To send DD to year 7 in Mary Janes

Year 7 deffo NO backpacks in my dds school! Social suicide on a scale you couldn't imagine!!
Seems to be the latest River Island offering in black. How they squash their pe kit in and books never fails to surprise me!

To be fair though they can also wear them outside school and they last for a full year. If you’re smaller than a size 6 they are also only around 60. So for some parents they are a fairly cost effective option if they can’t afford multiple pairs of shoes.

It would be fine at the secondary here, but Smiggle bags are still pretty common with year 7s/8s but from what I understand this would be social suicide at some secondaries.
It’s so school dependent…. Nobody can give you a definitive answer really. Ones with butterflies / hearts I think would be a no at any secondary, this ones are definitely school dependent. Sorry, that’s not helpful.
edited to add: if you do get them, wear with skirts, it’s quite a primary look to wear with trousers

Obviously branded shoes are banned at DDs school to stop parents being pressured into buying ridiculously priced items like Air Force 1s which Google shows can be over £100.

Clarks do a chunky Mary Jane with a buckle. They are in the teen/older child school range.

Definitely. I mean fair enough don’t allow high heels or wellies but some of the rules are just plain ridiculous with no actual reason than someone has made it up!

I've always worn mary janes from one brand or other, literally most of my life, nobody has ever cared. The chunky ones are always fashionable, I really wouldn't work. We should be working on building kids up to not care about what others think.

Your uniform regulations sound identical to ours! (Right down to knee length kilt).

Last year, DD wore trainers (plain black) one day as there was an issue with her shoes and I couldn't replace her shoes at 7.30 in the morning, and she got given school spares to wear.

Our school also sent out lists of banned shoes, and trainers are most definitely not allowed and they would put pupils in isolation until they had the right footwear. They were 100% strict on it.

DD is in college now, but a lot of girls wore the Clarks Scala version of those shoes when she was in Y7, including her. She was in Clarks until she left, although did graduate to shoes with laces at some point in Y8/Y9.

She had wide feet, and couldn't tie laces and needed straps to hold her shoes on. (Dyspraxic before people start rubbishing her for not tying laces in Y7).

It seems to be different times to the 80's when I was bullied for wearing Clarks when everyone else was in fashion shoes from Freeman Hardy & Willis etc.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5401459-y7-starters-bags

Might as well. I’ll do one and put the link here

@JulyBlue yes we had same issues. We have loafers now but I will put money on the fact she will come home on day 1 saying they hurt. I would be very interested in a bag thread! I currently have 3 different ones in my virtual baskets

Idk op. Mine wouldn’t wear them but I think it’s very school dependent. They are pretty plain so she should get away with them. Dd is going into y7 and is determined to have loafers. Very difficult to get a good fit on them. I’m not convinced she’ll be comfortable. The other stress is bags. They all seem to be taking impractical tote/ handbags. Minefield

I agree. It really does.

I'm a secondary teacher too and these are fine for Y7. I work in a really rough area and it's a tough school, but for Y7 they're fine.

really? bit oversensitive!

nobody was directly critical OF your child - nobody insulted her and suggested she was stupid or immature. Your post was specifically concerned about being bullied for wearing the wrong thing - if you accept that is (unfortunately) a possibility, then why is the concept of being bullied for saying the wrong thing so insulting?

Where I live someone over 7 or so referring to their mummy would be cause for mockery, so it would be kinder to explain to an 11 year old not to say it in front of peers (as you've explained your child doesn't anyway). In other areas (e.g. my posher friends still say mummy in their 30s/Irish friends use 'mammy') it would be completely fine.

I see it along the lines of telling DC about father Christmas - I'm always amazed that there are kids that even needs to be explained before they start secondary but it's one of those things where it's better to be cruel to be kind - in that even if it upsets them it's better an adult tell them calmly when they have chance to process it than another child makes fun of them.

Honestly I think it demonstrates where some kids get their bullying ways from.

She likes them - cling to that fact!

I had 3 DDs and finding school shoes they liked was an annual nightmare!

Buy them right now!

I'm also a secondary school teacher and our uniform sounds very like your daughter's - black blazer, black and white kilt with black socks or tights, or tailored black trousers - not leggings or jeans, black shoes that have to be able to be polished (ie leather not trainers or suede). We also have the no visible brand rule. The idea is that we are in a professional setting and that dressing smartly shows respect. The no-brand/ trainers rule means there is no competition about who has the newest, most expensive Nikes or whatever. We also have spare shoes at student services so if anyone is wearing trainers they have to borrow a pair. As teachers we are also not allowed to wear trainers and are expected to dress professionally.
Her shoes are absolutely fine and in my school lots of Y7 and 8 will be wearing them. I hope she enjoys secondary school.

Do they show the same thinking with coats/backpacks or PE trainers? Our school banned the school shoes but kids still had the Nike backpack and Northface coat!

Ahaha those were pretty much the exact ones I had when I started secondary school. Grew out of them by the second term and my mum was raging, it was cheap trainers from then on.

She will be fine, they’re similar to what I’ve seen my DNs and their pals in. Good luck to her at secondary school!!