Help me word an email to the school that isn't full of expletives please.

[ReanimatedSGB]

I know I can do better that 'For fuck's sake, you petty-minded bunch of cunts', of course...

DS got a day in inclusion (ie isolation) because of his shoes. They are, admittedly, not quite regulation shoes, though they are plain black - but he was wearing them because his normal school shoes were discovered to have a fucking great hole in on Sunday evening. He wore the not-quite-right shoes yesterday and there was no problem - I got home from work too late to take him shoe-shopping as my shift overran - but I got a phone call at work this morning saying they were 'unacceptable' and he would either be sent home or have to spend the day in inclusion. I was halfway up the M4 at the time. I explained the reason and that we were going to buy a new pair tomorrow (because I wouldn't be home till 7pm), but they said if he didn't have proper shoes in the morning it would be the same thing again.
Mercifully our nearest Sainsburys is open till 10pm and is one of those big enough to have a clothing and footwear department, so we have actually got new shoes, but what the fuck is the point of taking a well-behaved kid out of class for the day when he's only wearing not-quite-right shoes for a perfectly good reason.

I had completely forgotten about the no Kickers rule. This wasn't because of the tab, it was because of cost. The school not only implemented a no pattern and other bullshit rules with regards to black shoes only, but they also put an upper price cap of £20. Ergo the only thing suitable for girls was either shoe from the boy's section or the shitty ballerina things. And the sanction another day in isolation.

And yes what is the deal of some schools banning coats because the crappy blazer is adequate? Could never get a reasonable answer for that one either.

As I said, my dd's spent a lot of time in isolation because of batshit uniform rules.

Yes I would get behind a school uniform anti-batshit policy. The dd's school has got worse since it has turned into an academy.

www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/17237514.heres-all-19-schools-in-basildon-colchester-maldon-and-brentwood-that-are-set-to-become-academies/?fbclid=IwAR22Eoi9xqkZggIBGmmZ0polUJTLgz_IFUuiRnDcGi6MCAoar-6wDuCpTag

I am so thankful my dc are finished with education and have left the UK.
I am so sorry for parents going through all this. What a mess.

Ah, you see to me plain black trainers are shoes. So I would misinterpret your rule.

I thin if you are going to have a rule about shoes then one school where I had a long term placement the shoes had to be black and 'polishable'.

So plain black trainers with a black logo would pass if you could polish them.

As for skirts, well the same school had a 'school skirt' and they were about to introduce 'school trousers' to stop the girls wearing tight trousers.

In the meantime at registration I was asked to check girls' trousers. I refused. Only a minimum of girls were wearing leggings, so I didn't see why I had to check all girls. I also thought it was discriminatory to not check the boys but mainly, why do I want to inspect arses? It was a school that insisted on blazers so the arses eould not be on display.

This was the same school the girls PE uniform was a skort, one that bum cheeks could hang out of.

Two days of wrong uniform is crap sans note. Think you’re shirty because you’ve been caught on the hop

You should have informed the school. For example DS lost one of his school jumpers and I’d washed the other on a school night, it hadn’t dried in the morning. I went into school spoke to the head, as they were around and said really sorry he’s in a non-uniform jumper due to me. They went and got another jumper and gave it to him to wear so he didn’t stand out in his non-uniform jumper. Great school but had I just snuck him in and hoped for the best it would have been my fault DS would have been cold without his jumper. Why didn’t your DS tell you before Sunday that his shoes had a hole in it?
Also so few schools actually have the isolation booths that were shown on the bbc. There is an issue with bad behaviour in schools and schools are directed to not exclude or permanently exclude that they have to find a way of dealing with that behaviour. Zero tolerance means that good children get caught up in that management system but when the alternative is to loosing days of teaching time because of behaviour issues what would you prefer? TBH I’m glad that I have only ever taught in schools where behaviour wasn’t an issue, it meant that tiny infractions to uniform could be ignored as we weren’t having the clamp down on everything. Plus the children would ask to remove the blazer or would come up to you and say they’d left their pencil case somewhere they didn’t hide it and those that did were spoken to.

In the spring term of year 11 I had several emails asking me to buy DD a new school skirt (£50) as they thought hers was inappropriately short ..... madness.

So pleased to be over this nutty school stuff

When this happened to us (well puppy chewed shoes overnight in our case) I sent her in wearing black plimsolls with a note saying we will buy new shoes after school - went to the 24 hour Asda that night. They have rules and whilst it seems wrong to single out a child for genuine reasons, they gave one days grace (Monday) and you didn't send in a note either explaining that you were shopping that night.

but reduced timetables are allowed (with parental agreement)

No, they aren't. Parents have a duty in law to ensure their children receive full time education. Reduced timetables are only allowed if children are medically unable to be in school full time.

Might add dd now has a ridiculously strict uniform and it's actually easier than the days of arguing over what was appropriate "just about school uniform" or the two years at the school without a uniform at all (aka the fashion show) she chose this current school not me!

Have tried to superglue it back together but it won't hold.

It needs a strong glue that dries to a flexible finish. Forget what it's called.

moredoll
Is it aruldite? I've used something like that to fix my work shoes.

"can't be in school with the wrong shoes"

My email would be asking what the Risk assessment says about the high level of risk to the school due to a pupil wearing alternative black shoes for a few days. I'd also ask how they are adressing the poor teaching standar of staff that they cannot teach a child in a,ter native black shoes"

Always out ball in their court.

Also work in education and am totally for rules - but more for common sense!

Is it aruldite? I've used something like that to fix my work shoes.

