What Teachers Secretly Wish Parents Labelled, in Their Own Words

What do teachers wish parents labelled?

On a Mumsnet thread titled "to urge you all to label every single item", a forum member who works in a school wrote a list straight from the lost property cupboard: "jumpers, shirts, p.e , bags, shoes....especially p.e pumps! Please put a name in coats too!! And on bags and water bottles." They described the lost property cupboard at that time of year as overflowing, and added: "It is heartbreaking seeing lovely coats, smart trainers and hundreds of identical jumpers all with no name on!!!!"

Those forums are mostly British, but swap "jumpers" for sweaters and "PE pumps" for white canvas shoes and it could be any Indian school in December.

Which school items get lost most often?

Teachers on these threads point again and again to the things children take off during the day. In another Mumsnet discussion on labelling school clothes, a teacher wrote: "Don't forget to name all the PE kit! Shorts are the clothes I most have to buy for my spare uniform stock as they go missing so often."

Translate that to a typical school day in India and the high-risk list looks like this:

• Sweaters, blazers and caps, taken off after assembly or PE.
• PE shoes and sports kit, changed in a hurry.
• Water bottles and tiffin boxes, especially the lids, which wander off on their own.
• Pencil pouches, geometry boxes and crayons, shared on every desk.
• Notebooks and textbooks, which look identical once covered in brown paper.
• Raincoats and umbrellas in the monsoon.

For a fuller room-by-room list, our post on 12 school items parents forget to label goes item by item.

Do teachers mind the type of name label?

They mind whether it is still readable in March. The teacher from that second thread was blunt about it: "Iron labels seem to peel off and pen fades in the wash." They said that when pen washes out, clothes end up "in the mountain of unnamed... unclaimed piles", and suggested pen only for coats that are rarely washed, with sewn labels for things washed often.

Other parents on the thread swore by iron-on and stick-on labels, so this is a matter of experience rather than a rule. The honest takeaway is simple: whatever you use, check it after a few washes and replace anything that is lifting or fading.

Teachers don't mind what kind of label you use. They mind whether they can still read it in March.

Where should the name go?

Somewhere obvious. Someone who had spent "20 years working in a primary school" put it plainly on the first Mumsnet thread: "Secret marks are all very well but only if you are there to identify them! Everyone can read a name and return it to you." The original poster agreed: "If I'm looking for your kids p e kit, it's not going to help me if you've sewn on three Orange dots inside the sleeve!!!"

So: inside the back collar of sweaters and shirts, on the tongue or inner side of shoes, on the body of a bottle and on both the tiffin box and its lid, and on the front cover of every notebook. A volunteer who sorted lost property at a primary school added on the same thread that the name should be "clear and in an obvious place".

What should I write on a name slip or label?

Your child's first name and surname, or first name with class and section, is enough for a teacher to return something. On notebooks, a book name slip with name, class, section, subject and roll number saves the teacher sorting a pile of thirty identical books. Leave phone numbers and home addresses off anything visible.

Almost missed this Teach your child to recognise their own label, not just their name. A five-year-old who knows "mine has the blue dinosaur" can find their bottle in a crowded row long before they can read every name on it.

And one wish that has nothing to do with labels: the same school worker asked parents to "PLEASE teach them how to tie their laces!!!!!!" Fair enough.

How we can help

Teachers are looking after thirty children and three hundred belongings, and every clear name makes their day a little easier. If you'd like to get it done in one sitting, our name labels for school cover bottles, tiffins and stationery, and our name slips are made for notebooks and textbooks. Personalised items take 8 to 12 working days.