AIBU to expect nursery to replace coat?

[MNMcoating]

DS is 3 and goes to a nursery attached to a private school so has a uniform including a coat. He came home in a coat that had another student’s name in it so we returned it and said it wasn’t his. We assume that his went home either with this child or that multiple coats have been switched up. His coat hasn’t been returned so we’re now expected to buy a new coat from the school for £45. His coat was named in multiple places. AIBU to think that, seeing as they lost it, we shouldn’t have to pay to replace it?

It's not the nursery's fault that someone else picked up your coat. Nor is it their responsibility to find out where it is. They could send a note to parents to ask if they have it. I also think a parent who has taken your DC's coat would notice and should have returned it. Hope it turns up

You are in for a rude awakening if you think nursery/school would replace anything lost at school! I afraid your child(ren) will lose stuff all the way through school, it's just something you need to get used to. All you can do is thoroughly label absolutely everything in the hope you will get it back, which you usually do eventually if it's labelled.

Dd came out of school in a coat three times too big her friend bizzarly managed to squeeze herself into a coat three sizes too small I managed to point it out to a member of staff who switched them back but they literally had to peel dds coat off this girl she was absolutely WEDGED into it 😳 last time she wore a denim jacket to nursery

We've had the coming home with one brand new trainer - other one never seen again. I'm surprised dd1 never lost her head!

The coat is required uniform!

I am the parent that was guilty of not checking the name in the coat, I only realised we had two of the same coat when I sorted out our coat cupboard at the end of term.
I did return the extra coat to the right person with an apologetic bottle of wine especially as her son had grown out of it, whereas my lad was the class tiddler and both coats still fit

Slightly off topic but dd1 once brought home her school class photograph and she wasn't on it despite being in school that day ( she was year 3)

I've recently had a similar clear out (obviously not such a regular occurance in our household) and found 3 Cambridge University gowns! Only 2 of my children went there and they certainly weren't cheap enough to have a spare!

Definitely this.

Sorry OP but it's unlikely you'll see the coat again.
Nursery (and school) are black holes for things going missing. I know it's frustrating, but they won't replace it unfortunately.

This carries on into secondary school. DD lost a blazer, then another, and another... it's a requirement to wear them to and from school and around the school premises. 70 quid a go! She learned after the second detention. I said I'd take it out of her allowance. Yes, I labelled each one. She once took home someone else's PE top too. I washed it and returned it to its grateful owner.

YABU.

Uniform coats for nursery is the worst idea I’ve heard in a while.

I think a lot of people are missing the point here. I also send my son to a similar nursery and have had this issue. It's frustrating because...

1. They insist that 3 year olds wear a school coat that costs £50. I expect stuff to get lost or messy when they are that age that's life. But surely that's a good reason to let parents choose the cost (ie not one so expensive)

1. It means that all costs are identical. With so many young children this makes it unbelievably difficult!

Some parents purposely put a bigger size coat on their DC and leave the smaller one… or tell DC to take a bigger coat. Labels get cut out etc. You’d be surprised how many parents don’t want to spend money on a coat that’s the next size up.

I agree with pp that I wouldn't buy a new uniform coat at this time of the year. I'd send him in a non-uniform one and hope the coat turns up. And if not you'd probably have had to buy a new one for next year anyway as he grows, so I'd just wait until you buy next year's uniform.

It's ridiculous that a bunch of three year olds have a uniform coat, but no, you can't expect them to replace every lost item.

Uniform jackets obviously all look the same. It's completely unreasonable IMO to expect 3 year olds to manage this at the end of a tiring day. Even if the parent checks before leaving school their jacket has probably disappeared already and the nursery can hardly start ferreting about amongst the remaining children's bodies to find the elusive article.
As people have commented pretty silly poncey situation.

Your child will loose a lot of things during their time at school. Prepare to be amazed at what items are possible to loose and that named uniform can simply disappear from this world.

What is unreasonable here is the requirement for a 3 year old to have a £45 coat in school. That is however, the school school place decision you've made. It sounds like a very expensive choice. I'd suggest finding out if there are any second hand uniform sales to get some better value spares.

Lesson learnt - read the post - it is a nursery that had a uniform and this is a uniform item. No choosing a nursery wardrobe. This is the nursery wardrobe.

Great stealth boast ...

the nursery shouldn't be replacing is, but you should have hung on to the 'wrong" one till you could swap it for the right one.

uniform items are a "consumable" - they will either be worn out or lost before the child has a chance to grow out of them. it's foolish for a nursery to insist on a uniform item that costs £45!

I think your child is in training for a career in the SAS @InTheFutilityRoomEatingBiscuits !😂

The good ol' days at the nursery! DD and two other little girls had identical jackets (yes, with names written inside, pricey Boden ones, what was I thinking??? a mistake I never did again btw!) and at least once a week mine will come home with the jacket of another little girl. Who probably went home with the jacket of the third girl We, the mums, even stopped messaging each other at some point about it, the jackets just got swapped the next day. This went on for about a year, until the girls grew out of them and we all bought different jackets this time Cheap ones, from supermarkets

The stuff left behind at school, later on, was something else. Water bottles, cardis, jumpers, gloves, scarves, hats, lunch boxes.... yup, very seldom recovered from the "Lost property box". What worked for us in the end was threatening the kids that the 3rd or 4th replacement item will be bought out of their pocket money if they don't look after their stuff and and insisting with "before you leave the classroom check if that you have x, y,z ".

DD had a cardigan that went missing at school. They didn't have a uniform so it was pretty unique.
I used to be in the school quite a lot as I was a school governor
One day her cardigan was just hanging on a hook in the corridor.
I wish the cardigan could have spoken and told us where it had been

I’m not sure why everyone is laughing at you OP. I think that if your DC’s coat was labelled, nursery should take responsibility for looking after their charges things while there. £45 is a lot of money for a coat specifically for nursery and the I would expect is them trying their hardest to help me locate it or provide my child with a second hand one.