I don't feel annoyed by teachers trying to uphold the rules. I really don't.
Dustinthewind I really appreciated your comments earlier and didn't anticipate people having a go at teachers in general.
I have NO problem with uniform as we signed up to a school with uniform, though I would prefer that there had been one without to choose. There wasn't, it's Ok, within reason.
What I have a problem with, well it's twofold (and yes, I'm the Op - sorry)
Firstly I have a great big issue with pettiness, and when the rules get taken beyond what is reasonable and past any sort of goodwill, common sense or mutual respect and into the realms of jobsworth.
I'm not pretending that they don't need to have rules, and to stick by them as far as possible.
But if you're going to have rules, they have to be clearly published, known thoroughly by all who have power to enforce them (yes that means the HT as well as the class teacher) and without room for misinterpretation.
Standing in the playground this morning among a group of 6 boys, in my child's class, almost all of them were wearing shoes that looked, and in one case were, very much like training shoes. MOREso than my child's but most were black so they don't notice so much, everyone assumes they're from Clarks so they're not picked out. One pair was brown.
Rules should also be consistent.
The breaking of rules should be attributable to the person responsible and in our case that would be me, as my son cannot afford to purchase his own shoes and he wears the ones I tell him to wear.
That's my second problem - his being villified for doing something which I TOLD HIM TO DO, which made him scared of my reaction AND the teacher's reaction. she told him off for sharing his spare paper FFS, she's out to cause the children upset at any cost. Many parents have expressed a desire not to contribute to a leaving gift for her as we don't feel she has made any effort to like or encourage our children and has fallen out with many of us as parents.
She is choosing a child she knows is keen to please and do as he is told, keen to conform, and making him feel awful, on purpose, because she can. That's all as far as I can see, and still no response whatsoever to either of my emails, and no eye contact this morning.
If I wasn't so keen to give people the benefit of the doubt, and see two sides to every character, I would just call her a cow and have done with it, but anyway, she must have her reasons for acting as she does and I would simply rather she didn't do it, not to my child and not to others.
In answer to AICM I already know the teacher who is taking over, she's brilliant, she has them certain days already. She tries to consider their feelings and their education. She's a reasonable person. They're not afraid of her. We all like her a lot. I don't care if she's been 'warned' about me - I haven't done anything wrong and neither has she.
If the teachers were afraid of me I'd worry about their sanity because I'm a normal parent who takes issue with things I'm concerned about, as are most parents here and they have nothing to be afraid of. I always listen to the teacher's side IF PUT to me and normally find I'm in agreement with them.
So what you said last night, though unpleasant, wasn't terribly relevant.
Thanks again for all the helpful comments.