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?

I have no children in any schools. What happens when a child goes to school in the wrong shoes, someone up thread mentioned being put in isolation,, good grief, what next, sounds like a prison environment.. I have never heard such idiocy in my life. I am just a bystander here, my children went to school in the 1970's. I always get amazed, to hear about the lunch box school police, saying what you can and can't eat in the school. all so ridiculous.

@TheWholeJingbang

Who has the time to police this shit? Seriously!

At my dds school they made them line up to measure the distance between the hem of their skirt & their knees (with a ruler) - while the kids were waiting to do covid tests! Some schools are nuts when it comes to uniform policy

I agree with you OP and it is utterly, utterly ridiculous.
However.
You don’t want your DS to be worried on his first day. Even if the staff don’t notice, the other kids might , and could be pointing out to him he’s got forbidden shoes.

I’d buy a pair of cheap black ones that fit the bill until you can suss out the situation with the school and how strict they’re likely to be.

I’ll hazard a guess they will “crack down” on uniform in Sept, but give it a few weeks and they’ll stop staring at shoes and remember they have more important things to be worried about.

My DD has Kickers for secondary school without the branding on the back, just the tiny tags and a coloured spot on the sole.. Why did you buy school shoes with big red and green letters on? Thats just silly quite frankly. I don't know any school where that would be acceptable as its not 'fully black'.

The little labels can be coloured in. Tape or sharpie for the silly letters on the back or you may have to try and exchange them. Don't be that parent before your son has even started.

@Jaysmith71

"Why do we have to put up with this crap?"

Wierd British fetish. Other European nations with better pisa scores seem to manage without uniform. In Sweden, it is illegal to place any restriction on whatever a child choses to wear to school. It is their yumanrights.

Position in UK law is that heads have the power to impose discipline and this extends to dress codes. These codes, however, must be 'reasonable.'

I've always been against a school uniform that's too restrictive. Schools often claim that it's to get the kids used to businesslike clothing in preparation for working, but that's a load of cobblers.

My secondary school (so 35 years ago) didn't have a uniform. Didn't stop me or others from adjusting and wearing clothing suitable for working. And of course, kids go into 6th forms and colleges and university not wearing uniforms. And not wearing businesslike clothing, either.

My DC went to a school with a uniform simply because there was no choice here. And the biggest issue I had was always finding shoes that fit and had a reasonable life span, especially for DS who walks heavy in his shoes and could wear them out just by looking at them.

It’s beyond ridiculous, I am so pleased my two DS are no longer at school, due to these type of rules.

Stick black tape on - no defacing, just complying.

Just abide by the school’s rules.
Bending them by cutting labels off or colouring them in is not a good example.

It's pretty standard in most schools that shoes have to be all black with no logos.
I wouldn't send him in them, as it will be him that will have to deal with the repercussions.

@CarefulDriver

What about phones? There’s more brand snobbery about that at secondary school these days. I know my older DCs had the shit ripped out of them for not having iPhones.

Will they start dictating that the only phones allowed at school are cheap Alcatel ones?

Most schools ban use of phones on the grounds and this is one reason why!

Do you have a picture of the shoes to show just how much branding is on them?

@Kanaloa

As the kid at school who dreaded non uniform days and never had the “right” stuff I actually like to see things like this that protect kids like I was. It stops brand snobbery which is a bloody big deal.

But it wouldn’t stop brand snobbery on non uniform days, as the uniform policy wouldn’t apply on those days, so it wouldn’t protect kids like you were?

I dislike when people say very strict uniform stops bullying for kids who are poorer - it just doesn’t. There will always be kids with scruffier coats, cheaper bags. Some kids will have plain black shoes from shoe zone, some will have plain black shoes which are more expensive.

My kids had shoes from shoezone. They also had the cheapest uniform I could find. They didn't get picked on at all. It was the kids who turned up all spick and span and sparkly in the expensive gear that got picked on.

I wasn’t saying kids in shoe zone shoes will/should get picked on, I was just making the point that extremely restrictive uniform policies wouldn’t stop bullies picking on children for whatever reason.

Why did you buy banned shoes?

My children's secondary schools ( they went to different schools) gave a list of recommended styles to all the school shops in our town.

The assistants asked which school they went to then produced some shoes that fitted the bill.

There's no need to be antagonistic.

My second child had orthopaedic difficulties and was easily accommodated within the range offered.

As pp said, your child will have to deal with it.

I think the teachers need reminding much school has been missed since March 20 and then reminding some more about how the teaching unions influenced the failure to return summer 2020.
Teachers don't make the policies and don't need reminding. Many of us feel the same as the parents (and are parents).

Considering the PE top alone at this state academy school is £25, I don’t really think they give much of a shit about the poorer families.
Poorer families are often given help with uniform - allowed to pay in instalments/provided with/access to pre owned etc

I absolutely agree with a school uniform policy. We didn’t need to wear one at my secondary school, and I recall kids being bullied for wearing the wrong shoes, or the wrong bags and clothes. There is no one more judgemental than teens when it comes to brands and fashion. Unfortunately some parents allow their DCs to wear inappropriate stuff, like tight skirts barely covering their knickers,, so teachers have to take over the responsibility of ensuring school wear is appropriate. Shouldn’t be necessary if parents took a common sense approach, but it is what it is.

RosesAndHellebores
I think the teachers need reminding how much school has been missed since March 20 and then reminding some more about how the teaching unions influenced the failure to return summer 2020.

I think that some parents should realise that teachers are more than aware of how much school has been missed.
Also that some parents need to realise that teachers don't set the schools policies and that if you are going to moan do it to the right people.

And finally unions didn't influence the failure to return in summer 2020, they have very little influence, but when does truth matter.

@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?

That’s the only pair with that much branding on though. Why would you buy the most branded when you could have chosen plainer ones? I wouldn’t have allowed those if the list said plain black shoes.

eBay them off. Get black ones.

@CarefulDriver

Nothing has been sent out to me at all! It is on the student part of the website for new year 7s. The info for parent part just says black suitable shoes so has not been updated. Friend says other parents told her and it includes Kickers so assume someone has checked.

The shoes you have picked are not black though. They are black, red and green and wouldn’t have been suitable even if they hadn’t banned Kickers. When schools say black shoes, they mean completely black shoes, not mostly black shoes.

I was picked on a secondary as I didn't always have the "right" brand stuff.

This thread is making me laugh as Kickers and DMs were totally standard at my two state schools and were the only part of uniform I did have as my mother fully approved of their "good for your feet" characteristics.

I still have an unhealthy obsession with comfortably shoes and probably keep Birkenstock and Allbirds in business single handed!

What do the shoes look like?

Totally agree with 1forAll74, probably the same age😏. My eldest lot were in school in the 70's and am amazed at the silly rules. Our youngest 16, (adopted not a birth miracle) is going back to school with pink sparkly Doc Martens I am still a rebel.
Seriously I would be furious shoes are expensive and I always buy uniform early.Good luck!

@Lilyargin

Just abide by the school’s rules. Bending them by cutting labels off or colouring them in is not a good example.

Yes , for God’s sake don’t teach your child any critical thinking, or to question authority. We should all shut up and do what we’re told or we run the risk of forgetting our place.