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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Year 7 - how much stuff has your DC lost so far?

98 replies

sandyballs · 25/09/2012 07:51

DD lost a blouse, a set of pens and a lunch box within the first week. This morning she can't find her entire PE kit that she took to school yesterday, she says it could have been left on the bus or at school. No lockers at school and nowhere to leave anything. It's driving me mad.

If she doesn't find the kit it will cost about £70 to replace. I've told her I'm not just going to go out and buy a new one and she has gone off in tears with a pair of knackered old trainers that don't fit and plain shorts and t shirts without school logo which she can wear for a few weeks while she saves up. Harsh or a lesson to learn?

And breathe ....... so cross at how careless she is and how she doesn't seem to give a flying fig!

I should add that she's very sporty and is doing trials for various teams at the moment which probably means that she won't do well with too small trainers and the schools will possibly not pick her as she isn't in correct uniform

OP posts:

takeonboard · 26/09/2012 21:47

thanks lirael I am off to look at abebooks now!

nbee84 · 26/09/2012 21:48

Unfortunately they don't always grow out of it. DS is 1st year at uni and lost his wallet in his 1st week! Talked him through what to do, but left him to do it all.

nbee84 · 26/09/2012 21:49

@ frazzled

Lyftiduft · 26/09/2012 22:16

takeonboard have you tried ebay?

Original poster

sandyballs · 26/09/2012 22:18

Thanks for replies, I'm obv not the only stressed mum about lost stuff!

Despite going through timetable yest to retrace steps, DD forgot,today! Inset day Tom but fri I told her I'm getting the bus with her and her friends and going into school to search for lost kit. DD horrified but I told her yest I would do this if no kit appeared so feel I need to carry it through

OP posts:

marriedinwhite · 26/09/2012 22:54

Over the years DS (now 17) has lost: umpteen trainers, football boots, sock, cricket hat, cricket spikes, rucksacks, school books, a wheelie bag full of a terms work just before exams, numerous coats, at least 10 oyster cards, three sets of keys, at least three £10 notes I know about, numerous ties, shoes, two mobile phones, a violin, umpteen bits of PE kit, swimming goggles, swimming towels, etc., etc.. It is irritating but I will never change him. Ultimately, I still tell him the most important thing to come home is him and he must never ever be worried about coming home because he has lost something. Some of it has turned up, ie, one phone, the violin and the wheelie bag, some of it seems to do the rounds and we have bits of kit with many labels in this house, and are stalwart supporters of the 2nd hand uniform sales where I can pick up much of what he loses for pennies.

DD (14) has lost an Alfie and Annie Rose book and one blouse and on both occasions was absolutely devastated and sobbed all the way home.

I don't know if it's temperament or just that she's heard me yell at him so much and tell him he's an irresponsible idiot that she's very very careful!

Mum2Luke · 26/09/2012 23:57

I am not looking forward to this time next year as my ds will prob come home with a) all PE kit missing or a coat or something.

I will be marking EVERYTHING with his name but they always go AWOL at high school.

Maybe he will turn over a new leaf but I don't hold my breath!

hoodoo12345 · 27/09/2012 00:27

So far:
lost phone-found next day,
lost complete PE kit-(no lockers) found in library,
Lost jumper- found a week later when she finally got round to visiting lost property,
Various pens, sharpeners and pencils have been borrowed never to be seen again,
Her rugby shirt has also mysteriously grown 2 sizes........

Startailoforangeandgold · 27/09/2012 01:37

DD has one huge hockey sock, it must belong to someone's Y13 brother.

PropositionJoe · 27/09/2012 08:08

Can I just recommend marking anything you can with your home phone number? It really helps when it isn't your child that's the plonker, but someone else's and the item turns up somewhere your child hasn't even been! I got an entire games kit back from a train station thanks to this (my son gets a bus!)

TantrumsAndGoldAndOrange · 27/09/2012 08:11

I hate it when they lose oyster cards.

Not only do you have to pay £10 for a new one, if they want to get on the bus you have to pay the bus fare until the new one comes.

I thought it was supposed to be free travel??

I swear those blasted oyster cards have cost me a fortune over the last 3 years.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 27/09/2012 09:52

tantrums - the sound of the world's tiniest vioin from those of us outside of London paying £3 a day, every day for the bus

CuriousMama · 27/09/2012 10:09

DS2 lost his PE top yesterday, he has PE again today. He gets upset about such things so I rang the school to forewarn them. He does have mild sn so I hope his PE teacher is easy on him?

Madmog · 27/09/2012 11:05

Luckily everything has come home SO FAR! She did leave her PE kit in a classroom but went back and got it. The school's website says that if a Year 7 loses anything they should speak to their tutor in the first instance as things are often returned to them if clearly marked. Another option is to go to student reception where lost things are returned. It might be worth checking with the school what happens to lost equipment.

I realize you have sent her in with a PE kit of sorts, but just be aware if she has a uniform card it may be marked for incorrect clothing leading to a detention, so it's worth sending her in with a note explaining it's got lost and a replacement will be forthcoming (even if you're not about to buy it).

