Lost property, done properly
Pupils report what's missing in under a minute. Staff match it from a simple review queue. Whatever is left shows up on your reception screens on its own, so nobody has to keep a spreadsheet or dig through a crate of odd shoes.
Nothing to install, no new password, and no more sending pupils to ask at the office.
The crate by reception
A pupil loses a jumper. It goes into a crate, a cupboard, or behind the office desk, and that is more or less the end of it. Parents email the school. Staff describe items over the phone from memory. Somebody's dad turns up on a Thursday to look through a bin bag.
Most of it never gets claimed. The owners want it back. They just cannot see it.
Currently held hostage
We’ve yet to visit a school without one. See how many you can spot before break ends.
Lost Properly turns that crate into a queue. Every one of those gets a photo, a date, a place it turned up, and someone looking for it.
How it works
01
A pupil signs in and describes what's missing. Category, brand, colour, where they last had it, and a photo if they have one. If they haven't, they can sketch it or pick one from the Stock Cupboard. It takes under a minute and no staff are involved yet.
About as long as queueing for a panini.
02
Found items get logged by staff through a short review queue. Lost Properly checks new reports against what's been handed in and surfaces likely matches, so staff aren't cross-referencing by memory.
“Blue-ish bottle, sports hall, Tuesday” becomes something you can actually search.
03
Unclaimed items appear on the display board by themselves, in reception, the dining hall, wherever your screens already are. Pupils glance up, recognise their jumper, and go and collect it.
The crate empties without anyone being asked to sort it.
No photo? No problem.
Every lost property form asks for a picture, and pupils are describing something they no longer have. Lost Properly gives them two ways round that, and neither needs a photo of their own coat.
Both are optional, and either beats a blank grey box sitting in the queue.
<60s
To report a lost item
Start to finish, on a school device, by a Year 7.
3
Taps to log a find
Photo, category, where it turned up.
0
Apps to install
It runs in the browser they already use.
1
Afternoon to set up
Logo, colours, login. Tea optional.
Built for three different screens
FOR PUPILS
Pupils report a loss themselves, with their own login. They can browse what's already been handed in before they even submit, so plenty of items get found without staff lifting a finger.
FOR STAFF
Found items get logged once. From there, staff work a single dashboard: confirm matches, mark items returned, manage anything that's sat unclaimed too long.
FOR YOUR SCREENS
Once it's pointed at a screen it needs nothing from anyone. Items appear when they're logged and drop off when they're claimed, so it is always current. No more stale printouts taped to a noticeboard.
Make it yours
Every school gets their own logo on the nav bar and the login screen, and their own colour pulled through the whole system, including the display board on your signage. Have a play:
That's the real board, by the way. It's what goes up on the screen in reception.
Mapleworth Academy
Lost & Found
Navy blazer
Water bottle
Calculator
The bits people always ask
Through the account they already have. Lost Properly sits behind your existing school sign-in, so there's no new password for anyone to forget by Wednesday. If you'd rather keep it simpler still, staff can log items on a pupil's behalf.
Only the item. The display board shows what was found, where, and roughly when. It never shows a pupil's name or their report. Names stay in the staff dashboard behind the login, which is why the board is safe to leave running in reception all day.
Sketch turns a written description into a simple illustration of the item. That is the whole job. It never sees a pupil's photo, it doesn't draw people, and what comes out is clearly a drawing rather than a photograph.
Safeguarding filters sit in front of it and behind it. Every description is screened before anything is drawn, and anything that isn't a plain description of a lost item is refused outright. The finished image is checked again before it can reach a queue or a public board, and staff can pull any image from either in a single tap.
And if you'd rather not use it at all, turn it off for your school. Pupils then use the Stock Cupboard and photo upload only.
You set the shelf life. Thirty days, a half term, whatever your policy says. Lost Properly flags items as they age out and gives you one list to work from, so the end-of-term donation run takes an hour instead of a weekend.
Whoever already receives handed-in items, usually reception. Their job goes from “describe a jumper over the phone” to “take a photo, tap a category.” Pupils do the rest themselves, which is the point.
No. If you've got a screen in reception showing notices, it can show the board. If you haven't, any spare display and a browser will do. Everything else runs on the school-issued devices pupils and staff already sign in to.
An afternoon for setup, a week for word to get round, and about a fortnight before somebody says “oh, that's where my bottle went.” We do the branding and configuration with you on the call.
Book a demo
Tell us a bit about your school and we'll set up a short walkthrough: pupil reporting, staff dashboard, and the live display board, all with your colours and crest already on it.
Twenty minutes, no slides, and we'll use your crate as the example.