Dealing with the problem of lost equipment at Charter North Dulwich

 

Over the last few months The Friends and the Senior Leadership Team at Charter North Dulwich have been working together to try and improve the ongoing problem of student lost property.

We identified key points at which property is most likely to be mislaid and the actions that can be taken to minimise this.

Here are the key findings

• Over 60% of the uniform which ends up at reception, having been collected from around the school, is unnamed.  It is impossible to return any lost property that does not have a name.
  
  
• Lost equipment and uniform (particularly coats and jumpers) is dropped by students all over the school. It is generally picked up by staff and ends up in the lost property system (see below).
  
  
• Named lost property is displayed on reception for two days for collection and is then left at the lost property area at the entrance to the Atrium.  Unnamed lost property goes straight to the lost property area. 
  
  
• Introducing unallocated lockers available to students who have PE on a given day would decrease the amount of equipment that students are required to carry around on PE days.
  
  
• Students frequently bring all of their textbooks/ study materials into school every day rather than selecting those they need for a particular day.  This results in very heavy bags.
  
  
• The Friends second hand uniform shop opened in March 2021 has quickly become a popular source of replacement clothing and is partially supplied by unnamed lost property collected at the end of each term. 

Here are the next steps

• With the support of the Friends the school will continue to encourage parents to label all student clothes and equipment.  This is the single most significant act that parents can do to ensure that their students's property is returned.
  
  
• The Friends will fund a small set of sticky name labels for every new Yr 7 student as part of their welcome pack from the school.  The need to name and organise property (for example only taking in what is needed) and the system for retrieving lost property will be covered at welcome evenings and in school literature.
  
  
• Messaging around encouraging students to manage their property would be reinforced for all year groups with more prominence and information for parents available on the school website.  
  
  
• There is a genuine aspiration to provide unallocated lockers to support students who are taking PE.  Work was done to identify a location.  The only viable space was outside, but in close vicinity to the PE department. It was hoped that the school could initiate a trial for these to understand levels of usage and refine future provision. Unfortunately the costs for this are currently prohibitive. It is not possible to hire outside lockers of the type needed. 100 outside lockers would cost in the region of £12,000. The full requirement of 300, close to £36,000 is just not currently a funding priority.

The Friends would like to thank the SLT at Charter North Dulwich for engaging with them on this issue.