I totally realize how frustrated you must be especially about something so expensive, but don't forget they've had a lot to think about the last few weeks, worrying over new school, finding classrooms, finding relevant notice boards, learning what each teacher expects, being taught in different groups, balancing more homework, pressure of knowing if theyv'e done enough homework etc.

Fingers crossed the PE kit turns up!

Madmog · 27/09/2012 11:11

Forgot to say, I lost my key on the bus recently. I phoned the bus company and it has been returned and was in their lost property storage, so that's worth a try as well.

amck5700 · 27/09/2012 11:29

Our bus is £2 each way a day so £4. tbf we don't use it as it's easier to drive and it was our choice to send to a non catchment school......but then that's because of bullying issues..................so technically the parents of the bullies should really reimburse me.

bubbleuk · 27/09/2012 14:03

Well your DD will only do it once and remember the experience as unpleasurable and perhaps take greater care over such things next time :-)

My DS had been at school ten days when he'd lost his pencil case and calculator, the next day forgot to hand in his homework so got a detention and has since lost two other pens we bought as replacements. Not to mention that he's forgot his gum-shield £90 more times than I care to remember and when he does remember it, leaves it in his pocket so it gets washed unless I check.

If someone doesn't take his teeth out at Rugby/Hockey. I may have to manually pull them to teach him a lesson :-) Just kidding! Don't we just love em?

LadyJH · 27/09/2012 14:38

My DS Yr 7 has a locker but I dread him losing the key. It cost £5 in the first instance and another £5 for each lost one. Does a replacement key really cost a fiver?

madhairday · 27/09/2012 15:13

Your list made me smile, bumpybecky, esp the xxl waterproof trousers

dd has only lost a PE top (found the next week, thankfully) and some pencils, which I am very surprised about, seeing as she is dyspraxic. I am being obsessive careful about reminding her to check for everything, though.

She has a locker, it's £20 a term

CuriousMama · 27/09/2012 16:25

Yay, ds2 found his top. His PE teacher handed it to him. Phew! I have enough to fork out this next week with trainers and new clothes, oh and pjs. At least that's one less thing to buy, for now.

bumpybecky · 27/09/2012 16:32

the mens xl trousers are funnier as we're a middle school, so only go up to year 8!

today I've been given 3 pairs of school shoes too - 3 more sets of cross parents :( hopefully they'll be claimed soon

cleeve6 · 27/09/2012 20:09

Some of this stuff made me laugh out loud. My DS (just gone up to Y8) has lost very little that I know of but he did come home in Y7 with someone else's rugby socks as well as his own. I washed them and put them in a bag with the child's name on it (the socks were labelled). Three weeks later, despite daily reminders , my DS was still carrying them round, despite having played rugby at least twice a week in that period. I still don't know if he returned them or just threw them away to stop my nagging! In primary school I was on the PTA and it never failed to amaze me the amount of stuff that ended up in LP - coats, shoes, everything. We used to beg parents to come and get it and eventually bagged loads up and sent it to charity at the end of the year.....think putting phone numbers on things is a brill idea but don't know if I'll even get round to it

bumpybecky · 27/09/2012 22:22

I removed over 15 bin bags full of unnamed lost property at the end of last term. I had over 70 coats. That works out to be about 1 child in 7 in the school having lost a coat!

I just do not understand why people don't name their child's clothing

BoffinMum · 27/09/2012 22:28

My friend lost her entire Y7 child - the bus didn't come so he decided to walk the entire four miles home, then got half way to mine after about 2 hours (!) and came to ask me for help and a lift. It was only by chance I happened to be there (late for choir run).

Puts a new spin on it, losing the entire uniform with the child still in it!

peanutbutterandbanana · 28/09/2012 00:39

DS now in Year 8 and three weeks into term hasn't loss anything... yet.

Last year he lost his mobile phone (only £10 per handset) once per term. He has to replace them each time (hence the cheap handset) and this year I am charging him an extra fiver if he loses it to cover the cost of my time having to deal with Vodafone (multi level automatic answering system where I have to make six choices of buttons to press before I speak to a human and then it takes 20 minutes to cancel and reorder the sim card and then get another handset). So far he hasn't lost phone this term.

Any uniform lost has to be replaced out of his pocket/Christmas/birthday money. Last year he lost four items, which turned out to be expensive for him. This year, so far, he has kept hold of everything.

DD1 is 15 and she has only ever lost one school skirt which she had to replace with her pocket money. She vowed 'never again'.

I also had some nametapes done that said 'If lost please phone xxxx ) which was my mobile tel number. I sew them onto coats and towels and scarves, things that might be left places. Once the school bus lady called me because the bus was going to be late, by reading my phone number on the back of DS's coat and once my DD1 left her coat at a children's farm. They washed it, phoned me and then posted it to her school (it had school logo on). As children get older they don't want my phone number on their possessions though. But I still put it on their swimming towels:)

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