Trainers at school

[Jbr]

One of the schools near me has banned "designer" trainers. Kids are only allowed to wear plain black ones to school and change into plain blue ones for gym etc. I heard something similar on the radio as well about a school somewhere else. Someone actually got sent home for wearing Nike!

I understand the principal in a way but some of the "plain" trainers aren't much cheaper these days. I bought some Adidas for £10 in a sale and a smaller pair for Jack for £8. Now if he was at school and had been told he couldn't wear them, I would have been really annoyed because they "cheap" non-label trainers were £15! If you had children at school which ones are you going to buy? The cheaper designer ones in the sale or the plain ones which are dearer?

Jbr, in the secondary school that my daughter is about to attend children are banned from wearing all trainers (except in PE obviously). I think this is an excellent idea. Apart from anything wearing trainers all day every day simply makes one feet stink!

Winnie, what shoes are they allowed to wear, then?
Sorry I have a heavy summer cold and my head and brain feel a bit bunged up today. Coffee needed fast!

Tigermoth, the school dress code is very strict and the shoe code for boys and girls is the same:
"Black (no extreme styles and suitable for walking from one part of the campus to another)." It has to be noted that the campus is sprawling and hilly (Is there such a word?) so there is quite alot of ground covered between classes on an average day; heels and platforms would simply cripple ones feet.

Tigermoth, hope you are feeling better soon!

Trainers are supposed to be quite good for your feet (I read somewhere).

The argument in schools is if you let kids wear them they get into competition about who is wearing the most expensive - and the poorer kids will suffer. Limit self expression and you limit the chance to bully.

In my experince the poorer kids wear the most expensive gear and it's the middle class kids who get picked on.

In my little boy's school they have to wear black regulation shoes indoors and trainers or wellies at playtime depending on the weather. This works really well and the trainers are all so filthy, I don't think anyone would see what was written on them.

I was told children shouldn't wear trainers all day as they don't support the foot.

If kids want to bully they will. It isn't the clothes or shoes that cause bullying it's the kids. Those things just happen to be an easy target. You can have all the right "gear" and they'll find something.

I see why trainers aren't liked in some schools though. But if it happens to me (policies change I know, so I don't what our local school will be like when the time comes) I hope there isn't a ban. Not because I am label conscious but just because they are genuinely cheaper where I live.

I agree Jbr, kids will always find something and if it boils down to who's got the best watch or bag or whatever's left that's different. I'm no expert but from my own experience children get to a certain age where they find and notice all sorts of differences in home life, appearances etc and these can lead to taunting and bullying behaviour from certain children. It's like our country's obsession with school uniforms, while I can see the point in the practicality of always having the same thing to wear each day (ie washing, replacing etc) I think a lot of people just like to see children all looking the same ("oh aren't they sweet") - I for one am not sure this encourages the power of individuality and self expression we wish our children to learn and hopefully possess as adults.

Also, I agree with snowy it does tend to be the middle class kids in the less labelled clothes (at least the obvious brands).

I thought the whole point of uniforms was to avoid bullying from the haves on the have-nots. If everyone has to wear the same thing then there is little room for envy? I'd talk to the school and find out what exactly are meant by 'trainers'. I was very surprised when I checked with the headmaster of my son's school when he had absolutely no idea how much it costs to put 'sports trainers' on size 11 feet! 'Oh, spend no more than £20' says he. (This is after the sports teacher thought it a great idea to do cross country running in filthy weather, ruining a fairly new pair of 'trainers'. I asked him if the sports teacher was prepared to stick his hand in his pocket for a new pair.) What an arse. Sorry to go on, but many of these people assume that because they know what they mean everyone else does. They forget that for some of us taking kids to school is a first time and although they've heard it all before - we haven't.

I got bullied for NOT having uniform! We had just moved and the school I was at previously didn't have one and even if it had, it probably would have been different. I was a "tramp" because we could't afford the uniform. Well seeing as my dad had just bought a house and my mam didn't have a job, of course we couldn't afford a uniform, not for a few months anyway.

It's funny because the new school said that the uniform was there so the children's "good" clothes didn't get covered in paint etc but my parents spent most of the time washing my uniform to keep it clean for school. It was like the uniform was my "best" clothes. I find it annoying when the schools have their own tops and things. At one school you could only wear the school jumper with the logo on but it was about £10 dearer than the plain blue one you could get in Littlewoods, where my Mam normally got our clothes from on the grant.

I have to admit that as a teenager and before I had a child in school I believed strongly that uniforms regimented children and suppressed individuality. However, once my child was in school I was thank ful for the uniform. Yes, uniforms get bastarised and yes children who come from poverty stricken backgrounds still stick out (sadly)but from a very practical level it stops the daily decisions over what to wear, parental and child clashes over whats appropriate which emerge at a scarily early age are confined to evenings and weekends and the simple cost of it all - in the longterm - is so much cheaper. A school uniform is an enormous outlay (going through that at the moment!) but it usually lasts a reasonabe length of time. Once clothes become 'school clothes' children simply don't want to wear them at other times and they tend to end up with two sets of clothes anyway. Finally, on an extremely practical level, as a parent who has often been out with school parties, spotting children out and about, because they are in uniform, is simply much easier.

As for supressing individuality I think children overcome this in ingenious an dremarkable ways even with uniforms.

As an aside: a primary school my daughter has attended had to make a rule about body piercing because - believe it or not - an eight year old had her belly button pierced! One would think that banning such things in primary schools would be unnecessary but obviously not...

not to mention the laundry aspect - my burden trebles in the school holidays because they wear an entire clean outfit every day (and more if water fights etc. are involved) whereas for most of termtime it's only a clean shirt every day. skirts, trousers, blazers and the primary sweatshirt end up somewhat the worse for wear by the end of the week (mud, yogurt, paint, ink...) but we don't mind.

primary school uniforms are never compulsory - they can only be recommendations. secondary school ones are. but our school has a second hand sale at the end of the summer term - mostly for stuff that hasn't been destroyed by mud, paint, yogurt etc. - and our primary school has a "merry-go-round" every year which includes uniform.

rhiannon, i'm surprised you say trainers don't support the feet, good ones actually have more support than ordinary shoes. still v sweaty and smelly though.

and just to divert the conversation slightly - survey reported this week said 90% of 12 year olds have mobile phones. is that obscene or what? quite a few primary school kids have them too. what they are mostly used for in my experience is prank calls to their friends/enemies from the school bus on their way home. (i also heard that a student whose phone went off during an exam was disqualified...they have to be switched off so no-one can use them to cheat)