property lost on school premises.

[northernbelle78]

Ds in in year 7. On Friday his school bag disappeared from changing rooms. It contained school reading books, stationery, school year book etc etc. Clearly another child has taken it (hopefully by accident). So far it hasn't materialized. I have been told that I will have to pay for replacements. Is this normal as new to secondary school ways please?

It just seems a tad unfair as ds was told to leave belongings there and I will have to replace his brand new pencil case and handwriting pens etc etc too. Not to mention other random bits of stationery and uniform which has also disappeared so far.

Thank you.

I'd say it is pretty normal yes. We expect students to replace items they lose: however we do also provide them with lockers so there is no reason for them to 'lose' books or have them taken by someone else.

99% of the time when children insist to me they 'gave' me the missing book already or 'definitely' left something somewhere it turns out they are mistaken and they have left it somewhere else (normally under their bed or in another classroom). Ask his from tutor to email all his subject teachers incase he has left the bag in another room. Also have him check the lost property and ask the cleaners if they have handed anything in.

If he is normally a conscientious and organised child I would discuss with the school whether it is fair and reasonable to ask you to pay when he left his bag where they told him to. Also check whether this was something you were made aware of at the start of the school year. As a teacher, I know how much money schools can waste on replacing lost and damaged books. But as a parent I would not want to have to fork out if the bag was left where my child was told to leave it and it was stolen. I'd say go back and have a chat with the head of year.

Thank you. Will try and get appointment with his form teacher next week as I have a day off work.

I would follow it up so you know exactly what happened. It seems odd that the school have immediately said you will have to replace everything without investigating adequately that the bag might have been taken. Just be absolutely clear the bag was meant to be in the changing room. Not all schools have sufficient lockers so children have to lug their belongings around with them. It is not unknown for some children to take things (bags, coats, sports kit) and then leave them in other areas of the school. Both my DDs had this happen in primary/prep school and the items, both expensive outer garments, were lost for several weeks. One turned up in the year 5/6 cloakroom (DD was year 3) and my other DDs school cloak was stuffed behind a piano in a music practice room! Yes, privately educated girls can be little s__ts too! Can he have a good look around the school? The bag might have been dumped.

Yes - the same as if you had your bag stolen from work, or where you might be in the evening - say a choir or a badminton club or whatever. You then replace what's been taken. If something is a particularly valuable item you might get it covered on your home insurance, but stationery..... really?
dc will always lose things - at school, on the bus (if that's how they travel), by leaving it at a friend's house or in the park. Some are more organised than others, but they will all be parted from something at some point.
It is a shame if somebody has actually taken the stuff and kept it, but I'd make sure he had a really good look around first, as things do tend to get shoved along, picked up and moved, etc without actually being stolen.

It would be unusual for a whole bag to be stolen. Did it go missing during a PE lesson? Were the doors locked? Is there CCTV outside that could be checked?

If it were during PE, then I would expect the PE staff to investigate how it happened.

Thank yo for replies. They have apparently searched for bag. They have also agreedto give it some more time before the school items have to be replaced. The yearbook thingy apparently costs £10 to replace. Yikes

Yes it was during pe.

Year books are expensive. Blame the printers. Although with 3 weeks left, no way would I buy a new one. Will get a new blank one in September for the new year. If they are adamant, say you will get a note book or cheap diary.

You say they have apparently searched for the bag, but has your ds?

Tbh my ds has searched several days in a row for it. The school have only very recently searched.