school shoes aibu (prepared to be told I am)

[frangipan]

My son started secondary school this year, in line with the uniform policy which states ' black, preferably leather, shoes with non slip soles' I bought him these
www.amazon.co.uk/Pod-Felix-Older-Casual-School/dp/B00E4NIFBU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1384879250&sr=8-3&keywords=pod+boys+shoes so far so good, uniform was checked and passed off in the first week.

They fell apart after the first half term, walking, bus ride, heavy rain etc. The soles peeled away and the facing came away. We did glue them together so they would make it to half term.

so in half term we bought some more expensive better quality shoes

www.amazon.co.uk/Vans-Black-Leather-Trainers-UK/dp/B006EIU2YG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1384879462&sr=8-2&keywords=black+leather+vans

we used permanent marker and blacked out the logo flash. They are black leather shoes with non slip soles. They have told us the new pair are not acceptable and that we have a week to buy new ones and that the original one were not suitable. We argued that our DS (if I do say so myself) is always clean and smart looking and that the shoes are in accordance with uniform policy. The school still say they are not appropriate. I honestly didn't buy them for the brand and bought them on the premise that they were similar to the original pair that no one had commented on for eight weeks.DS has canvas versions for casual wear and I knew they would fit and be comfortable. Can they really force us to buy more shoes by punishing DS??? new to all this so all help much appreciated.

The school sent him into isolation this morning for uniform breach. No one contacted me.

And I never said you said I was dumb, I said you intimated it.
Difficulty with the English language as well as identifying decent shoes!
Have fun shopping flower!

People! All this about a pair of shoes/pumps/trainers/plimsolls/skate shoes. Calm yourselves

They look absolutely acceptable as school shoes and I would not buying any others. School is being ridiculous!

This is INTERESTING

Also surely casual shoes are more suitable for school than formal ones.

The DDs steep curb and inside and outside step ridden school site, isn't exactly like sitting at a computer all day.

They act in drama, dance in music, wander about in art, cookery and DT.

Change sides of campus, going up and down three floors across a walkway or outside in the rain/ snow, several times a day. Surely on tiled corridors trainers would be safer and quieter.

They are not shoes, they are trainers.

Interestingly I can think of several companies that would send people home for breaking the dress code if they had shown up to work in them.

DSS goes to a school with quite a strict uniform policy - blazer, tie etc. he's got black leather Vans as school shoes and they are absolutely fine. Surely if their policy is 'black leather shoes' and that is what you have provided they are being churlish saying 'oh but THOSE black leather shoes won't do' I understand sticking to the uniform is important but think they are taking it to ridiculous extremes.

yes but this is school, not work. I intend to have a lovely shopping trip thank you DumbBamboo and by all means come back with another amusing reply, the last word is all yours because I have spotted a very nice shop with handbags in............

Neither would be acceptable at ds's school.

YANBU.

My DS has wide feet and Clarke's shoes are hopeless. I've given up with them and he's current wearing some Geox shoes/trainers for school at the moment.

I'd want the school to explain why they have only just decided that your original shoes were deemed inappropriate? As far as I can see, you have complied with their basic uniform policy of black leather shoes.

Talk about moving the goal posts!

I hope you enjoy yourself frang Just be sure you don't come home with an overnight bag mistakenly!

my ds wears vans and the school has the same policy. no issues have been raised but the vans are awful quality, he's on his 2nd pair since september!

YABU. They both look like trainers to me. Also, the school lending you money? I'd be mortified, especially after spending fifty quid on what look like plimsolls. Sorry.

Depends on the school really. If they are that strict, i would follow the rules.
My dcs school has a uniform policy for black shoes.
But a lot of people dont follow with the shoes, and the school dont ever complain

I clearly have too much time on my hands, so I've just send the link to my friend who runs a veh naice bar with a 'no trainers' policy and asked if someone wearing those would be allowed in.
Definitive yes and 'you wouldn't exactly want to go running in them, would you?' in reply
So that clears up the great Trainer vs Shoe Debate of 2013

I get so hacked off with 'uniform policy' be it black shoes not trainers, how can you tell with some and why does it matter, gold or silver studs not small diamond ones, who cares and why if they are unobtrusive and safe, red dyed hair not mousy natural hair, shaved head not long locks, only blazers with logo not plain black blazer (cheaper) yes its nice to have a general uniform but as long as its smart and meets the colour scheme / safety / decency standards the school sets surely some things can be overlooked? after all if it doesn't interfere with their learning what does it matter?i

When I saw the link was amazon, I thought, fair enough you didn't want to buy proper school schools from clarks / start rite or similar - but they cost the same. They are obviously trainers so I think you are being U.

They do both look like plimsolls, the second pair even more so than the first. I can see why you bought the second, seeing as the first were wrongly approved. However, I wonder why you didn't buy 'proper' school shoes in the first place. Just because they're leather doesn't make them a 'shoe'!

I thought it was obvious what a 'school shoe' should look like but perhaps not from the respondees on this thread thinking your choices were ok. Not trying to be snippy; genuinely wondering why posters think plimsoll style are suitable for school. I guess at least they aren't as ugly as the awful Kickers that for some reason schools allow.

I think NewtRipley is on the money here with (re Venn diagrams and glossaries). To all those who are say they are trainers and not shoes I'd suggest trying to spend a bit of time researching both words and see what you find. The OED has shoe defined as:

An outer covering for the human foot, normally made of leather (but often of other materials) and consisting of a more or less stiff sole and a lighter upper part. Chiefly in more specific sense, distinguished from boot.

And trainers as:

A soft running shoe without spikes; a soft shoe suitable for sport or casual wear.

So, a trainer is a type of shoe, and shoe itself is a pretty meaningless word that covers almost anything other than boots.

If the school has a very specific idea of what it classes as a shoe suitable for school wear then it should never be acceptable to say 'shoe with no logo', then isolate a pupil for breaching an unwritten cultural style guide.

If the school does have a specific, limited subset of acceptable shoes then it should either specify the specific acceptable styles (i.e a Derby / Blucher) or list the individual features that make a shoe acceptable/unacceptable.

Anyway, that's a lot more on shoes than I really wanted to write, but things like this really bug me. It isn't about education, it's about control and I think it suggests a pretty weak and ineffective head teacher / governing body. To restrict a child's access to education on something this small is simply revolting and a scandal waiting to that needs to be properly discussed.

yanbu

When did schools get so fussy about shoes? They look ok to me.

If the school is going to be so picky it needs to specify a few brands/designs of shoe and insist those are the only ones to be worn. The guidelines are too open to interpretation and tbh there are a lot of people who simply can't afford to buy another pair of shoes just to satisfy the school.

FACT: If you have a boy with wide feet and a high instep, you will struggle to find 'shoes' that fit in a normal high street shoe shop!

Vans are trainers but they are what they asked for.. And they are for a child/young teen, who most likely runs everywhere and is on his feet a lot so why the massive deal to wear big clunky ugly hard shoes I will never know! They are smart enough IMO