So are these school shoes or trainers

[Shoesortrainers]

School have published their amended policy from Sept. This style is showed as unacceptable as they apparently trainers.

Er no they are school shoes and they
are the ONLY ones that fit my wide footed , high instep child. Believe me we’ve tried and tried over the years. They are just like me unfortunately. Plus sensory issues too.

School shoes must also be black and of polishable leather (they are!)

School refusing to budge. In fact the teacher dealing with uniform is being very rude and obstructive.

So Mumsnet are these shoes or trainers.

School shoes!

I was at school over 30 years ago and my school didn’t care.
Personally I think a uniform should be as cheap and comfortable as possible. If you have to wear a dress code, why wear one before you have too.

'A uniform policy may not make your children get As but it will prepare them for the world of work where they may have to follow a dress code'

A dress code is fine. Teachers concentrating on checking shoes when they should be doing their job is not.

Any secondary teachers out there? how do A'level students manage to be disciplined and do well in A'levels when no-one is trying to tell them if the fastening on their shoes is correct or not?!

I'd happily contribute to a crowdfunding appeal if someone was to challenge this nonsense in the courts.

You are wrong. I am a teacher and it is my job to check the uniform of my form every morning and direct them to the HoY if there are any infringements. I would definitely get pulled up on it and find myself in trouble if I let things slide; as a PP mentioned, teachers in a MAT have very little power in these decisions.

6th formers, much like the Europeans PPs mentioned, have the knowledge that if they fail, they'll have to repeat the year/get kicked out. Most of them want to be there and are there to unlock some kind of pathway, and those that would have caused issues in lower school would be the ones who failed to secure the entry requirements for 6th form.

I don't actually agree with uniform, but you see what uniform posts come up on MN the number of people who feel it's a good thing. I can't see it changing. And parents, often incorrectly, judge a school's potential based on the look of their current students. Since a school's income is based on the number of students they have on roll, uniform is another recruitment tool.

In what world are they a trainer. Trainers are sports shoes. I can't imagine what sport you would wear those. They don't even have a trainer tread. These are clearly casual school shoes as opposed to formal ones but they are shoes not trainers.

They're clearly shoes not trainers. However our local secondary school requires laces not velcro.

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts my post which you took it upon yourself to tell me off about and suggest that I should rtwt was on page 5, literally 3 posts after a post from the op stating that the school have called these shoes trainers to her.

The school have called this shoe a trainer to me.
Compared them to Lonsdale and adidas. I looked at him and said they are nothing like it unless I need an eye test?!

Maybe you should just worry about your own posts and let me worry about mine, then I won't have cause to get snippy with you!

Blimey, who pissed on your chips? 😂

'You are wrong. I am a teacher and it is my job to check the uniform of my form every morning and direct them to the HoY if there are any infringements. I would definitely get pulled up on it and find myself in trouble if I let things slide; as a PP mentioned, teachers in a MAT have very little power in these decisions.'

Well challenge it then! You know, like if you had to work without a break or something. Make changes. Starting with, barring a smart dress code, it should not be a teacher's business if shoes have velcro or laces. It shouldn't be your business if trousers are skinny or straight as long as the right colour and smart.

Go on, stand up for teachers wasting their time with this nonsense and try to make a change.

I love near 5 schools I've never seen this happen. (By near I mean I live on the road of one have a further 2 within 1/4of a mile and a further 2 within a mile. I see a LOT of school kids. This is not the norm.

I often see girls in ballet pumps in December in one of the coffee shops with wet feet. They have taken the shows off due to it.

Well challenge it then! You know, like if you had to work without a break or something. Make changes. Starting with, barring a smart dress code, it should not be a teacher's business if shoes have velcro or laces. It shouldn't be your business if trousers are skinny or straight as long as the right colour and smart.

Go on, stand up for teachers wasting their time with this nonsense and try to make a change.

Teachers regularly don't get breaks.
They're also routinely given tasks and directed beyond directed time.

Your standard classroom teacher is usually half a dozen rungs down from the head.
The head is subject to the MAT that the school is part of.

In some cases the head is actually a head of school now, not a head teacher. Usually this is because the MAT has an executive headteacher who had the final say on everything.

In some trusts there's a whole tier of executive leaders (who in my opinion spend a lot of time floating around school to school in their navy suits with power stances and haven't been in a classroom for years but they live and breathe the right philosophy for the MAT) who decide most policies for dozens of schools.

In schools in MATs the role of the governing body is also different and they're more of a local body but don't have the same freedoms as LA school governing bodies from what I've seen.

The idea that your average Joe teacher should put themselves out of a job because some parents want to argue about their child's right to wear skinny trousers for school is naive at best, goady at worst.

However parents are NOT in the main aware of the hierarchial structures of the school system. Neither are they personally under direct control of this governance.

Rather than formal rigidity schools need to relax and modernise.
The problem is the English is well known for adherence to pomposity.

Shoes have a separate heel, these don't, they are flat soled, therefore not shoes

Harrypewter
They might not know the details, but it's not rocket science that your average science teacher doesn't make the whole school policy and that a random teacher deciding not to follow school policies is likely to cause an issue.

I don't disagree with you on uniform. I go back and forward on it. I'd like it to modernise on the whole, but experience has also shown me that there's a large minority of parents who think any rules don't apply to their children so even a simple dress code would have them picking a fight with the school.

I would be managed out in a heartbeat. I have a mortgage to pay and I refuse to fight a fight that would result in a dismissal when people still blame teachers for all the woes in the profession because it would be pointless. The PP who got jumped on for saying the OP will risk getting managed out was spot on (unfortunately). Certain MATs are very good at getting rid of anyone who doesn't toe the line and play ball.

@IsThisReallyPC yes, in my school shoes must be leather (or fake leather) and polishable. Same at my last school

I have to be honest and say i’m sceptical about teachers being managed out if they challenge the uniform policy. We have a known lack of teachers in the UK, surely if all the teachers stood up together, the school can’t get rid of all of you?

This is woefully naive....

Maybe so. Are you seriously telling me if every teacher in a school wrote to the governers and said to be more time efficient, they will no longer be enforcing strict school shoe policy, and will only be taking action if a shoe is seen to be unsafe (eg flip flops), in order to be more time efficient and prioritise education, they would all be managed out/asked to leave?

I’m genuinely interested in how this would turn out if someone would like to explain to me.

And if my grandmother had a penis she would be my grandfather. But if clauses don't reflect reality.

I was genuinely asking for some insightful clarification, but thanks.

Ah yes. That higher power that must never be questioned. The School.

The loan pair were worn. He struggled all day.

The absolute feckers! Wearing "loan shoes" except for very short periods (eg the duration of a bowling game) is inappropriate anyway. Shoes mould to the feet that have worn them - those shoes will have been particularly uncomfortable for your child.

Fake leather👍