As the school year progresses, so does our collection of lost items in the Bushey Meads Pastoral office. It can sometimes look less like an office, and more like TK Maxx on a busy Saturday afternoon!  Every week, a fresh pile of jackets, blazers, jumpers, water bottles (so many water bottles…), and similar personal items make their way into the Pastoral office — never to be claimed again.

Why Labelling is Important

When an item has a name and CDC group clearly labelled on it, we can quickly return it to its rightful (and hopefully grateful) owner, saving tears for the student, and costly trips to the uniform shop for parents and carers.

Unlabelled items that get left in lost property, after a few months, are either donated, discarded, or absorbed into the pastoral closet for students to borrow who come in without their correct uniform.

If students aren’t in full uniform and we don’t have spares in Pastoral, they could end up with consequence points — and we genuinely don’t like having to give these out just because someone has lost their items.

Top Tips for Labelling:

Need help becoming a labelling legend? Here’s a few tips:

• Use permanent markers, iron-on labels, or name tags that won’t vanish after one wash.

• Stick labels inside jumpers and jackets, as well as on PE kits, water bottles, and anything else that might disappear!

• Include your child’s full name and CDC group. A first name alone might work for Stormzy, Madonna and Eminem, but not unfortunately for school blazers and ties.

• Hand-me-down hack: If the item gets passed to a younger sibling/cousin/friend, update the label!  We often get confused with names that we know no longer attend school, and then attempting the re-uniting of the item becomes much less of a possibility.

Help Us Keep the Great Lost Property Mountain Manageable

Encourage your children to check the lost property area regularly. You never know — they might find not just their missing tie, but that elusive left football sock too.

And most importantly, remind them to take care of their belongings. Fewer lost items, fewer replacement costs, and far fewer “Help, I can’t find my PE kit!!” Monday mornings.

Let’s work together to make lost property…well, less lost!