Sharing shoes at school?

[Favouritefruits]

Just for a bit of context, the primary school my eldest son attends is in a very rough area and one of the poorest towns in the uk.

I’m really unsure if I’m being unreasonable or not, please reply honestly.

Today was school picture day, children and parents are all told to dress smartly and in Correct uniform. My eldest son had his shoes taken off him and given to multiple other children to wear in different classes and different years to wear for their picture as they had trainers on not school shoes.

my son was told he had to give his shoes up and was made to sit in socks all morning and apparently got very upset at this. I feel this was really unfair as he didn’t have an option to say ‘no’ and even though it’s only small it’s kind of an abuse of power. I’ve never heard of sharing shoes and it’s really hot me in two minds. I understand they want all the children dressed correctly but to take a child’s shoes just seems a bit mental, who cares if someone is wearing trainers.

I don’t want consent forms I just don’t want them to take my sons shoes, I wanted opinions that aren’t bias so thank you!

I understand them not having spare shoes but why do the school not have a stash of plain black plimsolls? They’d work fine in a school photograph.

Totally inappropriate. I would be making a major complaint. They need to buy your child a nice new clean pair of shoes.

You're flippant buys actually article 12 of UNICEF rights of a child

12. Respect for children's views Children have the right to give their opinions freely on issues that affect them. Adults should listen and take children seriously.

If a child cannot give their opinions freely and if they are ignored when they do they are actually breaching them.

Children have as much right as an adult to autonomy over their belongings and their bodies. They don't need to comply because they are children.

I would be absolutely fuming and I’d be writing a complaint to the head in writing , it’s not your responsibility to clothe the children

Erm, actually, I think if that's a genuine post about it to the teacher (with really glaring inaccuracies that make the whole tone very pompous and unconvincing), it just shows this is what child told a parent, not that he was forced to do this against his will by someone in authority.

There a chance his friends actually asked if he would do him a favour so they weren't in trouble or left out. Lots of schools lend out uniform regulation shoes for children who turn up without them. It's not particularly the worst thing to wear shoes that aren't exclusively (automatically wrote solely) yours for a short while.

Dint he ridiculous. It a great way to spread warts for one thing

You are not being unreasonable but your message is pompous.
please write a much simpler message saying that it is unhygienic to share shoes and totally inappropriate to take shoes belonging to him to lend to other children ( at the same time preventing him using them) solely for the sake of appearances.
This was not an emergency and therefore inappropriate.

Honestly, I'm more bothered that there are kids who don't have shoes, then by the lending of shoes to stop the 'poor' kids standing out on the class photo. At my kids school there's a really well stocked second hand uniform 'shop' (actually free), that anyone can access. Any kids without shoes on photo day would be given some of those and told to keep them.

The kids do have shoes Sprog - they have trainers. In some cases I’m guessing this may be through choice rather than finances.

because you can’t just decide to ‘be kind’ by forcing a child to let others use what is his!
If the teacher had bought a pair of school shoes to lend these children, this would have been kind.

Most staff where I work have children and there are endless amounts of clothes and shoes donated to school. They simply don't get returned. At some point, you run out.

WTF? I thought you were going to say your child was sharing his shoes with his friend or something for a laugh. This is completely unacceptable. Fucking weird.

I couldn’t get wound up about it tbh. Lending any bits of uniform to a classmate, while you get to hang out in your socks is hardly a hardship. I’m sorry he got upset, but it’s really no big deal.

I find this completely unacceptable as well. If it were that important for children to have shoes then could the school not have used a cheap pair of plimsolls? If the school budget doesn’t stretch to that, fair enough, but then it is just not that important really in the grand scheme of things.

As well as being unfair on your son, it is also completely humiliating for the children whose footwear was publicly identified as not smart enough.

If your son was really upset by this then they shouldn't have pushed it, but really I can't imagine most children finding it anything other than slightly amusing. Like a PP my immediate thought on reading the post was sorrow for the kids who didn't have shoes and were made to feel self-conscious about it.

Did the school respond OP?

No did they heck! I knew they wouldn’t.

I think this says it all about ‘how the other half live’ crap, poor deprived areas generally have teachers that aren’t as good which means teaching and education is lacking which equals crap schools and children that are unable to reach their potential and get out of the area.

That’s not ok, I’d want to speak to the head

Definitely not ok
Shoes used from unclaimed lost property/donated is fine
Shoes offered by your child to his friend also fine

Who gives a shit if they are in trainers or not. They are in school and learning (hopefully). This is all that is wrong with most schools (not teachers, I am fully aware this is a headteacher or most likely a MAT issue) at the current time. It is all a performance, and what they look like to the outside world. It is bullshit and needs to stop.

My child's school has moved to kids being allowed to wear PE kit any day they want so the majority turn up in a hoodie and leggings/trackies most days. Attendance has gone significantly up since this policy came in. Students can still wear "formal" uniform if they want the usual polo shirt and skirt/trousers but the majority just wear PE kit as it's comfy, practical for work and playtimes and has a lot less sensory issues than the formal uniform.

God if I couldn't afford another pair of shoes halfway through the year I'd feel so ashamed/embarrassed to see my child had been put in someone else's shoes 😟

The children had shoes on. They just were not acceptable to whichever dickhead was arranging the photos.

If I saw my child was in someone else's shoes I would be complaining myself from the same angle as the OP!

This is astonishing. I've never heard of anything like this in my life. Definitely follow up with the head.

And athletes foot.