EUREKA! Lost Property

EUREKA! Lost and Found: As part of the AMPA working groups, and under the illustrative name «EUREKA!» (Eureka! in Greek εὕρηκα héurēka, «I have found it!»), this project aims to restructure the organization of lost objects within the school boundaries.

Promote and encourage:

  • Appreciation and responsibility for our belongings
  • The awareness that care avoids unnecessary consumption
  • Greater involvement of the entire school community

Where can you find EUREKA!?

EUREKA! has a part of the hall of the primary school building as a central meeting point for managing the system and dealing with requests.

Who make up EUREKA!?

The EUREKA! Unit is made up of a group of volunteer mothers from the school. Its operation is transversal in the EEA of primary, infant, La Chispa and El Faro. It also manages secondary school items.

More Information

Mark everything you think might get lost:

  • Mark everything that is taken to school, including hats, gloves, sports equipment…
  • Use labels (which are applied with an iron) or indelible pens / indelible markers, as there are markers that wash off after a few washes.
  • Mark the items in a visible place where the volunteers can easily find it (collar, inside labels…)

How to succeed in your search:

  • Do not hesitate to use the dedicated form in any of its versions.
  • We will be waiting and eager to find what you have lost!
  • If you have not located the object, please keep searching, because the object may take some time to arrive at EUREKA!
  • Do not hesitate to search EUREKA! Infantile and Primary, as well as in EUREKA! secondary, it is possible that it could be in one of the two, depending on the size and the place where it was lost. Virtually EVERYTHING eventually turns up.
  • If you recover what you were looking for, please let us know so we don’t keep searching from EUREKA!

Pass on the EUREKA! Philosophy to your children:

  • Incentivize them to create the habit of looking inside the classrooms, on the coat racks near their classroom and the other classrooms they usually use.
  • Remind them that if they can’t find what they lost, they can stop by the primary hall in the EUREKA! area on the stipulated days/times, as many times as they wish.
  • Talk to your children and encourage them to participate in the project together. It can be a good reason to talk about important issues in their education.
  • We want to avoid having to repurchase expensive or cheap clothes, rackets, skates, cases, in order to avoid unnecessary consumption.

In general, all items found inside the buildings are collected and hung on the respective hangers in the school hallways, giving their owners time to retrieve them.

In Early education:
Everything that the teachers have not been able to identify is taken to the premises intended for EUREKA!

In Primary:
Everything is organized in the «EUREKA! corner», on hangers and shelves, which is located in the main hall leading to the playground, next to the secretary’s office.

In the first instance, students will have the possibility to collect their lost items there.

The teachers are in the habit of going through this hallway with their students and encourage them to look for and collect their belongings.

The experience of these months confirms that, little by little, students are getting into the habit of picking up what they have lost.

All found items such as jackets, clothes in general, shoes, bags, accessories, etc… are coded and registered in a database, in an inventory, and are waiting to be identified by their owners. Those interested can come (here you can find the protocol) and ask for what they have lost or describe it with the forms.

The volunteers are in charge of «matching» forms and objects and returning them to their owners.

At this moment, together with the garment, a EUREKA! badge reminding of our motto is delivered (it is put in a pocket, for example).

If the collection is personal, it is necessary to say our motto: EUREKA! with who has found what he/she lost.

In Secondary School:
The EUREKA! team is pending the EEA guidelines. The protocol would be the same.

Valuables and basic necessities such as glasses, keys, watches, cell phones, purses, if they have not been requested through the form, … are taken to the respective secretariats (Primary and Secondary advisers).

For their recovery, the items that are identified with name will be available, as required by law, for one year, except in cases of force majeure due to Covid-19 or space issues. The remaining unidentified items will be removed according to the need for space to accommodate other incoming items. This applies to both Primary and Secondary.

After this period, all items that have not been recovered will be donated to charitable organizations or sold at the School’s Solidarity Market (if possible), with the objective of collaborating in the School’s solidarity projects.

What can you do: EUREKA! cares about your things, do you?
On our website we inform you that, for greater efficiency in the service, it is of vital importance that the items that are most frequently lost (gym uniform, warm clothes and objects of more value: books, backpacks, bags, shoes or utensils for extracurricular activities) are properly identified. We suggest Surname, First Name (or initial), Section, Grade, in that order, and that a quick, simple and inexpensive way is to use indelible pens or indelible markers.

New volunteers
Very important: A support service such as this requires the collaboration of everyone. For this reason we encourage parents who can contribute a little of their time (1 hour a month, for example) to participate in this project.
Participation is essential if we want to maintain this service, as it is necessary to have a stable and varied group of volunteers who can be replaced according to the circumstances. Your collaboration will be essential so that this service does not stop working for lack of volunteers to maintain it.

Therefore, we invite you to contact our team @ eureka@ampaescuelaeuropea.com

EUREKA! launches the EUREKA! Exchange project. If you have uniforms that you no longer use you can bring them to EUREKA! and exchange them for the size you need for this school year. Garment by garment.

FAQs

DAYS OPENING HOURS
Wednesday (for parents) 9:00 to 9:30
Thursday (for Primary students) 12:30 to 13:15
Friday (for parents) 8:45 to 9:15

For Secondary pupils
Searching for solutions. Ideas are welcome.

The presence of a volunteer is necessary to access the school and EUREKA! It is best to make sure beforehand that there will be a volunteer present on the day and time you go to the school.

Yes, it is possible to exchange «garment for garment». To do so, please contact the EUREKA! teams and indicate which garment you would like to give and which you would like to receive in exchange.