What strategies do your DC's junior schools have for ensuring that children don't lose stuff?

[LittleBella]

My DS's school have the following:

Request that parents ensure all property is labelled with the child's name.

A lost property box.

That seems to be it. DS loses about £40-£50 worth of stuff a year at school. Some of it must be stolen, because it is all labelled. Is this average? Do any of your schools have any brilliant ways of keeping tabs on kids' stuff, or are the two methods above the only way realistically that schools can cope with this?

DS managed to come home with 2 left shoes once, different sizes but the same design. His shoes were named, the others weren't, but we managed to sort it.

I don't think theres much the school can do beyond insisting on labels, having a lost property box and having peg/cubbyhole each.

I'm still totally baffled how DD can have lost her tracksuit top. Luckily PTA runs second hand shop so I got an old one from there instead of shelling out for new. I think DD has been a little more careful of her belongings since....

[btw - school second hand shop is great idea... saves money, saves time not having to go into town for replacements, and its recycling!]

Well the infant school here insist all clothing is labelled and have now done away with the lost property box - I assume they will be selling what gets left behind second hand or binning it.

One thing I just remembered from when DD was an infant... I wasn't too convinced when she started reception that she could read a name tag. Pretty small letters. So I got the Cashes ones which have a little animal embroidered too - puppy for her. Not sure if it helped but it might have done. Esp if your newbie schoolchild is in a class with others of the same name, pretty tall order to read full names really but they might be keener to hang onto fave animal.

I don't understand why labelled clothing gets put into the lost property box at all. Surely it's not beyond the wit of school staff to work out what class the child is in and return the item to that classroom?

It isn't beyond my wit. However, if I spent all my time chasing after my class of children every time they lose a coat/jumper/glove/scarf, etc, I would genuinely not have time to teach. I do encourage them to pick up coats at the end of playtime, or to put their PE kit away, but I can't keep reminding them, it's not possible. For unnamed stuff, it's completely impossible, even in a smallish school like ours (200!)