School has banned Kickers shoes! I have bought them for DS. AIBU to to let him wear them and start a fight with them if they try to sanction him?

[CarefulDriver]

DS is starting secondary school next week. The school uniform regulations on the school website dictate that they wear black shoes (no trainer like shoes). Fine.

I bought him a pair of Kickers as I wanted comfy shoes which will last him most of the year. I know from previous experience with DS1 and 2 that the ‘businessman’ style shoes don’t last if they’re playing footie at break! Most of the DCs at their school wore Kickers and so did they once I caught on.

Chatting to friend who’s DC is also going to the same school yesterday and apparently the school has banned shoes with visible branding on which Kickers have. This is not on the main school uniform webpage which is what I checked to get his uniform but on a sub page for new Yr7s which I had read but only skimmed over the uniform bit as assumed it was the same as the main page.

I spent £68 on shoes, which IMO are common school shoes, he may not now be able to wear. He won’t be wearing out of school either obviously! I got them online direct from Kickers with a 14 day return policy which has runout now.

WIBU to just send him in on his first day in them?

@whatbigfeet Clarks Cottrell strap

I have sympathy for OP as I have awkwardly shaped feet so not all shoes fit me. As we walked to school I had new shoes every term. I don't like the flat soles on those Treads as they don't look flexible.

I think it's essential that schools recognise the need for well fitting shoes, perhaps Kickers could be persuaded to look at how they place their logos on shoes.

I'd cut the Kickers tags off, or take them to a shoe repair shop to have them removed- problem solved. 🤷‍♀️

Honestly, why do children need to dress up like little businessmen/ matrons im the first place.

A dress code would be fine, to ensure appropriateness. But surely it should be based on comfort and practicality not whether clothes have school logos/ other logos, what colour they are etc. It's so arbitrary and pointless.

I feel sad for teachers who want to educate and have to waste time enforcing idiotic, senseless rules to strip children of all self-expression (choosing clothing is one of the main ways they can do this with no impact on anybody else) whilst simultaneously trying to tell them to think for themselves, be individuals, ignore peer pressure etc. Cognitive dissonance much?

And that's aside from the children with sensory issues who often find the school uniforms incompatible with comfort, so wearing them actively detracts from their ability to learn and engage in lessons because it is a constant distraction.

"Tradition" is the continuation of form in the absence of the continuation of function. This whole 1950s Winker Watson grammar school look is deliberately anachronistic.

Could be worse. In Japan the kids still wear sailor suits in celebration of defeating the Russians at the Battle of Tushima of 1905.

@TheRebelle

Can the branding be removed or blacked out? I doubt the teachers will be looking too closely at the kids shoes.

I'm a teacher and I don't give a crap what students wear. But I absolutely notice. If I let a child in my form walk around with non-uniform, I will get an email from a member of senior leadership asking me why little Tommy is not wearing correct attire. The email might even have an accusatory tone (because I'm responsible for what my students wear ) and of course I will feel like a total failure if my answer is "I didn't notice".

Yanbu OP.

little businessmen/ matrons

Matrons?? Not business women? 🙄

@CarefulDriver

They have the name on the heel as well in big letters in bright green and red as well as the tag on the front though.

Why should I have to deface a brand new pair shoes just because of a stupid rule they’ve just brought in .

Kids have been wearing Kickers to school for years!

Why do we have to put up with this crap?

I've not seen them with the name on in large letters in bright green and red. Can you post a link? My dc have had ones with the little coloured tag. (They are allowed I my dcs school despite them not normally allowing branded or trainers as the school think they are sensible and hardwearinv

The irony is what we can see in all the Western liberal democracies that have no school uniform for adolescents, they gravitate by consensus to a dress code of sweatshirts, jeans and trainers unchanged for at least forty years.

mnistooaddictive
I’m a secondary teacher. We get forced to check shoes and get passive aggressive emails if a member of senior staff finds a member of our tutor group in the wrong shoes. For me it is the path of least resistance. I’m not getting down on my hands and knees to check but if I can see obvious logos as they walk in or when I’m stood at front of the class I will do something about it.

Are you saying that teachers don’t actually stand in something like a vehicle inspection pit so they check pupils shoes as they walk past?

It's all very well being a confident adult to question silly rules, but for a nervous 11 year old being told off in front of everyone for wearing the wrong shoes it will be extremely nerve wracking and unpleasant.

How sad that schools would be so unwelcoming to a new pupil that they tell them off in front of everyone and create a nerve wracking and unpleasant experience for him simply for wearing the shoes his mother bought for him. Shoes where she wasn’t trying to be difficult; shoes where she tried to comply with the uniform requirements but didn’t get it quite right.

@Jaysmith71

The irony is what we can see in all the Western liberal democracies that have no school uniform for adolescents, they gravitate by consensus to a dress code of sweatshirts, jeans and trainers unchanged for at least forty years.

Exactly: the comfortable, practical clothew that any uniform policy should stipulate, if its existence has any purpose. So pretty long-term proof that in reality it's pointless to for schools to get involved in clothes at all. It is so far outside their remit that it's bonkers that people accept them dictating this, particularly when they are saying simultaneously that they have insufficient reasources to teach.

@Ruthysgift - top tip: start your own thread. You're just going to confuse everyone by posting on an old one about Kickers and won't get the answers you need!

I thought I had sorry!! It’s my first time posting! Don’t know how to take this off and move to own thread!! Trying to Google how I do it now!!! Sorry!!

Have you thought about the elastic lace replacements - you put them in the lace holes and allow children to slip the shoes on and off by themselves. (Google no tie laces)

Rhino shoes do velcro ones right up to about size 4 I think and they are sturdy.

Also ask locally for a shoe shop which may help.....we have an independent shop called Shoedini who are smaller than the big shops and are really rated by parents of kids with SN as being a great place to go. Both for the service and choice.

However, schools should make reasonable adjustment for children with SEN so should work with you to find the best solution.