Son's school has lost his coat

michelefauk

there was a thing at my DD1s school about Jane Norman carrier bags (from the clothes shop Jane Norman) Apparently they are prized as the bag above all other bags. So much so that my daughter's PE kit was taken out of the Jane Norman bag, thrown on the floor and the bag stolen with the kit left behind! Now that is sad! Also my son is constantly having his PE kit either stolen or lost, so much so that I refuse to buy him another school rugby shirt at £15 a go and tell him to go and find one in lost property to wear. At parents evenings all unnamed lost property is laid out in the hall, and you help yourself.
AT the primary school I work at, the lost property box is always overflowing, full of shoes (how can a parent not realise their child has left their shoes at school?) lunch boxes, coats, fleeces, etc etc. If a child leaves their coat on the field at lunch/playtime, they end up in the lost property box by the end of the following day as the caretaker does a sweep of the school every evening. Sometimes things that have been taken home by mistake will take a while to get back to school, it may be that the child is away sick or on holiday, or if a child goes to grannies or a childminder, they may not realise the child has the wrong things for a few days. The PTA sells off everything left in the lost property box at the end of every term, with the money going back into school funds, plus it is a good way for parents to pick up cheap uniform.
Back to the OP, all suggestions given have been great, check school when it is quiet, ask for it to be put in the newsletters, if it is named it should come back eventually.

Teacher2301

Did you find his coat at all?

ailuro2

in a school where there will be over a hundred coats that look the same, sew your son's name inside, but put something on the outside that can be seen and checked without asking someone to remove the coat, so sew on a badge, or a little spare button somewhere you can see it.(and an extra loop for hanging up if it doesn't have one - this will help keep it on its proper peg)

We did this with DD's sparring gear for martial arts - it is expensive and lots of it looks the samevery similar to other kids, but you'd have to almost accuse someone of stealing to check her name on the inside of the gear, so we put a paint dot on all her stuff where we could see it without asking for removal, then it could be easily identified and the person could be asked to remove it to check if they'd picked it up by mistake.

jellyhead

Around a dozen of the boys in nursery have a robot bag from tesco. I've added a keyring to help my son recognise his, could you do the same to a coat? I used to do it to help my clumsy boy zip up his coat, just a light keyring. Something with kudos though, not just any old keyring lol!

My boy is chuffed with his knight from warwick castle, but has started to eye up his big brother's mario keyring

A class of 15, school of 100 sounds easier to manage than our packed primary. Perhaps a note to parents wouldn't be too much trouble, a coat is a big item and if the school logo is essential then it's an expensive item to replace.