when do you buy school shoes? how many weeks before they start school?

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hi my dd1 is due to start school on the 17th of sept
she is 4 years end of this month am new to all the school thing

was thinking of buying her school shoes and winter boots next sat

Gorgeous shoes - but is she allowed to wear those for school? Most schools specify black school shoes.

If she only goes up half a size every 6 months then you should be fine with regards to buying now - they will be fitted with plenty of growing room

Hippi I always go to our local independent shoe shop. I trust the staff, and as often as not they say that the DCs' shoes are fine for a while longer.... but their excellent reputation does mean long queues at this time of year - and I really would like to leave it as long as possible in hope of getting shoes to last the whole academic year (worked year before last, but not last year).

None of those are "school" shoes though - do they have a uniform ?

Queues are a nightmare....
I am a huge fan of going early (which is why I went 2 weeks ago )
Luckily my dc have freakily slow growing feet (6 months for half a size on average) so I get away with it...
Have sadly never managed to get school shoes to last all year - respect to you!
We tend to get shoes in August, replace in January as outgrown, and those then last until July.
So even if I did get them later (Sept) they would, on average, be outgrown by February. Not really saving myself anything

By the very end of the school year they did have holes in the toes - but they still fitted (I had them checked) so I figured he could live with the holes - I mean, FGS, how do you wear holes in the tops of your shoes anyway?

In the tops? That is impressive! Dd had holes in teh front - apparently because she was playing 'animals' at playtime and it involved lots of crawling around the playground Dh filled in the hole with evostick and marker-penned it. Did not last long...

dd's shoes that is, not dd herself...

Tink, your DD must have tiny feet, all those shoes only go up to 6/6.5 !

our school said dark shoes my dd is only a size 6 checked school shoes on website one pair of black ones in her size not keen all the other black shoes are size 7 and above

I went in to clarks with my son on saturday and it was like a jumble sale, so many people standing about, so we just left, I ended up paying more for startrites in a 'posher' shoe shop.... pisses me off that I was too disorganised to be there first thing in the morning.

my children's feet grow roughly a size a year now, so i can get them a month in advance

Sorry but none of those are what I'd term dark - do they not have any navy ?

I too have to say - dark would mean black or dark blue - I seriously doubt beige or dark pink would be permitted. Plus I don't think they would look 'right' under uniform?

this is what her classmates will be wearing

www.clarks.co.uk/find/Department-is-kids/ProductType-is-shoes/Size-is-6infant/product-is-20333129

have these but have lights so i guess not alowwed

www.clarks.co.uk/find/EndUses-is-school/Department-is-girls/Size-is-6infant/product-is-20332410?redi rected=true

only school shoes in a 6

Lights should be fine - lots of children seem to have lights in their shoes and for some reason it seems to be accepted

The blue ones would not be accepted at our school. Still 'too bright'. (but then our uniform policy specifies black)

You can turn the lights off !

Fair point LIZ

we have a startrite dd is a size 6 in clarks what would she be in startrite shoe?

I think she would be a 5 and a half in Startrite. But some people say there is hardly any difference in size.

However, I have bought dd some Startrites adn she is a 12.5 in them but measured a 13 in Clarks.

So aim for 5.5 unless someone comes along with a more definate answer

would prob get red or pink with lights then didnt know u could turn off

If you have the choice we found Startrite gave much better choice of traditional school shoes especially in small sizes. You go down about half a size to Clarks. We've had several pairs of Bolero and similar.

These are quite pretty. I really think your dd will stand out in red or pink unless the uniform code is very relaxed. Check what is expected before you spend, perhaps with other parents .

Startrite online have four pairs of black school shoes that go down to a 6, including adorable black patent Mary Janes ... sigh.

They do online ordering now, with some weird way of sizing using a printed grid - I couldn't get it to work when I tried, but that was because my camera decided to misbehave. They also have fitting videos, which I've not used in anger, but have proved useful when checking the fit of DD's existing shoes.

Bought DD's shoes for Year 1 on Saturday, slightly later than last year's, which lasted the whole school year, so I have high hopes!