Stupid question I know, but school shoes

[Soubriquet]

Dd starts secondary school in September. We used to always get her shoes from Asda but they would always break after a few months. Obviously this is no good for secondary school where she could get detention for the wrong shoes. I can’t remember what shoes I wore!! And decent shoes seem to be really expensive. What does your secondary school girl wear as shoes

In terms of quality, you get what you pay for. I always got mine from local Independent shop at about £40 and they lasted a whole school year.

@Soubriquet M&S leather school shoes are good, clean up well , solid structure without being uncomfortable I believe girls go to an adult seven ( not looked in a while) I can't pass comment on the "vegan leather" aka plastic shoes as I've never bought those but would presume they would get scruffy quicker

Yeah I have an independent shop in town and their shoes seem to be £40-£70

But what type of shoe are they wearing?

Is it a brogue?
Is it a t-bar?
Dolly shoes?
Lace ups or Velcro

We always have either geox or ricosta for my DCs. Measured at the local independent store. They are pricey but last all year and fit well.

If you're buying 2-3 supermarket pairs over the year it's the same cost anyway.

I always go by how the sole bends too. The supermarket shoes are like walking on hard plastic, hardly any flex. They must be horrible to wear.

Leather, Clark's or StartRite maryjanes.

£50 a pair but they seem to last the year, and they polish up ok so look reasonable for the whole time.

@Soubriquet I love the Mary Jane style from M&S try are very similar to doc martens but a lot cheaper

Buy cheap, buy twice. Just buy one decent pair to last the entire year. Unlikely their feet will be still growing at that age?

Your school will normally have a picture of what's acceptable. If not, you need to ask for one. This is the one for ours. Even the girls wear black trainers. But at another local girls school, I notice a lot of them are wearing t bar dolly type shoes. Really depends on the school. Can you go and sit outside as they come out and have a look?

Which is maybe less than you're paying for multiple asda pairs?

OP at my DC secondary T-Bar and Velcro would be a big no way. My DD wears brogues , I know other kids wear Dr Marten style shoes. Double check uniform policy. Ours is very specific about what they can wear.

Also check to see if there is a school FB group or WhatsApp to check there, you could ask what others wear or even a school twitter or FB page to try and gauge what others wear. Unfortunately it does all cost so much more as they get older.

Mine wear DMs.

Do shoes last a year though with growing feet?

In primarynI always got cheaper shoes as there's no way the same size would last the whole school year.

If you add up what your paying for cheap shoes you might as well use the money to buy a decent pair, I used kickers for mine they are sturdy and last.

DMs but not 1461. Either from DM direct in sales or from eBay. New and either boxed or unboxed. Generally about £50 but can get a year out of them.

@Soubriquet Not dolly shoes they offer no support ( I don't know if they are "cool" but they are terrible for feet)

DM shoes very hard wearing. Just break them in over the holidays / send in with the plasters for inevitable blisters.

Thank you everyone. You’ve given a starter point

Two pairs of thin socks can be good to break in new shoes it stops a lot of the rubbing

My girls have been in DM boots from Vinted that were immaculate and have lasted all year. It's a dress code violation but they didn't get in trouble for them.

I'm pretty sure that most kids' feet are still growing at secondary school.

Just leaving this here, not implying that it applies to the OP. But will for a lot of people out there.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory

My daughter and most other girls at her school wear brogues or Dr Martens. My daughters brogues are from Clark's

My dd wore brogues from clarks until,her feet stopped growing and then she got DM shoes. One thing I hadn't considered was that she was walking twenty minutes to school and had no grips at all on her shoes in year seven which made snowy days quite treacherous.