to ask school to replace shoes

[NCshoess]

4 year old ds is in reception, he got shoes for Christmas that he loves and has been wearing them every day. they are light up superhero shoes which is allowed, many kids have them.

Friday he comes home crying in his gym shoes saying he was kicking his feet to make the shoes flash so the teacher took them away. I was going to ask about it yesterday but my sister picked him up.

Today I asked his teacher she said she took them away, but then looking in the classroom she can't find them. I asked where they were and she said they might turn up.

am I being unreasonable to ask them to replace his shoes if they can't find them...these were shoes he was asking for for ages, was so happy when he got them for Christmas and has been crying about having them taken away. I can't afford to buy him new ones atm...I understand taking them away for the day but not to give them back and then lose them is too far.

No need to beg my pardon. You have a different point of view to me, it's not a crime.

Years ago this happened to my daughter brand new shoes witch she needed came home from nursery completely different pair and a size too small. I did go and see the teacher explained what had happened and the fact they were too small and hurting her feet ( she didnt tell us they hurt . )MY daughter has learning difficulties shes not going to tell you her feet hurt. She wasnt really able to dress herself so whoever helped her gave her the wrong shoes never did find theM . My point being if you have to turn the school upside down do it to get them back. Whoever has got the shoes is a theif make it plain to the school if no joy report it to police but on the hush hush

The teacher who confiscated them should have given them back at the end of the day to walk home in. I feel sad for DS as they were his special Christmas present and he was obviously excited.

I would go to the police

Oh for goodness sake ....

🤣🤣🤣

update, no luck with the shoes so I've sent an email to the deputy head and teacher just saying he had his shoes confiscated on friday and now they are lost and need a replacement. I included a link to the shoes. ds is happy I've sent it! He came home saying "no shoes AGAIN" and Ive told him he will get them back.

You could look at it another way. We had Clarke’s for school, so didn’t want her wearing them at weekends as they’re too expensive, so had a cheap pair of trainers for weekends.

That sound sensible.
Having asked twice, something in writing is a good idea.
No doubt some more strenuous efforts will be put into tracking them down now.
They might well turn up, but if not, I have no doubts the school will fund a replacement. They wouldn’t for the random and many items that simply get lost at school which essentially are the child’s responsibility. However, because this is related specifically to the action of the teacher taking charge of the shoes, they will take responsibility.

I think you should give it a few days and if the shoes don’t appear, email again pointing out the timeframe and asking for a date by which the shoes or reimbursement will occur.

The school will obviously much prefer to get the shoes back to you and not pay. You will have to allow them some time to try and make that happen, but there will come a point when they will need to and will pay up. Really u fortunate when school funds are so tight….but they will accept responsibility.

I still think there’s a reasonable chance they will turn up. My DC have lost items in secondary. If named they almost always re-appear but sometimes it’s taken 7-8 weeks and it’s never entirely clear where they’ve been all that time.

Were the shoes named? That doesn’t impact whether the school will take responsibility for them or not, but it will mean they are easier/harder to relocate.

Good luck. Hope the email has done the job. I really disagree with them confiscating someone’s property… especially when it’s clothes. If they disrupt the class they should have a blanket ban on them

Hang on, your son's main Christmas present was a pair of school shoes???

No, his main christmas present was a pair of light up superhero shoes, which as OP has said was the thing he asked for.
Not everyone can afford to lavish their child with gifts, and if a child has asked for a pair of fun shoes for Christmas then why judge?

Nasty post.

But they're being worn as school shoes? That's the whole problem.

Does it bloody matter? He's 4. They're being worn as shoes, other kids have them so clearly they're popular.

Perhaps OP can't afford another pair of shoes just for school.

Kid wants shoes, kid gets shoes he desperately wanted, kid wears shoes to school as is allowed.

Yes, because the school allows them and that's where he'll enjoy his shoes most. Because that's where his friends are.

Absolutely they should replace them. Totally understand her taking them off him and even asking you not to send him in them but to take them and then lose them is absolutely not on!

Sounds like another child has taken them home. This happened to my DD. Another child took her wellies. Teacher had to email all parents to ask them to check their DC’s bags.

@CatA27 but the losing wasn’t intentional. Yea she should have put them in a cup but more than likely other chn saw them being confiscated and put them in their bag. Seems strange that they haven’t turned up after days of looking and classroom tidy ups.

*cupboard

Obviously it wasn't intentional but she should have put them somewhere safe and if they can't be found then needs to replace them, can't accuse other kids without proof, yeah, ask parents to look but it was the teacher that lost them.

No doubt this teacher will think twice about confiscating something like shoes again. There are grey areas, where taking a particular action might or might not be a good idea and on reflection, someone might decide it caused more trouble than it was worth and not do it again. It’s life. The teacher didn’t do something shocking or truly terrible. It could have equally been that the shoes could have been there at the end of the day and given back. However, there is always a risk with taking responsibility for someone’s property…that it will get lost and then be your responsibility. It’s why lots of experienced teachers don’t like to confiscate items. However, in Itself, it wasn’t a wrong action. And you can see how this happened ….in a busy classroom with lots of stuff everywhere, they got out down somewhere and either another child knowingly or unknowingly picked them up and out them on or put them in their bag, or somehow they got swept up and shoved away somewhere as part of tidying that teacher forgot or wasn’t involved in. Easily done, but now a problem.

The comment that the teacher made about ‘maybe they will turn up’ is the kind of thing teachers say when parents ask about lost property that the child has lost. They have conversations with parents daily about lost items, especially those without names in them. They can’t be too bothered or invested in every item as if they were, they never spend time doing anything else. I wonder if in a rushed conversation at the end of the day, the teacher was thinking this was general lost property rather than a confiscated item, and as it was a few days before, just spoke as she would generally. Given OP then spoke to the TA and not the teacher today, it could be that the teacher has only just become fully aware of the issue today with the email. Honestly, they then would then put efforts into finding them…they won’t want to have to explain to whoever holds the purse strings that confiscated shoes have been lost and the school needs to pay. But they will if they need to,

It will be rectified because the shoes will be found or the school will pay for new ones.

I have asked a couple of times if they were named. Again, it won’t impact whether school is responsible for the shoes or not (they are as teacher took responsibility if they confiscated them) but it will impact how easy it is to find them if another child has them.

Absolutely she should have put them somewhere safe. But, it can be extremely busy with a class of that age. I’m sure the school will compensate If the shoes are not found.

Was it these OP?

www.clarks.co.uk/c/Spark-Beam-Kid/p/26167922

They aren't cheap, I can see why you are annoyed. I hope you get an appropriate response tomorrow.

Does it really 🤣