Two minds school shoes. Vivienne's

[Eddyraisins]

metro.co.uk/2023/09/06/girl-sent-home-from-school-for-wearing-vivienne-westwood-shoes-19456363/amp/

I am in two minds about this. Speaking from the experience of a teacher with a y11 in my school. My school would not care. All they care about is pupils actually wear shoes. We have a fair few pupils in Viviennes. I would not have known what they are if I didn't have a child in y11.

However I do see the argument that a lot of parents cannot afford £100 on shoes. I guess it's like the kickers of the 90s.

For PE lessons we can't discriminate and dictate labels for trainers.

I am not sure what to think. My dd would like some Viviennes. She is Asd and Adhd and has missed a lot of y10. My school allows them.

Should they? Is the school in the linked article too far or is it fair? I could be persuaded either way.

They're hideous shoes my girls wouldn't be seen dead in them. I'm not a fan of clothing that's been overpriced just because they have a funky branded label.

I would really like someone to do a proper peer-reviewed study on whether uniform alone actually improves any measurable outcome - it seems like most of the studies that have been done on this have fallen short of proper research standards, or the results haven’t been reproduced in similar studies.

Interestingly one study I’ve come across found that pupils reported feeling less connected to their teachers and peers in schools with uniforms. As counter-intuitive as that feels, it totally fits with my own experience. It’s generally assumed that pupils who violate uniform codes are entitled troublemakers who are indulged by permissive parents; I was a model pupil but I deeply resented my school’s strict uniform policy and felt no pride in or connection to my school as a result. It’s not always the kids who just want to break the rules anyway who object to rules about uniform.

I suppose taking it to the very very extreme you end up with schools like Michaela which would not suit a lot of kids but works for others.

I suppose taking it to the very very extreme you end up with schools like Michaela which would not suit a lot of kids but works for others.

Tbf that school wouldn't suit me as staff either.

Is Michaela actually a particularly special school?

Or is it just a token Tory talisman and an indulgant vanity project for the headteacher?

I think one of the reasons for a uniform is that it gives the kids something relatively minor to push back against, without having too much of an impact.

But that only works if the kids have some leeway, and the response to breaking these rules isn't on a par with more serious rule breaking.

In recent years, this balance has been lost completely.

What used to be a quick "fasten your top button, tuck your shirt in and pull your tie up" before sitting down at the start of an hour of English, is now being handed a detention with the head of year, a letter home and a possible being sent home.

Whatever you may think the child needs to be taught to follow rules. That’s the parents job and they should not be buying non uniform stuff

It’s seems to have been given the epithet, ‘the strictest school in London’ but if you read the requirements for schools in some of the academy chains, it has some very strong competition! It sounds more eccentric than anything.

Michaela's approach isn't for everyone. It was certainly a trailblazer in challenging some of the low expectations that were present in schools.

Whether we would choose her approach for our own children or school to work at, I do think she needs to be given credit for saying what many people knew about the state of behaviour in many schools and then doing something practical about it.

From what I've seen Michaela has what some of the imitation chains don't: a culture of academic excellence and staff who genuinely care. Our local wannabe zero tolerance schools don't seem to have the level of pastoral care or the staff who value academics. They'd never have a Michaela style curriculum in a million years.

@DoItAgainPlz I do think that the reason these stories make headlines because of
parental outrage is mostly to do with the scale of the punishment. Which is why it annoys me when people say “the school is absolutely right, they’re there to learn” in response to a story about a school sending a child home over a minor uniform infraction. If they’re “there to learn” then why not just tell them off and then let them get on with learning?

@ShellySarah @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz
Do you have secondary age children?

What would you expect to pay for a pair of black trainers?

The decent ones that everyone is wearing such as Nike Air, Max Plus, 270s Huarache etc are all £120 plus.

Again, another bunch of parents in this thread not realising uniform rules are there to cut down on economic bullying and poor shaming amongst pupils.

If you want to spend hundreds of pounds on footwear for your child, make sure it meets school policy that is there for a bloody good reason, or let your child show off their stupidly expensive Nike trainers at weekends and in the evenings.

Because the 'telling off' is nothing but a badge of honour for the child, whilst they still sneer and mock kids who do obey the uniform policy and who's family can't afford these Viviennes or £100+ trainers.

If that’s what’s happening, then you put that child in isolation/send them home/send a letter home from the Head for sneering and mocking - that actually affects other pupils.

Surely it‘s better to address the bullying than the perceived cause of the bullying - after all, kids are going to be picked on for a thousand other things that the school can’t do anything about.