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.

My DS went to a boys' school where losing/borrowing/nicking stuff was endemic and the school did not give a flying fuck. Mothers resorted to sewing name labels in unexpected places (like turn a jacket inside out and sew label on the seam halfway down the sleeve) At least then, if items were in dispute, there was a chance of proving whose it was

Bit then imo of our going to insist on kids who can't even sodding read all having the same shit as everyone else you either step up to the responsibility of helping them keep track of it all or just let them have stuff they actually recognise as their own.

Expensive things need to be kept at home - or given to the teacher to put in their drawer. Which should be out of bounds

But in this case that is in effect what happened - except that it wasn't given to the teacher, she actively took it and put it in the box she chose, which she then did not keep out of bounds.

It's a box. Probably a big box given the alleged size of the bag. How is the teacher supposed to keep them safe?

I used to hand them out by name - as they were labelled. It saved 30 children rummaging through the bags

I don't understand this post. It seems to me that the second sentence answers the first - handing them out by name is exactly how the teacher is supposed to keep them safe. If the children were all keeping their book bags all day, absolutely it's not her responsibility if they get lost. But in this case she chose to take responsibility for them and then seems to have allowed a free for all at home time.

Agree teacher handing them out is key...but doesn't stop them putting book bag into their rucksack...then forgetting they've done that and picking up another child's bag from the floor / table /etc

Assuming it's like those John Lewis ones linked upthread, it wouldn't fit into a rucksack. 5 year olds tend not to have rucksacks anyway.

I think your school are getting ripped off at that price. My kids school have very similar book bags: good quality, flap for name and address, school logo printed on. Costs £7. Almost £30 is ludicrous.

I'm sorry it's gone missing and that your son was upset, but there's no way the school will reimburse you.

Book bags are a particular shape and only fit a few books and perhaps a cardie.

We managed withouto book bags at school, I think books came home in a see through plastic wallet. Pe kits were usually in a homemade bag. Things were much easier then!

Another bag is needed for pe kit, water bottle we managed with a water fountain etc. I think it keeps the books from getting squashed/coated with leaking yoghurt etc. They are usually cheap and cheerful though.

I don't think you can ask the school to replace but I would certainly refuse to buy another one given that there can be no dispute that this disappeared at school.

Agree with the comment about sending him with a plastic bag. After DS lost brand new labelled jumpers in school in a week, I sent him in a different coloured sweater. When pulled up on this, I calmly stated that he had lost his in school, and I would buy a replacement in 2 weeks time if they did not turn up. Surprise, surprise they did turn up!

OP, you sound stressed and upset about it. It's a lot of money, and the teacher could have spared a few kind words rather than pretending it doesn't matter, because, well, it does.

DS had a teacher last year who clearly wasn't interested in anything after 3:30, and would turn off any kind ness or relationship with the kids (assuming she had any in teaching time). Much more than a teacher being human and being tired, she clearly loathed parents and froze out the children even if they were just saying 'bye'. She would yawn and turn her back to anyone who asked about lost property. She refused to let parents into the classroom to look, and refused to do it herself, even if the lost article was very visible from the door.

It really unnerved DS as he couldn't understand why a grown up would suddenly change like that. It showed that one way of interacting was false, and made him very wary of her. Not a great way of creating the right environment for learning!

Anyway, I think this years teacher seems very different, thank goodness!

OP, you sound stressed and upset about it. It's a lot of money, and the teacher could have spared a few kind words rather than pretending it doesn't matter, because, well, it does.

DS had a teacher last year who clearly wasn't interested in anything after 3:30, and would turn off any kind ness or relationship with the kids (assuming she had any in teaching time). Much more than a teacher being human and being tired, she clearly loathed parents and froze out the children even if they were just saying 'bye'. She would yawn and turn her back to anyone who asked about lost property. She refused to let parents into the classroom to look, and refused to do it herself, even if the lost article was very visible from the door.

It really unnerved DS as he couldn't understand why a grown up would suddenly change like that. It showed that one way of interacting was false, and made him very wary of her. Not a great way of creating the right environment for learning!

Anyway, I think this years teacher seems very different, thank goodness!

Oops sorry posted twice

I notice that your son mislaid his bookbag yesterday, so you have allowed no time for the bag to be found/discovered/ returned before making threats about making the school pay for it. Hopefully it will appear today, but it is your son who lost it, not the school.
I think this whole bookbag thing is ridiculous, just a money-making exercise, and I cannot believe you are being charged nearly £30 for one. A plastic wallet is perfectly adequate, and can be put straight into the enormous rucksacks all children insist on bringing to school nowadays, instead of having to be handed out in a time-consuming ritual at the end of the day.

Stating you would expect the school to replace the book bag when it went missing while in the teacher's supposed safe keeping is not a threat. It's merely stating clearly how would expect the situation to be resolved if it doesn't reappear.

Ds has both taken home other children's things by accident and had his things taken home by others. Without fail they've been returned the following day. Perhaps it will be returned?

Agree £30 is a lot of money for a book bag. Ds's was about a fiver. If I'd spent that I'd probably find another bag for him to take and if/ when it was queried I'd calmly say I couldn't afford to replace a £30 book bag. Tbh I'm surprised at schools who insist on them. All the children take book bags at ds's school out of parental choice, but they're not compulsory and the rules state that rucksacks are acceptable. The children like the book bags though because they feel grown up.

This is one thread that hopefully the OP will update...

Ego sorry for being a mardy mare last night , 18 years of primary aged children losing stuff gets to you eventually

The update will likely be an anticlimax. "Jim took home 2 and returned it", "it turned up in the loo" or "TA found it in the staff room".

hmmm we lost a coat labelled all over the place (school logoed one) and I then took it upon myself to teach my own child to look after her stuff and be responsible.

The only other things that have been an issue are cardi's and usually they end up in lost property which school regularly wheeled into pick up area for a rummage for parents.

The other thing to do is befriend a TA if there is one as often they have a better clue as to the pastoral needs of each child and can helpout/look out for things

If the point of a book bag is to keep a book clean & dry within a satchel/rucksack-why not just a zippable plastic bag (for example)?

Stick to your guns op, especially as it was on the first day.

It'll probably turn up but if it doesn't then I wouldn't buy a new one given the circumstances. Lost at home, if it was a cheaper one or even later on in the term then I would probably suck it up and buy a new one, but not now when your son put it in his drawer as per usual and the teacher moved it. No way.

If it doesn't turn up send him in with any bag he has.

School won't expel him for not having the right bag