AIBU about dd's coat?

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Dd was recently in a show at school. On the last night she left her coat in the changing room but didn't realise.
She went straight to her dad's and when she came back she thought she had left her coat there.
She wasn't too worried as she could get it the following Friday.
However when she got to her dads it wasn't there, so we realised she had perhaps left it at school after the show.
Then it was half term.
Today she went back to school and before registration went to lost property to see if her coat was there. The lady knew exactly which coat it was and told her she had taken it to a charity shop!
Is this normal behaviour?
I am absolutely fuming! It was a month old and she bought it with her Christmas money.
I could maybe understand it if it had been there all year and it was the summer holidays but it had only been there a week!
Do the school have a right to give clothes away just like that?
Happy to bow out if I am being unreasonable but I really don't think I am. I want my money back!
I haven't contacted school yet as dd has parents evening tomorrow so I will tackle it with someone then.

Like Yabbers I would be asking which charity shop and going along to see if its still in. Not likely if it was nearly new but worth a try. The charity shop would probably remember is someone came in with quite a few items from a school. I would try to ask about which shop face to face with the lady who says she took it there rather than over the phone. You could possibly gage a lot from her reaction.

initials are not a label. you left the coat for weeks. you expect teachers and school to go through loads of efford (managing lost property for months is loads of effort) so that you don’t have to (message dad if the coat is there, put a proper label in it).

It's the sort of thing which would be in the students planner, or in a parent information sent out at the beginning of the year, along with all sorts of stuff like how the library cards work, the type of shoes which are allowed and how to log onto the parent portal. The sort of thing you skim read and don't remember the details because at the time it doesn't seem important.

Do you know what charity shop and have you contacted them? That would have been my first action tbh.

I understand from your perspective it has only been a week and your DD had good(ish) reasons for not knowing where she left it. However, the school may not know how long it had been there and have a policy of clearing Lost Property every half term (which suggests they get quite a lot). I would speak to Form Teacher in the first instance, good luck but I don't think you can really blame the school.

(at work, everything not licked up gets binned friday evening - made the clutter in the office much better!)

Yura the coat was left for 5 days and then it was half term, hardly weeks.
I don't want to get into discussions about my ex but it is enough to say relationships are strained.
Yes I guess dd could have text him, however she leaves things there all the tine and just picks them up the next time. She didn't class it as lost and just used another coat until she went to his.

Having the initials in is not sufficient labelling. I see Cash's labels in everything. We lost a PE kit once but did get it back.

The school are out of order though getting rid of it after such a short time. Our school send everything to charity in July.

2 weeks is loads though (i’m used to strict office and school policies - friday evening is bin day)

Sew not see.

The lady who took it to the charity shop knew exactly how long it had been there.
She told dd she had been round at the end of the play and picked up everything that was left.

When it hadn't been claimed after a week she took it to the charity shop. She is the costume lady for all the school shows, maybe someone will turn up wearing it at the next show!

It would've been pretty bloody obvious that it had been mislaid and would be claimed.
Out of interest, I'd find out what charity shop it's allegedly gone to, check for it and then when she comes back with it, you know she's had it all along and tried to pull a fast one. I'd complain.

at work, everything not licked up gets binned Friday evening - made the clutter in the office much better!

Totally irrelevant as they wouldn't be binning a coat, there's a world of difference between general clutter and a coat.

I think its pretty rubbish that they didn't leave it longer. I appreciate that lost property builds up but that doesn't give them the right to donate items.

I doubt very much that it was taken to a charity shop, particularly as she knew it was your daughter's coat. Why would someone bother taking things to a charity shop anyway?

@HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone of course they do. everything left friday after 5 pm and not colllected by monday 10 am goes in the bin. our school does 1 week, then charity shop. and suddenly people look after their stuff.

I am more surprised that your a teacher and you only put initials in her coat.

If the Lost Property person knew it belonged to someone who had been in the show she could have made a bit of effort to find the owner. Or at least kept it a bit longer.

of course they do. everything left friday after 5 pm and not colllected by monday 10 am goes in the bin.

So if I left my phone, keys, coat or purse at your work over the weekend and I was ill on Monday your company would throw it away? I find that Incredibly difficult to believe.

Even the most careful of people can misplace items sometimes. We are humans not machines and everyone will lose something at some point why punish them by throwing it/donating it what does that achieve?

@HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone i would assume you would notice that and call in? purse might be an exception (nobody so far has not noticed loosing their purse and keys for a weekend), but coats, shoes and bags have definitely been chucked

YANBU to be cross. The school should give longer than a week before ditching decent clothing- that’s stupidly. Having said that you (she) should have made sure it was at her dad’s if it’s new and precious. Also, initials alone are woefully inadequate for labelling clothes in a school with hundreds of pupils. But you will see that yourself now.

My kids' school (2ndary) announces a date at the end of each term where all lost prop is put out in the hall, and anything not collected goes to charity at the end of the day. this is put on school website, social med, parent email system - everything.

Lost prop lady was bang out of order.

but coats, shoes and bags have definitely been chucked

WOW honestly that sounds like a horrible environment to work in. How does throwing the stuff away help anyone, god forbid you find yourself in a situation where your mind is on other things (illness, sick family member, stress, money worries etc) and you forget to take an item home with you.

Definetely not acceptable to send to a charity shop after only a week especially considering it was half term too. Id be looking for the school to reimburse the cost personally

Not after a week! End of school year, maybe. I would take this further.

It may be different in schools, but at work (higher education) we only keep for 30 days as we don’t have the space. But I do think there needs to be information provided about the policy

I am shocked at that. I think its outrageous. What if the child had been off sick? Totally out of order. I would complain.