To say if not found the SCHOOL should replace it?

[Arrowfanatic]

Day one of school today. My year one son came out of school crying as his book bag has gone missing. This book bag is an expensive one issued by the school, I cannot afford to replace it.

He had it in school, the teachers were very half hearted about it. Suggested another child took it home, but since there were no bags in the classroom left over this child would presumably have left with 2 bags.

I told the teacher if it wasn't found tomorrow I would expect the school to replace it. The way I see it the bag was sent in to school, I have no control on how the bags are stored in school so why should I have to replace what is an expensive item when it's not my fault & a 5 year old who goes to get his back from the storage & find it missing is also not to blame.

I don't get your problem with book bags.

There again other than the water bottle we don't need to take anything that doesn't fit in a book bag. At ks1 why would they?

Even if they take a lunch box most schools have somewhere separate for them to store so they can be moved to the hall. Oh and as distinctive as some of them are lots still go missing!

oh I don't know. it is amazing how quickly you can tie about 20 ties and 15 pairs of shoelaces... when they stand between you and a cup of coffee. shoe laces line up one side of the chair, ties line up the other.

kids get stuff out, put them on their desk, when it is all stuffed in bags, they line up.... quick scan of room to check table tops, anything left can be reunited with it's owner.

Oh goody another thread where people.can make outlandish claims about what teachers should and shouldn't do.

I'm at a loss as to why nobody can fathom an almost £30 book bag - I imagine it's more of a satchel affair (although obviously not real leather at that price) than the plasticky-canvas fold over top type we have (that still cost blooming £8).

Perhaps private prep?

My fourth child just went in to his first morning at reception. I'm too busy mourning to remember how infuriating constant (labelled) losses are... even though his brother in year two has already lost his pe bag and white pe top earlier in the week.

OP I agree with you.

It would be different if the type of bag was less specific - "Book bag, 18"x18", no logo's please" so that you could stick to your own budget.

But if they're going to be arseholes about it and insist on a bag costing thirty quid, and they're going to insist all the bags go in a communal box then yes they should pay up if they allow it to go missing.

Different with teens but the child is FIVE.

I would so like to know if this book bag has been found.
There is always the possibility that the child hid it because then, of course, he wouldn't be able to read at home. Has been known to happen.
And if the book bag is a satchel type affair there is no box big enough (in an infant classroom) to contain thirty of them.

So is everyone willing to pay more tax for schools to cover losses? Cause currently the funding is going down.

I think it has been found. We'd have heard otherwise.

paxillin, I bet you are right - we'd never hear the end of it if it had not been found

*There is always the possibility the child hid it

It is your son who lost it, not the School

Goblin you seem very eager to blame OP's son for the loss of the bookbag - yes children do misplace things, but there's still the possibility that it was accidentally taken by another child!

Mine once brought his own book bag and inside it another child's. I gave it to the teacher next day, I was very apologetic about it, ds denied all knowledge. Teacher called "Millie" over and I overheard him saying "have you hidden your books in someone else's bag again, Millie?" Not unheard of, and it clearly works.

We have box for book bags to be put in, in the morning, and a box for jumpers/cardigans to be put it ( in an effort to stop them getting left in random places).
This afternoon, while the teacher read a story, I gave out the book bags and the jumpers. We were left with an unnamed sweatshirt and an unnamed cardigan. For a class of 6-7 year olds, these were both sized 9 - 10 ! No children of that age group have been near our classroom, and nobody claimed them.
After the children left the classroom, for hometime, I picked up 2 book bags, 1 sweatshirt , 2 newsletters and a water bottle!!!

This happens every day. No matter how hard we try to limit left belongings, stuff always gets left. It is infuriating, but when a parent is in your face demanding you do something about it NOW, yeah, sometimes I might look a bit indifferent.

I've spent ages, in the past, looking for items when a child has been upset about something being lost, admitting defeat and sheepishly telling the parent that the item has been lost, only for them to say " Oh no, I took it home with me" or " You left it in the car"!

how on earth can it be the childs fault if the teacher took it out of his drawer and put it in her box, but then when child went to get it from the box, it was gone.

i know kids mislay things, but even thats a stretch on it being the boys fault!

After my ds had 6 items of uniform go missing at primary, a pair of trousers then went missing at pe time. The ones he came home in were way too small so I could only assume the child that had his was swamped in them. Being quite pissed at it being that many items in a short period of time (had never happened before in the previous 3 years) I spoke to the head. She quite curtly asked if I expected her to visit each child and inspect their wardrobes?! No, I just wondered if a letter could be sent home to the class to enquire and parents look at their own child's trousers. The answer was no.

From what you say OP, your son took care of his bag and the teacher moved it. I would expect it replaced too.

But the school hasn't lost it.

Yes, they have.

Your DC has.

No, he hasn't.

Or someone else has taken it.

Possibly.

In either case the school isn't to blame.

Yes, they are, or at least the teacher is.

God's teeth, is reading what actually happened that difficult?

Or is understanding that stuff gets lost in schools as many, many parents have testified here?

The difficulty here is that teachers seem to have no concept of what the law actually says. The fact that they believe they have no responsibility in this situation doesn't make it so. If you take a child's belongings away from them and put them somewhere else, you have taken responsibility for them, and are liable if they get lost. It's totally irrelevant that you may as a school be cash-strapped; and you can't fob it off by saying another child may have taken them, because you have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent that happening.

Oh goody another thread where people.can make outlandish claims about what teachers should and shouldn't do.

AKA another thread where people assert that if you take responsibility for an item that is bought, paid for and belongs to someone else, then you look after it and make sure that it is returned to the owner.

and that if you are not prepared to do that then you should not insist on taking the item in the first place.

Oh Judy,

All schools operate with a disclaimer, that they bear no responsibility for items brought in, and not confiscated etc, even then it would be hard to make a legal case.

You can state legalease all you like, don't make it right.

Love the MN mafia on this, a teacher of 30 kids is supposed to make sure that they have all items they brought in, blah blah blah, when even parents can't do that, many of whom have testified here.

Funny, funny posters, and your bitterness. Shame you never manage to make a difference to anything isn't it, type away.

small you are wrong

If a school insists that an item be brought in and the item be handed over to the staff on arrival and that item is then not returned, there is a case.

Cardigans etc are lost, we all accept that as they are in the care of the child. But if a school insists that a book bag is the only way that a child can bring in their book and planner and that said bag must be removed from the child on arrival into the care of an authorised person on behalf of the school (a TEACHER), then the school is responsible from the moment the bag is taken away until it is returned. If they cannot return it then they must provide a suitable replacement.

In that case take it up with the Head. As a teacher, I can cheerfully say that the occasional item going missing is inevitable. I take no personal responsibility whatsoever for your child's things and will continue to make sure my classroom is safe and calm by asking the students to put their things in a particular place during the school day. If they lose them, I will have a brief look for them. After that, sue me.

I need to know if it's been found

As a teacher I am always astounded at how much stuff we have in our lost property box by half term. All unnamed. Jumpers, PE kit, plimsolls. But it's the coats that get me - last year a SuperDry and 2 Next coats went to the charity shop. This is after weekly reminders in assembly as well as putting everything on a big table outside in the playground at pick up time once a term. Who are these parents who don't name things and why are parents not missing their children's coats?