Two things I want to say about schools going back...

[formerbabe]

1. I initially supported the closure of schools but I was absolutely disgusted and appalled that my children couldn't go back before the summer holidays...I was absolutely desperate for them to go back, not for me, but for them. We're now being preached at about how it's better for them to go back to school rather than stay at home...yeah, no shit, I've been saying that for the past four months. I'm fuming that my children were banned from school premises against my wishes and I'm now being told that school is really important, like I didn't know that. I'm really quite angry so perhaps I'm being irrational over this...

1. I bought new school shoes prior to lockdown, they've been worn for a week and now don't fit. Would I be unreasonable to send them to school in any shoes I want and sod their bloody rules?

I can afford shoes but I can't afford to waste money.

I'm sorry, but what school shoes cost £100? Even Clarks and Startrite are "only" £50... ECCO maybe £55.

@formerbabe - if the shoes are from Clarks they'll replace them for free:
www.cheshire-live.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/clarks-giving-away-free-pairs-18669587

Most pointless post of the day

I know it's annoying, DS has done exactly the same- new shoes Feb half term, wore them about three weeks, now he's two sizes bigger! The worst was in full lockdown he couldn't even fit his trainers and all the shops were closed (our supermarket doesn't do clothing!). Ordering online tricky when you don't know what size the new size is.

How is buying new shoes when your kid's feet have grown, a waste of money?

Well done for being a mind reader @ChilliesAndSpice

I've bought cheap shoes before...buy cheap, buy twice. They never lasted my dc more than a fortnight so I bought more expensive ones...they weren't £100...I bought two pairs for that. Generally I find that cheaper than repeatedly replacing cheap shoes.

It's a waste when they wear them for a week or so then they close schools with no notice and no information about when they can return...whilst castigating you for not sending your children back whIlst simultaneously not allowing you to send your children back.

Parents can't win.

I'm mildly irked I'd bought gingham dresses for DD2 as she'd had a growth spurt and then Covid hit so they never got worn - and she's moved onto the junior school who have a different uniform colour now! I'm allowed to think "grrrr" about it - even though it's a fact of life and kids grow. Just means my friend's kid is going to be sorted for summer uniform this year!

To be honest I wouldn't be spending big on new school shoes right now as I've no confidence they'll manage to keep schools open (I'll be bloody fighting for them to do so mind) - I would tell school that if needs be - most seem to have relaxed their uniform a fair bit to cope with more doors and windows open and being outdoors as much as they can. Thankfully my kids grow like beanpoles but have tiny feet so school shoes still fit!

1. Yep it's rubbish that kids weren't in school but they should have been receiving some resources for homeschooling etc. The government are worried parents aren't going to send their kids back so are targeting messages on the importance of schools to that minority of anxious parents.
2. Honestly, as a primary school teacher I'm really not going to be fussed about their footwear. I'd prefer them to be in black shoes but if you came and explained I'm sure it would be fine. Schools recognise that lots of parents are going to be on a tighter budget. The majority of schools will help with school uniform and not insist on the branded bits eg allowed to wear £5 plain blue jumper not £20 branded one. SS are not going to be contacted over uniform unless it's consistently dirty, not suitable for weather or literally falling apart. I've only asked parents about uniform when we've had blue or gelled spiky hair, pink skirts, earrings on PE days and very flimsy or unsuitable shoes eg flip flops, high heels etc.

Thanks for the teachers perspective @rachellow. That is useful to know

Feels like Hyde Park on a Friday afternoon in here sometimes.

Yeah well I had just bought both of mine new shoes, trousers and jumpers about a month or less before lockdown. Suck it up buttercup. You would have been buying new ones by this point anyway if their feet have grown. Wether they were at school or not has no impact on how much their feet grew.
We all had to keep our kids off school. It's what was best at the time. Time to let it go.

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult

This is a totally unprecedented situation for everyone. There have been major fuck ups, of course there have. With hindsight we will see even more.

They did the right thing with schools though, imagine if they prematurely opened them and thousands of children died.

Your dc would have grown out of their shoes at this point anyway, so you're not losing money.

Bonkers!! Thousands of children were never at risk of dying, this illness barely affects them. This was known about fairly early on.

Op! I agree with you, and keeping them off for all those months while everything else reopened was criminal. DD was year 10, one of the groups supposedly allowed back. Her year group went back for 1 hour on 1 day!

There are dozens of threads on this site which are being started by people with a vested interest in schools not reopening...

Bonkers!! Thousands of children were never at risk of dying, this illness barely affects them. This was known about fairly early on.

There was also talk of a possible related virus that was affecting kids, there were lots of things that we thought were true, that turned out to be false and the other way around.

It's a hell of a risk to take either way, but at the time I think they did the right thing.

Return to school - I don't think those messages are aimed at you, more at the folk who are still jittery about sending their DC back.

On the shoe front, you are being unreasonable, your total outgoings are the same as if they had worn the shoes, plus you could even recoup some of the cost by selling them so it could, in fact, be a win!

As an aside - if schools had not stopped or gone back much earlier, wouldn’t it have avoided the whole exam grades debacle etc. Just an observation.

I agree with you OP.

They did the right thing with schools though, imagine if they prematurely opened them and thousands of children died errr pls point to any country / case study where thousands of children have died from corona virus! This lockdown protected the elderly and fucked over the younger generations. The government put them bottom of the queue and now wonder why so many parents and teachers are scared and reluctant to want to send their kids back! Fucking cheek!

You’re actually in a better position WRT the school shoes than you would be had they stayed in school. If they’d stayed in school the shoes would have been worn and unsellable and you’d still be buying new shoes now as they’ve grown. But as the DC weren’t in school you have 2 pairs of very slightly worn school shoes to sell and get back some of the cost of them.

On point 1, if the government had acted promptly in restrictions ,and then sought to engage cross-party re education, then I think children could have gone back before the end of last term.

So please remember to vote in 2024 and don't forget how badly the government has managed the pandemic.