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 think it is really important to take up SLT's time having to reply to e-mails from parents who can't just communicate through the normal channels.

Do they realise kids don't even buy their uniform?

If their parents don't replace or it doesn't get washed wtf ate they meant to do.

Challenging the policy is one thing. Exposing your child to public humiliation is quite another.

Newspaper articles are googleable

How does this in any way affect teaching and learning?

Schools are attempting to create environments in which teaching and learning can actually take place. Taking care of the small stuff - the ‘right’ shoes - and enforcing to the nth degree means the bigger stuff that impacts negatively on teaching & learning doesn’t happen. Schools are under enormous pressure to get results and to not put a finer point on it, teachers have families and mortgages and can very quickly find themselves under threat if the teaching and learning isn’t quite cutting it. An SLT that rules with an iron fist knows that with the basics in place, teaching and learning can happen. Ball placed very firmly in teacher’s court.

Giles PP students are flagged up and supported.

This happened to us, slightly different but DS came home with an email saying he had not got the regulation footwear and should be wearing them tomorrow. I saw red.
I went to the CLARKS website which is where his SCHOOL shoes were from, copied and pasted the photograph of them clearly showing that they were school footwear (they are ones that are a little trainer-like) and added a comment to say how disappointed I was that the school had sent a letter home in font 8pt and that I had needed a magnifying glass to read the text. I commented about diversity and said that anyone with sight issues would have had a real problem reading it and how disappointed I was.
I got an apology and DS wore the shoes with no further comment.

ooooooooooooh...better be careful what colour pen ink you use.just sayin...x

Why is a note needed though? It also highlights some people's inability to pay for new shoes which would be humiliating for the child. It's this attitude from schools that you are sitting around twiddling your thumbs, I don't have time to write notes on a daily basis until regulation shoes are purchased, I start work at 8 and am out of the house at 7. I don't need to add to my daily chores - notes for schools I've got nothing better to do with my 30 minutes spare time in the evening!!

It’s complete bullshit, and I’m a stickler for smartness.
My DS school gives you until a weekend has passed (ie a chance to get something suitable) before they start warning / punishing you.
My DD (different school) will be having this exact issue tomorrow, her shoes split and let the rain in on the way home so she will need to wear black long boots until we buy more school shoes at weekend. Hope they don’t moan at her or punish her.

Schools are attempting to create environments in which teaching and learning can actually take place. Taking care of the small stuff - the ‘right’ shoes - and enforcing to the nth degree means the bigger stuff that impacts negatively on teaching & learning doesn’t happen.

But experience shows this simply isn't true. All it means is that time that could be spent in teaching is spent on ridiculous things like checking shoes. Look at all the schools in the UK and abroad with no uniforms whatsoever that get better results, year after year, than the ultra-strict academies in the UK.

I remember BS like this when I was at school in the 1970s - I saw it as a 'power trip' then and it still seems that way now.

The school really doesn't care that you are out their working paying your bills (being an Academy has nothing to do with this frivolous trivia), all the school cares about is reporting on their policy, and results.

The rest is BS, and most likely they know but will still "signpost" you to somewhere whatever should you dare point it out.

DS is now 17, and the relief is palpable and very real - we all put up with nonsense in our day to day life, but thankfully the School Shit is now gone.

Schools are attempting to create environments in which teaching and learning can actually take place.

And uniform has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with that. Uniform in the U.K. is tradition, nothing more.

Millions of children all over the world learn quite happily and effectively without uniform.

Right so after reading your OP, my question is, what if you were a family suffering from heavy financial issues and were therefore unable to buy him shoes until the following week? And for whatever reason, you were unable to notify the school immediately? Wouldn't putting him in isolation just make him feel bullied and singled out for not being as well off as everyone else?

This actually happened to me when i was about 14 at my very strict catholic school for girls. My family were poor, i forgot to get a note from mum explaining the situation so instead i took my shoes with the huge hole to school in my backpack just so i could show them. Luckily they understood.

Your sons school were unfair for acting so swiftly without actually speaking to you first. They could have spoken to you and then given you both a stern warning. If it happened again the next day after talking to you, then i would understand.

School isn't everyone's 'work' though, other people have work to do outside of that environment that also pays the mortgage and the bills. I think schools forget that, it isn't our whole lives and certainly can't be.

