every single day I have 30 children saying that it's not them.
Then every single day I will say 'Evie, don't you have a cardigan like this? / Jamie, you have a grey v neck like this don't you?' They say no. There is no name. I check with the adult at pick up. They confirm that it is their child's jumper.
Every single school day.
It's more than just one child. The tshirt example was to show how even a distinctive item can go missing.

A few of the children in my class do a sniff test! They recognise their home or laundry detergent smell. But often others deny owning things only for the parents to claim it later. There is definitely a culture amongst the key stage 2 children of not wanting to claim any old smelly PE kit, especially when others are stifling an 'eeeuugh!'

Can you try an Iron on name tag and put it on the outside of the neck?

Haha! Green I was just going to add that.

School jumpers all I can say is " Aaaaaaaaaagggghhhhhhhhh!"
Drive me insane. Parents coming in and rudely complaining so off I go looking for every left behind sweatshirt there is available only to find that no it doesn't have there name in. 25 kids in class and very few have names in but I'm expected to find theirs! It drives me up the wall.
I tell the kids to take them home.
I sometimes take them with me to shout across yard and get them reunited.
I put them in their table boxes.
I ask next day.
I'm not allowed to write the names in for you.
I have even been known to take them home and wash them.
I can't help it if another child put it on and takes it home. It is NOT my fault.
Rant over.
The ones with tapes sewn not stuck( they don't work) are the ones that don't get lost, often.
It is amazing the parents that don't bother. I tipped out lost property recent ly to find three Helly Hanson jackets, one. North Face jacket several pairs of Nike trainers and several smelly PE kits. I work in a working class area ( those that do work) not an affluent one. I wash them in the holidays and we flog them next term and put the money in the book fund!

We are American so school uniform is new to us. My older child lost just as much, if not more, stuff when it was his own unique clothes. He is just oblivious to that kind of thing and no matter how much labeling we do or consequences we impose, he can't seem to keep track of his things. I suspect he probably doesn't listen when the teacher asks about who something belongs to, if the way he listens at home is any indication :). On the other hand, my younger child has yet to lose anything, uniform or not. I have heard of things getting nicked in older years when one child may covet another child's trendy or expensive item, and obviously that wouldn't be an issue with informs.

So I don't necessarily think not having a uniform would solve the problem. I think kids just have to learn to keep track of their things. If you figure out how to teach them that, let me know!

I think that if schools insist on uniform logoed jumpers, then they should also go down the route of names being embroidered on the front, as others have suggested

And yes, it's a total PITA for schools as well.

Children do need to be taught more care for their belongings, but it's totally expected that some children will be dozy about it

And also, I can't believe the number of parents who do not put FULL NAMES on valuable items such as jackets and coats

Drives me mad too. Once ds2 'lost' his new coat that he'd put on the floor while playing football. He said he thought he saw an adult near it and then it was gone.

I was so cross that I (with permission) put posters on all the entrances to school with MISSING, brand new 'named' coat and a detailed description on it. It appeared in lost property a few weeks later very well worn, grubby cuffs and name tape partially scraped off. So annoying.

My ds does the sniff test aswell and knows exactly which jumper belongs to which child.

I refuse to be involved in the search for lost property. That way madness lies. You would never get anything done. I will hand back named items that I find, but I'm not going looking for someone else's belongings. Some kids come to school having being absolutely babied by their parents. I can't put my jumper on, I can't get my drink bottle out, I can't open my pencil case. It's a learned helplessness. I'd not be doing them any favours to do things that they are quite capable of doing by themselves.

No uniform doesn't mean it doesn't get lost.
Dc do a week in a holiday club at Easter and have lost various things including a brand new coat. All labelled.
Otoh at school over 3 dc, the oldest being 15yo I have lost one polo shirt and 1 lunch box.

My DD has just finished reception and hasn't lost a single thing. I don't know if that's down to her, the teacher or the TA but I am very grateful! Everything marked with marker pen. Perhaps Year 1 will be different!

Midnite

Yes. The degree of learned helplessness is striking

Mrs Dalloway. DS also went through the whole of reception without losing anything. He may have forgotten a jumper occasionally but always brought it home the next day. He was still 4 all the way through Reception (August birthday) so it was to be expected.

It's only been since the Easter term in Yr 1 that these new jumpers disappeared.

I used to have the parent helper job in my dd school of sorting the lost property out.
Things either had:

1- No name label at all.
2- A slight blurr where the parent had used a pen to write the name in and it had since been washed out.
3- Had a clear name label in but for children that had left the school but whose parents had passed the old uniform on to others, these 'new' owners never bothered to put their child's name onto the item.

My son 'lost' his brand new shoes in his first week of primary 1. It was a gym day and he came home with the same ones but without his name label and these ones looked like a hand me down pair. We are 2 years on now and I am still bitter about it!!

Jumpers I can accept as he takes them off and puts them down and leaves them but shoes / jackets it winds me up!

For some items I tie a bright small ribbon around a label. This really helps dc2 to visibly identify her own items from a sea of same. I name then too but the ribbon also helps other kids recognise that it's not theirs.

Not sure I could ever get steaming about it but yes v irritating

Something v weird happened to me which was I was in the playground after school whilst a group of children were being led up a path to be taken to the after school club - one of them dropped their jumper - I picked it up and it had my sons name in it - so not only has the school failed to return it to me despite it having his name on but a hard faced parent has just taken the jumper for their son and not bothered to return it despite it having my sons name on - who are these people?? Anyway needless to say I kept the jumper so poor little whoever his name is will have to get his mother to put her hand in her pocket and buy her bloody own jumpers. I picked the jumper up because my son never liked the jumpers so very rarely wore them say once every few months so god knows how long the jumper had been in this other mothers possession for

Sorry meant when i picked jumper up I never would have dreamt it would be my child's as he had not worn one for several months - I know the child can be one of only 2 or 3 because if size and the jumpers being for boys etc it's a nice middle class churchy type of school - no morals some people

If embroidering the child's name s area you what about first initial(s) and surname e.g 'J C Smith' also helps if 2 children have same first name.

My classroom is by the cloakrooms so I end up by default sorting through piles of lost stuff each half term. And not just for my year group as anything found on the playground gets dumped there too. I've sent things round the different classes, held things up in assembly and taken things out onto the yard when it comes time for the parents to collect the children. Only half of the stuff ever seems to be claimed Inc really distinctive coats etc.

I don't mind sending items to the classes for the children but can't if it's not labelled. And if I have the whole school to choose from them just initials aren't going to help me. I'm q good at reading really faded labels but sometimes they are too bad.

Writing on the label is fine as long as it's renewed when it gets too faded. Sewed in labels are brilliant but can be snipped out by the odd parent very very occasionally who might find they've got the wrong jumper and doesn't care. ...or on one occasion by a child who was jealous of the nice clean and new jumper rather than their worn item.

What really annoys me is the parents who judge a teachers competence by whether their child loses uniform. It's a massive problem in most schools and lots of children just don't care.

Lymmmummy

The jumper may never have come to the attention of anyone at the school. The other child could have just taken it home