To implement a new rule for lost property at primary?

[HamandCheeseSandwich]

In that, if it's uniform with no name on - goes to the PTA second hand uniform sale.

Bottles/bags/coats/anything else - all taken to charity shop every Friday.

If it has your name in, we will if course hold on to it...but only until half term. Then it's fair game.

I am in the office and have had enough of "have you seen Johnny's jumper?" And when asked if labelled it's 99% "no". Yes, love I've seen his jumper, it's so very different to the 450 others...

Lots of people work part time, so you need to offer multiple days to allow as many as possible to look.

Why wouldn't they go to charity shops?
You can wash both items. There's always rucksacks and bottles in shops.

Or does your washing machine/dishwasher/washing up bowl not clean things properly?

I think that it would be a far better use of children’s time to label their belongings than a lot of the nonsense they get up to at school. Teach them to do it for themselves IS teaching. Surely it’s not beyond the skillset of most teachers to solve this nonsense.

We did this at The DC's primary but we also out anything un named in good condition in a large container in the Reception area for 2 weeks so that nayone could help themsleves before dropping it at uniform exchange
Lunch boxes and water bottles were thrown away after 1 month

I'd assume stolen items are at the thieves house instead if being abandoned at the lost and found. So not sure how it is not worth naming items.

Your point about named items only for half a term - it’s all very well in principle but at our school named items can take weeks if not months to make their way to lost property. So it’s only fair to hold on to named lost property beyond half term (or return it direct to the child’s classroom).

DD1’s named school fleece has been removed from her peg twice this term already. The first time it was gone for weeks before being returned/turned up in lost property- covered in glue and mud and with her school badges stolen. She checked every day for the first week but she can’t keep spending her break times going to lost property every day.

DD2 has many named cardigans that disappear in school - she is 5 so I could ask her to check in lost property but there is no way she could cope with rummaging through the bins systematically and parents are not allowed into lost property since Covid.

At our school the unnamed lost property bins periodically get handed over to the PTA to sell and I have no issue with that. DD2’s cardigans will probably reappear when that happens.

In principle I'd agree with you BUT our primary school started putting out tables of lost property that were unnamed once screen or something, for people to look through and try to find their missing items.... the amount of times I would find named items in there was ridiculous - and they were current kids as I either knew the name or one of my kids did! So on the grounds that whoever is checking for labels doesn't do a good enough job, you can't just sell it on.

Our school would sell off the unclaimed items every so often - but they also said if you'd had something go missing, look through the pile for one in the right size and take that, as it was most likely a kid with an unlabelled item had got theirs mixed up with your child's item and had never returned it.

Or...you know, the adults who are their main caregivers could you know... Get them to do it at home...

We sew name labels into all of our son’s school uniform. I agree with your idea but I’d say do it on a half term basis. And the bottles etc can just go in recycling. Lost property at our primary school is INSANE I don’t know who all the parents are that can afford to have their kids loose uniform so readily.

Yes, the newsletter should have the dates in the termly calendar so parents can come and look through. I think ours was every half term as they couldn't store the amount of things lost. I also think it really helped out some of the parents who were struggling and everyone who's kids grow through 3 sizes in half a term! It's a very sustainable policy to show reuse and recycle!

We check for names,and send it to classroom.

Unless it's one of 30+ kids with same name and there's no surname (eg. Sam, instead of Sam Waffles)

All PTA stuff will be unnamed.

Our PTA sells stuff for 50p-£2, so not breaking the bank,and raises money.

I once worked in a shool where within the parents handbook were instruction as to WHERE on a garment to put name tags

Jumpers in the back of the neck
Trousers back of waistband
Shirts front right tuck in

It really did makelife easier, you knew exactly WHERE to look for a name.

( A small private prep,if it wasnt named,it was disposed of- gone- no second chance but it did focus attention!)

Whatever posesses jumper manufacturers to think that a nametag label half way down a side seam is a good idea is beyond me

Same here, only my kids are 41 and 37! They're very sweet little labels, with the name woven into it - the school could get them at a big discount. They make my stomach do a little flip when I come across them amongst my sewing stuff. By secondary school I was at it with a Sharpie though!

Some kids lose stuff frequently and others do not. My DS only ever twice lost items; both times the Class TA had "helpully" taken a jumper and he wasn't allowed to go back to the hall to get it. Both times it turned up within a week. When we passed on uniform and forgot to take out labels though, we kept being given the jumpers until I ripped his name out, but that kid was losing a jumper twice each week! Similarly he's never lost anything at camps, not even a yoghurt spoon or bento tray divider, while a kid we know (with ADHD BTW) regularly comes out of camp with the no jumper on, no lunchbox, no water, no hat... one time we sent DS back for stuff this boy said he couldn't find and he came back with all of it within minutes! The mum had always been the one when they were little who forgot nappies, wipes, spare socks etc.

While some of it is being disorganised, and I appreciate that's frustrating, it's worth remembering that some people really struggle much more than others with organisation (parents and kids). Having a final check every half term, while remembering it all needs to be out at breakfast club drop-off too, before clearing it all out is kindest.

I never understood why parents don't name items! I work in a school, and we ask parents to name their child's property. You can guarantee most of the parents don't! Then when property is lost, they expect their child or a member of staff to find it!!! How do they think that's possible?? Their child's cardigan/jumper looks no different to the other mountain of unnamed clothing!!!

So they can be resold in the case of uniforms

Ideally not beyond the skillset of someone who has borne a child and is responsible for raising them to get a Sharpie and write their name in the label of their uniform, if they want to have a chance if it returned if lost.

Yes. But on primary school the onus is also largely on the parents to label the stuff, surely? We literally just use a biro or a sharpie pen. Even on DS's water bottle where it washes off after a few washes - there's a sharpie on top of the fridge and whenever I notice it getting a bit feint I just rewrite it.

If I was struggling to buy uniform then I'd spend £2 and 10 minutes labelling it.

If it's named, why are you not returning to the child rather than holding onto it until half term?

Not all children in primary are old enough / understand going to lost property/ NT etc. if it's named then at least head it back in the direction of that child's classroom surely?

At our school we can go through the lost property any day, it all goes to one location in the school office to be looked through.

At ds school all lost property goes in a large kallax type thing in the meeting room and parents k ow where it is. If it's labeled you can get your items back, if it isn't labelled it's a free for all and trat it like a uniform shop. I'm a labeller so I using for new uniform.

This. It’s not as if everybody needs to sew on Cash’s name tapes nowadays - there are indelible pens easily available.

Well, writing the child's name in would stop any problem. It's perfectly simple.