Goldenbear just out of curiosity how many texts, phone calls and e-mails have you sent today? One of those could have been at least in support of a child you may have in education.

Schools are attempting to create environments in which teaching and learning can actually take place. Taking care of the small stuff - the ‘right’ shoes - and enforcing to the nth degree means the bigger stuff that impacts negatively on teaching & learning doesn’t happen

Bollocks. Ds2 went to a fierce uniform school (think detention for socks the wrong shade of grey) - now in no-uniform 6th form at a different school thank god - while ds3 goes to one that has a very sensible uniform policy (any black shoes including gasp trainers, any black trousers including gasp jeans, plain t-shirts of certain colours then a choice of logoed sweatshirts or sports jackets). Both sets of students seem equally ‘ready to learn’, but the relationships between staff and students at ds3’s school are miles better.

I'm not in the habit of inspecting his shoes on a daily basis - yes, maybe he should have mentioned it before Sunday but he didn't.

Yes, I generally buy him cheap shoes because we don't have much money - and also, he has a nasty habit of sudden growth spurts, so it isn't worth spending more than £15 generally.

And yes, he probably has ASD, too (we are still waiting for our requested CAHMs appointment; as he isn't suicidal or frequently in trouble, we are at the back of the queue...) so he was quite distressed about being 'punished' for his footwear.

There isn't much evidence that uniform does improve educational outcome - just look at most European Countries. It is more about low-level behavioural disruption but that seems to get overlooked when too often 'mouthy' can be confused with 'confident' and 'assertive' while overlooking quieter children who can quickly turn invisible.

The only useful purpose of a uniform policy is ensuring children are adequately clothed and shod for conditions and purpose - barring batshit policies aside. So those who haven't got adequate clothing can be helped not punished.

With this logic maybe I should hand back my PhD since when I wrote it up during a heatwave I often didn't bother getting dressed at all...

I think you would be remarkably restrained if you were to write the original note. This is an utterly ridiculous situation for your DS to be in. Beggars belief that teachers, of all people, can be so lacking in logic, common sense or empathy.

I dread my 3 year old starting school next year, when I read about some of this ridiculously petty shit that seems to go on in our schools these days. It's sending out all the wrong messages to children. Why are leadership teams in schools so woefully lacking in any basic awareness of psychology? Are there not any modules on psychology as part of teacher training?

They did phone me this morning. They said 'He can't be in school without the right shoes, either he comes home for the day or he spends the day in inclusion.'

This toxic narrative about strict uniform policies ameliorating teaching and learning is so prevalent now that people are forgetting to challenge it.

it's arrant nonsense. It's a lazy sticking-plaster solution to underfunding, disastrous education policy and deep-rooted social problems made worse by austerity. Managerial non-teaching heads and SLT thinking that if they dress all the children up like Etonians, they will behave like extras from the set of Tom Brown's Schooldays, and the really troubling systemic problems with teaching and learning will just resolve themselves without any need for investment or real change. The same goes for locking the toilets, reintroducing archaic nonsense like making kids stand up when a teacher comes into the room and all the other superficial, authoritarian practices that make school a hostile environment in the name of improving discipline.

What it means in practice is that the schools are run like hostile prison camps, the kids' education and mental health suffers, good, compassionate teachers leave in droves and the isolation rooms fill up with the children of poorer families as well as those with additional needs that aren't being met.

Millions of children all over the world learn quite happily and effectively without uniform

Not actually the point I made. Millions of children worldwide are subject to rules as to suitable school attire and are subject to sanction if the don’t comply.

Why didn’t you write a note?

Dear xx

So sorry X’s shoes have got a hole in them which we discovered last night. I’m sorting out new ones on xx date when I get paid. The ones he is wearing are as close to the correct ones as we have, but he has trainers with him as well.

Thanks in anticipation of your understanding.

Job done.

The toxic uniform mantra of academies is so damaging to the education of so many DC.

Elephantoverthehil, I don't really understand what you're asking. I have written four notes since last Tuesday to let the school know why my son has not got a p.e top with a logo on it. This has all come about due to the school's website being unavailable for the whole week and not being able to order one in the right size for my son who has had his other one taken. It doesn't sound much but I have another child and I have a job to go to. It is petty for them to then send me patronising emails about helping my son to organise his kit and if we don't know how to do that to arrange a meeting for them to tell us how to do it!