Shoe lace alternatives - Reception

[drspouse]

DD has a perfect pair of patent Kickers to start school in Sept but they have laces.
They wear PE kit all day on PE day so I just need them to stay tied rather than be easy to tie IYSWIM.
All the ones online seem to be for older children and I'd prefer ones we can tighten rather than fully slip on if that makes sense.
Thanks!

Would you not consider something like this?

If it’s mega rainy she can wear wellies to school and you change her there.

They don’t go out in heavy rain at playtime.

direct.asda.com/george/kids/shoes/girls-school-patent-shoes-black/G006037991,default,pd.html

She won't even fit in the shoes she is wearing now in September
Why not? DS wore his Reception shoes from August when we bought them to July when they fell apart.
Dragons no on the grounds that they have holes in them AND aren't leather.
You can get plenty wet in light rain or puddles or on wet grass. Why should girls have to when boys don't?

My dc manage to wear the same school shoes all year, then grow 2 sizes in July and August! I have taken too many shoes, and too much school uniform, back to exchange for a bigger size in the last week of August, to even bother getting it earlier anymore.

Ah everything else is hand me down except I'm going to get her a couple of skirts or skorts in case she'd rather wear them.
She's a lot smaller (and a summer birthday) than DS which helps. I'll just hold off on hemming the trousers till August.
No guarantee she'll stay the same size till Sept but equally no guarantee she won't.

Mine have had a similar style to the one Dragons posted and they've lasted an entire school year and are still pretty presentable now - despite constant scuffing and being used as a brake for scootering. I only bought supermarket cheapie shoes as I thought they were due a growth spurt and I'd replace them with a better brand once that had happened - and it's not bloody materialised! (DH has small feet as well, the kiddos take after him - very long legged and tall... titchy feet)

You said you wanted cheap, so you aren’t going to get leather.

Dragons I didn't say I wanted cheap. I said I didn't want to waste money on buying an extra pair with velcro if I can use the pair we have with laces.
Other people are telling me "but you can get them in supermarkets for £10" and I have pointed out that these are not leather.
Buying cheap, and not wasting money, are two separate things.
I'd rather buy lightly used and leather but then you don't get such a choice of fastenings either (that's how we ended up with laceups).

I was just remembering where you said “I don't want to spend £50+ on another pair if I can use a pair we own.”

I think you’re over emphasising the holes. 99% of girls seem to manage fine with them.

They only manage because that's all that's available. I don't want her to get wet socks and I don't think she'll want it either. Why would you do that to your DD if you didn't have to?

I don't want to spend anything on another pair but especially not £50!

In Reception DD had closed shoes. On Y1 she insisted on open “dolly” shoes, despite advice that she’d get wet feet. By Christmas she was fed up with wet socks, and we got her Kicker boots style ankle boots from M&S, which she loves and has asked for again when she grows out of them.

I have one dd in year 5 and one in year 1 and neither of them has ever complained about wet socks. And while I agree that girls' shoes generally need a revamp, they've still managed to climb trees, run round the playground, do cartwheels etc in the shoes they have. I think you're overthinking it all tbh.

My daughters had to take their shoes off for other reasons than PE.

Welly walks, in the home corner, in the sand pit.

Velcro is your friend.

Also mine have only ever had the standard school shoes that most girls do (our school doesn't allow boots) and neither have had wet feet any days.......

You're just looking for an excuse not to get new shoes I think.

I don't want to spend anything on another pair

Then why start this thread. I'm genuinely puzzled what you want people to say?

Heads I wanted people to tell me what to use INSTEAD OF SHOE LACES in the pair I had!
And they have.
So I'm fine now!

MrsPreston of course I am. I've said precisely that. How is that wrong?

(Just wanted to congratulate op to being a sensible parent - most girls seem to wear shoes purposely designed to discourage playing and moving)
Ducks out

Thank you @Yura.
Those M&S ones upthread look good.
Everything else I've found looks like the closed sandals we buy DS to keep his feet cool in summer but that will keep his orthotics in.

I'm not british - in many european countries patents would get a telling of from teachers if primary aged girls would wear these kind of shoes on rainy or any not hot days (not weather appropriate and hindering footwear).

I just wish someone would tell British schools/teachers/shoe shops...

Yura Not sure which part of Europe you're from but where I live at the moment the shoes/outfits are ridiculous for school. I never see school children appropriately dressed for the weather and frequently think that they'd be much more appropriately dressed in the U.K. Shoes are the worst - nothing appropriate for wet and ridiculous sandals as soon as the sun pokes through. Never seen anything like it in 10 years teaching in the U.K.!

You can get good quality shoes that are not leather and you can get leather shoes that are crap (like the two identical pairs I had to return to Clark’s as the stitching came undone). Non leather doesn’t necessarily equal cheap and nasty.