New coat gone missing

[potaufeu]

Ds went to school today wearing his brand new wintercoat we bought last weekend. I appreciate they are out a lot so we bought a really good and IMO quite expensive coat (approx. £80).

At pick up there was no sign of the coat. His teacher said that it would probably turn up as another child might have borrowed it

Stupidly, I didn't put ds' name in the coat as I was pretty sure that he is the only one in his class in this specific coat.

What to do? Buy another coat this weekend or do you think it will turn up (quite soon)? Teacher wasn't too worried and said he could borrow a coat tomorrow if I didn't have a spare (which I don't have).

You probably realise this now, but you never ever send anything in before you have had a chance to name it. Even if it is scribbled on in biro before you get hold of proper name tapes.

I dont think any of us can tell you if it will turn up or not, it depends on the school.

Our school will not look for unnamed items, which i think is a fair policy. I know that other schools round here do put a bit more effort in.

If it doesn't come back tomorrow it's worth proactively asking some of the other children's parents (particularly those with pegs next to DS) if their child might have taken home the wrong coat by mistake. Found a missing jumper of DD's this way - the parent had even noticed that it wasn't her sons (and it was clearly labelled) but hadn't thought to bring it back into school again . Also it's possible DS has taken it off when outside and left it in the playground so it may be anywhere in school - ask if you can check other rooms at home time.

Hi, DS lost his coat within 3 days of starting Yr3. I asked parents (it's a common coat), I checked the corridor where they hang coats in case he'd put it somewhere else, I searched lost property but NOTHING. it was named.

Then 2 weeks later (after I had bought a replacement coat) DS came home with the original one...apparently,there is a pile of coats in his classroom which kids can use if they haven't bought one into school. There it was....I didn't know about this 'spare pile of coats' so it might be worth asking !!

I have been shouted at (as a teacher) for 'losing' a brand new coat belonging to one of my class. When I asked if their name was in it, the mum yelled that it was an extremely expensive coat and she wasn't going to ruin it by writing his *&^^$£ name in it!

The coat didn't turn up, but I didn't have an awful lot of sympathy for the mother as she was so unpleasant. Your child's coat might turn up, it might not, but I would imagine next time you will put their name in it or not buy such an expensive coat.

Children do not need £80 spent on a coat in order for it to be good enough for Reception . You'll know this by now but eBay/NCT sale/local charity shop is the place to get hold of a school-proof decent coat.

I think it might be a good idea to make up a couple of 'wanted' posters with a picture of your child's coat on so people know exactly what they are looking for. I'd avoid putting '£80, unlabelled distinctive boy's coat' in the description though - people will be at £80 and unlabelled appearing on the same poster!

FWIW, I will always help children/parents in my class hunt down missing items that have been sensibly labelled. I'm afraid that I'm of the opinion that, if the parent has chosen not to label an item, the parent has chosen not to mind if it gets permanently lost. I'm not fussy about the type of labelling; biro, Sharpie, iron-on, embroidered whatevers... having a name (or first initial and surname) on an item means that if it gets left in the playground/dinner hall/other random place any adult can pick it up and track down the owner.

This weekend you need to go and buy a reasonable replacement. When the original turns up, sell it on eBay and use the proceeds to fund coats for the next few years.

I had a parent, whose son had lost his unnamed coat, actually try to wrestle a similar coat off another child in the street outside school.

before you assume another child has taken it make sure your child hasn't taken the coat off somewhere eg in the playground and its been scooped up by a midday supervisor(with a muttered 'you'd think they'd put a name in it') and taken to lost property

It will probably turn up
So far this term one named coat went missing was found in a local park by another parent we had not been to the park.
Three jumpers gone missing all came back after a week or so
Two pack lunch boxes gone walkabout came back three days later
All named i even name pilmsloes and shoes

Then last week found charges cycle helment that went missing on the last day of term from his bag . It was found at the bottom of the last box a box that i seem to be looking through almost daily so i know that it was not there before. Quite funny as charge left the school last term.