Don't think so. The man in the hardware shop recommended it, and it worked very well. Can't find it now and just can't remember what it was called.

My dd school has dropped all school uniform. She is petitioning for it to be brought back .

Have they nothing better to do, sprigs to mind.
Do they really think it will make that much difference, there's a reason it's an academy in the first place.

Omgoodness sounds exactly like my DD’s academy we chose it as HT seemed amazing and wasn’t hung up on stupid issues like wrong shoes and we were allowed a grace emergency period if genuinely needed! Now new HT in post abd all of a sudden these frankly ridiculous rules imposed to bring up standards apparently. They do as your ds had isolation for wrong uniform items to get them ready for the ‘workplace’?!? No workplace myself and dh have been in has sat us I n isolation if I wear something trainers of my normal shoes broke etc! What a complete crock of pooh!

This > 'For fuck's sake, you petty-minded bunch of cunts'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/education-46182710/school-isolation-rooms-it-was-like-i-didn-t-exist

I find this kind of thing absurd. Isolation because of shoes. Stop a child from learning because of shoes. Detention would be bad but less absurd. Removal from class should only be in case extremely poor behaviour. Complain with your strongest words. What does it achieve? What if you couldn't afford to buy new shoes?

The kids at your school must be amazingly behaved if they have to hand out punishments for this. I get that there is a rule but how many families have a back up pair of school shoes? Should give you a week or so to replace.

Also totally agree with the point about affording shoes. Pretty pricey thing to replace instantly, especially at a time of heating costs and with Christmas looming. How to make a child feel really crap about themselves.

Friggin idiots.... my dd was shoved in isolation also...all of a sudden in yr10 her skirt was 2 short.. she is 5ft 8....I purchased 5 skirts..

SIL had this with my niece. Very slim (size 8), and at least 5'9", possibly taller. When the uniform skirt was small enough not to slip over her non-existent hips, it was about a foot above her knees. This was a posh grammar school with a kilt type skirt, so you couldn't shop about for a plain black or navy skirt of decent length that actually fit.

I would be fuming too!! Would it be better for you to not send him in for 3 days? Or are you meant to take a day off work for this shoe emergency! Where has common sense gone in the world? They should be punishing bad behaviour that’s it! What if you literally couldn’t buy new ones till your next pay day...would your son have to be in isolation until then? Honestly I’m fuming for you!!!

Do not get me started on internal exclusion!!
Weeks back my son had a minor tit forcrat with a girl in his class who called his hair “gay”. It wasn’t an issue in that it didn’t upset him ie usual teenage stuff! Fast forward 3 weeks and same girl makes some other derogatory remark to him and he responds with “shut up lezza”. Only a teacher overheard it. Teacher initially sets a lunchtime detention. Son completes lunchtime detention. 2 days later I get a TEXT saying DS is in isolation next day. No reason no explantation. I phone the school furious to be told it’s for “homophobic behaviour” I tell them that I want a meeting to go through their investigation and in the meantime I do not give my permission for my son to be in isolation. Meet with school 3 days later. They apologise the process wasn’t followed and their communication was poor (no shit Sherlock). The senior teacher who should have been at meeting couldn’t attend due to a safeguardin emergency so whilst they agreed that they hadn’t investigated the girls initial remark they still said he was being homophobic.
I would add my son does not have a homophonic/racist/sexist bone in his body!! Also for the record the girl in question hasn’t come out-it was just “teenage banter”.
2 weeks since meeting and still not had the courtesy of a final outcome!! But I’m buggered if my son is doing isolation or getting a homophobic label on his school record!!
If you look on child law website it specifies that isolation should be used as a last resort for serious behavioural type issues.

Oh and why were on this subject I’d like to see all teachers wearing a teaching uniform! In the heatwave this year our children had to keep wearing their blazers yet not one teacher obviously wore one. The rules are just too strict without the thought of life’s unexpected events!!

Our local secondary school, that all three dses went to, has a very sensible uniform policy - black or dark grey trousers or skirts (skirts should be a reasonable length), white shirts, black jumper or cardigan or fleece or zip up sweatshirt - only stipulations being no hoodies, jumpers to be v-neck, and cardigans, zip up fleeces/sweatshirts to be undone enough to show school tie. Black shoes. Wellies or boots on snowy/wet days are fine - just change them at school. If there is an unavoidable reason why they can’t wear their school shoes, send in a note, and it will be fine.

PE uniform is shorts/joggers and t shirt with optional fleece - any colour or design as long as they are not football branded/strips.

This is a complete contrast to the grammar schools ds1 and ds2 went to before we moved - uniform including a blazer - in ds2’s case the blazer was dry-clean only - and special PE kit that could only be bought in a few places. The who,e thing cost a small fortune.

And do you know standard of education at the grammar schools and the local secondary here are pretty similar. When we moved ds1 went into S2 (the Scottish equivalent of Yr 9), and ds2 was in S1 - so they did all their public exam courses here, and we are sure they did as well as they would have done at the grammmar schools.

Behaviour in all the schools was good too - I don’t think the more relaxed uniform at the local school made for worse behaviour - in fact a single bullying incident at the local school was dealt with swiftly and very effectively, whereas ds2 was bullied for more than a year at his grammar school, and they did little or nothing about it. And it was at the grammar with the expensive PE kit where ds1’s whole kitbag was taken, and the contents spread around the school for a ‘joke’ - nothing like that happened at the local secondary.

All of which is a very long winded way of saying that, in my experience, a strict uniform policy doesn’t necessarily mean the education offered will be of a higher standard than the education at a school with a more relaxed - and sensible - policy.