Blardy school uniform and it being lost etc.

[itsmeolord]

DD lost her school skirt out of her kit bag on Friday night, she was late out of a club and hadn't closed her bag properly.
She caught another child going through her bag but just said she thought they were looking for their own uniform.

The skirt was labelled, twas a very nice skirt as well. (not expensive, just nice) Have been to lost property this morning, it's not there, hasn't been handed in......

The thing is, we have a problem at our school with people taking school uniform home by mistake but then not returning it and wearing it themselves.
Last summer dd had a fleece go missing out of the cloakroom, again all labelled. The next day one of her classmates was wearing it, asked the mother to return it, she refused spoke to the head about it, when they checked the fleece she had cut out the name label. We knew it was dd's as I had changed the tag on the zip for a ribbon so that she could easily find it at home times etc.
Anyway, the fleece was very grudgingly returned, but there are rows every week amongst parents where uniform is going home by mistake and not coming back.
One parent has been banned from
lost property because she was caught in there putting together a bag full of clothes for various ages. She was only looking for a jumper for her 5 yr old dd, there were boys clothes and all sorts in there.

AIBU to think our school is some sort of odd bubbleworld where parents think that all uniform is fair game or does this happen everywhere?

We have had labelled new stuff go missing but only the ocasional item. Most things can be eventually found in lost property or lurking in the cloakroom.

at the parent putting together an entire outfit from lost property -I can only assume that she was desperate for uniform for her child but couldn't afford it

I've not come across this yet, but I know one mum who has got very creative about where she names the clothes. She'll do a name in a usual place...but will also write it in laundry pen in a hidden place like inside the sleeve of a coat/pocket etc.
I'd thought it was a bit much - but it sounds as though the school her DC's go to has a similar thing to yours going on, and she's learnt the hard way.

So far this term, DS has lost 1 polo top, 1 sweatshirt, and one fleece/coat. All very clearly labelled, all in good condition. I tend to blame him, but am beginning to think they have effectively been stolen. I can understand the odd mix-up, but not that much. I've been through lost property time after time, and generally find, if it doesn't appear within two days, then it will NEVER emerge.
The coat actually has a "secret" label as well as the obvious one, but I am not quite brave enough to ask to check through all the coats on pegs during school time. I have checked through the ones left on pegs overnight, but felt very uncomfortable with it.

I do feel cross when going through the lost property, that most of the stuff is not labelled. I actually put a load of PE bags, coats etc. back onto the appropriate pegs last week, as I went in early, and checked while the children were still in the playground. But there remains a sluggish heap of tatty unlabelled stuff at the bottom of the pile. In the meantime, someone is walking around in my DS clothes, either with the label, in which case they are twerps, or with the label removed, in which case, sad to say, they or their parents are thieves.

I do think unlabelled uniform, should be distributed among the needy after quite a short time. The staff could easily slip them to a parent, saying they were going spare, and would you like them.

The key to preventing this is to make sure that you take things home at the end of each day and bring them in the next day if they are needed. Also make sure that DC take care of their personal items and that they are labelled with distinctive sew in labels in a fairly visible place.

I think this is pretty common.

My ds lost his jumper last week, it was labelled but hasn't turned up in lost property. He is almost 10 so I feel he should take responsibility for it.

My dd1 has just started reception and lost her polo shirt last week, it was labelled as well (with a very distinctive butterfly nametag). Her teacher said it's common in the first year and has put a note outside the class with a list of the clothes which have been mislaid since the start of term and who the clothes belonged to. All of the clothes that are missing were labelled yet not one thing has been returned

Ds and I looked through lost property last week for his jumper and barely anything had been labelled! I agree with choccyp1g after so long it should be distributed among those who need it. Our school recycled all the lost property last year and I couldn't help thinking it could be put to a better use within the school community.

Iron on clothing tattoos will stop the label from being cut out at least! use these on socks and pants!

or you could iron them on the front of the jumper

YY am thinking of american style baseball type lettering across the cardigans etc. Huge brightly coloured felt letters.

The dolly, all the clothes are labelled with those sodding labels that i spend fecking hours sewing on

Have tried the iron on things, they peel off after a while.

Sorry, missed the one about the lady with the bag of clothes being skint. Can assure you she wasn't. She runs a market stall and the clothes were a mixture of all ages and both genders.

label costs and jumpers on the inside cuff as well as the more obvious.

if i were you, i would tell the teacher the name of the child rummaging along the lines of we wonder whether x could have picked it up by mistake as she was struggling to find hers and checked in dds bag.

also think that some stuff goes missing because it is all identical and just gets chucked in the wash, i dont really check that closely, although at dd2s new school, all pe kit has to be labelled on the outside( name tape stiched across left breast pocket position.

I generally write name in laundry marker up the inside of sleeve or inside a pocket.

Iron on tattoos on socks, pants only laundry marker initials on label as these cheaper than school uniform and the DC may actually notice if these are not where they should be

I use sew on lables also, in the obvious places.

I only noticed that DS2 had someone else's shirt on after his best mate pointed out the frilly collar.

Some parents are not very observant...