AIBU re: mystery uniform swap (petty, sorry)

[TheAtlanticWatch]

DS in Reception. Bought several good quality school shirts with school logo at start of term sized 5-6. Bit too big but will hopefully last a bit, or that was my thinking.

On sorting his uniform this morning I have noticed that at least half have been mysteriously replaced with well worn plain shirts without the logo and a size smaller. Only realised when I was thinking DS must have shot up because the shirt seemed small.

I totally get that uniform gets mixed up/goes missing. The thing is that I had used those sticky name labels which appears to have been peeled off and re-applied to the replacement shirts. Would reception kids do this? Did a well-meaning adult think the shirts I had provided were too baggy and swap them round?

I'm a bit narked about losing several nearly new shirts, but I'm more perplexed than anything and also a little concerned in case it is another child forcing DS to swap shirts.

I feel faintly ridiculous writing this, but has anyone experienced this? AIBU to raise it with the school?

Definitely raise it!! Has your son said anything? How would those be swapped? During PE classes you think? What a weird situation and not petty at all, I'd be well annoyed if it happened to me!!

Theft is rife in schools.
You can ask but you probably wont get far.

And you need to mark with sewn in labels in at least 2 places and in permanent marker.

Raise it as it is annoying, doubt you will see the original shirts again though. I use the sew in labels and then initial with a marker pen in a hidden area, always helps when things go missing and people are trying to insist its their childs clothing and not yours!

It happened to us when DS was in primary. I raised it but not really much they can do. I just stopped spending money on the logo stuff and bough cheap stuff from supermarket. I thoroughly recommend doing this and not stressing so much/avoiding stress around it in the future.

Sharpie on the actual fabric where label is sewn on the collar. Teachers in the school told parents to do this as sick of label peeling. Friend also uses labels that melt and bond onto fabric

How did they get hold of so many of his shirts and how did they swap labels. My ds only changes for pe so would have to put a shirt back on iyknim

I always mark DDs name in Sharpie on the labels and also sew two name tapes into her clothes - one visibly in the collaright of shirts/waistband of skirt and then a second one in somewhere hidden - sleeves of jumpers/cardigans and at the hem of trousers/skirts... that way there's no excuse for them being lost and if someone manages to get rid of the sharpied label and the obvious seen in tape, there's always the hidden one as a trump card.

I used to machine the labels in the seam, they cant be cut out or unpicked

This happened to me when I was a child! I had a friend who was a bit bigger than me. My mum always bought jumpers etc. at the start of term for me to grow into. My parents and her parents had an arrangement where we had reciprocal childcare. Every time I went to her house after school her mum would get us to change out of our school clothes and would swap labels and send me home with the wrong clothes. I was quite shy child and thought it was somehow my fault, so often "lost" the clothes and it took me ages to tell my parents . I think they must have been really hard-up to do that, but you don't notice that stuff when you're five. I have never actually spoken to my parents about it now I'm an adult- I assume they were raging! I did get a new "proper" childminder the following year though.

Thanks for all the tips, appreciated. His name was written in permanent ink inside the collar as well but no logos and sewn labels clearly the way forward.

It is weird though, right? I could understand maybe one happening at PE, but for it to have happened to a few is a bit bizarre. DS seems oblivious to it.

Caorich poor you. That's what worries me, I don't want DS to think it is his fault and that he can't tell me.

Swapping and sometimes out right theft is rife in reception, it's annoying but easy come, easy go. But the label changing is very odd.

Very sneaky! So far so lucky for us everything which has been lost has been found. I have a stamp but I think it is more down to luck of not being targeted.

If it is written on collar perhaps get the teacher to keep an eye out, she might have her suspicions anyway about a parent. I struggle to see how a reception child could remove and reapply a label, are there any parent helpers at PE or have access to the room whilst the kids are in the hall?

That is wierd!
Apart from school, where has he been in school uniform?

Someone at our primary used to sew a red line around all her child's clothes, so she could spot someone else wearing them easily.

Dd was at a very popular secondary school.
Her pe kit was stolen. Her coat and blazer were borrowed regularly and returned days later.
Ditto her gcse course work.
Ds's brand new football boots vanished after the first pe lesson.
People are awful.

I'd say to the teacher in passing, not a big fuss just that ds shirts have gone missing. If you have sharpied the collar it's really obvious esp during PE.

My friend is a HCA in the NHS. Her brand new (ugly) Clarks nursing shoes were stolen from the staff only changing room. Never seen again.

Tell the school. They won't be able to do anything about it, but they ought to know.

(We had to sharpie in DS's name onto the actual clothes, not the labels, too.)

Annoying but I doubt you’ll get them back.

You could have a word with a teacher to see if they could send an email out advising that some uniform items seem to have been ‘accidentally swapped’ and maybe a parent may step forward if it was a genuine accident?

An adult probably did the swapping - I doubt reception children would even notice the sticky label and think to swap it if they accidentally picked up the wrong shirt?

Do talk to your son about it, seems weird that he wouldn’t notice that his shirt is smaller/doesn’t have a logo after getting changed

Unless it’s a remarkably well trained child, it sounds like a parent with regular access to the children when changing. It could be a parent helper.

But how can they change the sticky label though?
It's understandable to lose your uniform and come home with other children's uniform. But how can reception child come home with swapped name labels on somebody else's uniform?
I don't think reception age child is capable of doing that tbh.

I second a parent helper