Yes they do loose stuff forget where they put them

there were 3 boys in ds's Y1 class that had the same wellies (last winter in the snow)

ds came home wearing plimsolls because his wellies weren't there (not sure why he didn't keep his shoes on but that's another thread) and nor was 1 of the 2 other identical pairs. pair 2 got returned to me several days later (after unsympathetic teacher had had a go at me for not sending him in wellies despite knowing that his own wellies had gone walkabout) as they had his name in both wellies. That mum was upset that I couldn't hand over her ds's wellies in return, but pointed out that ds hadn't taken any wellies home and that it was a different child that had taken her child's wellies. She actually said that she would keep ds's wellies so her son had wellies until his turned up but I refused obviously. It also turned out that she had only labelled one of the wellies on the basis that they were a pair so why bother to label both !

They did all turn up eventually though, so fingers crossed your son's coat does too...

Do keep us informed

Ask if you can look through their cloakroom, it's quite possibly lying in a heap somewhere. By now you will have realised from replies that naming EVERYTHING your child takes to school is essential - apart from anything, Teachers can't be expected to remember which coat belongs to which child! Reception children frequently come home with stuff that doesn't even resemble their own thing. Even named things get lost regularly too, so don't spend more than you are OK with having to replace.

The onus is NOT ON THE SCHOOL!!! I know the horse has bolted now and it's of no help whatsoever, but hopefully you won't let it happen again. My youngest kids are in Y4 now and still they bang on and on about naming every bit of uniform - yet people don't do it. I know parents who think nothing of expecting teachers/tas/whoever to be responsible for lost stuff, and go in every morning asking the same question about Little Tarquin's bloody coat/jumper/football. It must make them crazy. Another reason why teachers are saints, in most cases!!

Oh you live and learn with your first child op.
Hopefully the coat will turn up soon. In the mean time perhaps by a coat from a supermarket. My ds has 2 washable [and cheap] Tesco coats which are labelled but would not make me cry hysterically if one was lost.
Fingers crossed your ds is wearing it home this afternoon.

So far this term I've acquired one swimming costume, 2 jumpers, a coat and one mitten. Luckily everything except the mitten was named so we just send them back.(actually only discovered swimming costume earlier today so will wash and return on Monday)

DD has lost a jumper and a dress (she came home in her PE kit because dress was missing. Turned up the next day as another girl apparently went home wearing two . Again they were labelled so were returned.

It seems small children are good at losing their own things and acquiring other peoples so naming them is worth it but you know that now.

Hope it turns up though

Best to go looking through the cloakroom AFTER the other kids have left (or before they get into the building on a morning) - makes it clearer if it's been left sitting on the wrong peg.

Could tell the years I taught teachers' children - they had nametapes in socks and knickers.

If your luck is anything like ours (despite being labeled) jumper turns up 6mths later clearly worn by somebody else all this time and no longer fitting DS.... Cheap & replaceable is the way to go
Although I feel for the lady at our nursery who left a car seat so her DH could pick child up and it walked forever despite being labelled!!

Theres a lesson there - don't spend £80 on a school coat, and label EVERYTHING, especially the coats!!

You'll know for next year.

'The onus is NOT ON THE SCHOOL!!!'

It is in this case. What kind of idiot teacher 'loans' coats out?!? She needs to develop a routine to stop this rubbish. This is something I would speak to the head about actually. Never heard of organisation this bad at the end of a school day!

Err, Katherine, have you read the whole thread? If so you would have gleaned that this is a regular thing at primary schools, I'm sure if your dc had forgotten or lost their coat, even temporarily, you would be grateful that the 'idiot teacher' had the foresight to spare your child going blue with cold.

I'm sure by now, the OP realises the implications of not naming her child's coat. There is nobody else to blame. She didn't label the coat.

"Someone else has borrowed it" is universal teacher-speak for "some other little darling has made off with it, probably without realising it, and whether or not their parent notices, or bothers to return it, is anyone's guess."

Aye, I have thebeansmum. It's not a regular thing for at teacher to give a child another child's coat.

And I don't think an £80 coat is going to reappear anywhere near the school yard, named or un-named.

The teacher is almost certainly not "giving a child another child's coat" - she will be offering to lend the OP's child a coat, from the spares they have at school, if his own doesn't turn up

It was not another child's coat, it was a spare coat! All schools have spares for the poor children whose parents can't be arsed to send them in a coat even in the middle of winter ( usually because they travel by car so don't need one