Where can I buy small school shoes?

[scoobydoobydoobydoobydoo]

I can't believe I came on here over an hour to go to ask this question and spent so much time reading posts that I've only just got round to it and haven't even started on the housework yet. Shame on me!

My DD will be starting in reception in September. She was prem and is still very small, only wearing 18-24 month clothes. I'm not too concerned about the uniform because her school has a nursery with a very similar one but I am worried about getting school shoes. She's a 5 1/2 f in clarks shoes.

They only seem to do black patent shoes with flashing lights in this size. I really want her to have school shoes and not shiny black party shoes for school!

Anyone have any ideas?

thanks.

Try Clarks again in the summer holidays. Or Start Right Shoes have some nice girls ones (bloody expensive though!)

Yes Start Rite. Their English Classics range is very plain and smart and start at pretty small sizes IIRC.

Start-Rite. My DD1 has very narrow feet and when she was that size she HAD to have black school shoes as they were the only ones in the shop that fit her. Very expensive though.

thanks. I was hoping to avoid start-rite. I did check their website £38!!! For the size of my DD's feet I'm a bit loathed to hand over that much money for such a small amount of leather!

I was hoping I might have missed somewhere. Oh well, will try Clarks again in the summer. thanks x

can you not get away with trainers? I would be loathe to pay £38 for shoes that won't get much wear

i sympathise though as my dd has very narrow feet, but I bought black ankle boots from asda that were guite narrow and are easier to fit than shoes

My dd had v small feet when she started school and shiny party shoes weren't allowed. I searched high and low but Start-rite where the only ones to do proper school shoes in her size, sorry.

My DD's first ever shoes were navy blue t-bar school style shoes from clarks. At the time I felt dreadful because her twin had pretty girlie pink shoes with flowers on, and poor DT2 had these conservative, plain ones. She was a 3 1/2 I think, so they must do plain shoes in small sizes. Have you checked the clarks website?

I was just wondering if you are allowed navy - my dd1 started school in a size 7, which I found difficult to find, so I understand where you are coming from. My dd2 (2) had some quite plain navy clarks t bar shoes, which started at a 3, so something like that might be better for you than actual "school" shoes.

but they wear them everyday. I'd say that's good value for money

have a look in TKMAXX and for goodness sake, don't buy them now. She will shoot up 3 inches and her feet will balloon to size 10, just to spite you.

these will fit her by september

Also bear in mind clarks tend to be slightly smaller made than start-rite. You'll just have to wait and see whats available in September, if Clarks don't have anything suitable then start-rite will have. The European shoes are even more expensive.

FWIW I have found that the start-rite shoes wear much better than the clarks ones and i think they are worth the extra money.

Hi my niece started school last Sept and was also a prem baby.... She is still in age 3 clothes and her school unform had to be specially ordered for her as no where stocked such a tiny pinafore!!

Her feet were size 5 1/2 when she started school and my SIL bought a size 6 clarks shoe which clarks fitted with an insert to make sure they fitted properly.... she still has the insert where as my dd (we went together to get new school shoes) has already grown out of the school shoes we bought together.

I also dont think £38 is a lot of money for leather shoes... we leave home for school at 7.45 and my dd wears them until we get home in the evening around 5pm. Thats a lot of wear!

Good luck in your search x

are black patent t-bar shoes now known as party shoes? i grew up in these, as did my friends - they were the standard girl's school shoe and patent leather doesnt scuff anywhere near as much as plain leather, and they dont need polishing either! a bit like non-iron school clothes (very practical). . . i cant stand seeing precious little feet in silly mary jane style shoes that give no support for the long school day.

european brands do good quality shoes in v. small sizes. they start at around EUR size 17, which is a UK 0 !!!

try the internet for stockists of NOEL, BABYBOTTE, ASTER, PRIMIGI they are all good shoes, will last a very long time and hold a high resale value if your into selling things on ebay. you could either contact online stockists for a measuring guide or look for local stockists.
good luck

Thanks for that. It's certainly given me food for thought!

imamissandamummy i think black patent shoes were pretty standard in my day too but i do remember being very jealous of lovely shiny shoes on the first day of term and then rather less so when the patent had started peeling. Besides, if they have flashing lights in the soles, then yes, they are party shoes and not school shoes.

I don't want my child to be one of the irritating children who spends assembly and carpet time stamping their feet to make the lights work!

It's a proper t-bar shoe I want, but not with flashing lights or a toy included!

Cowsgomoo the insert sounds like a good idea. Hopefully she'll have grown enough by then, but I'll give that a go. I agree that £38 isn't a lot to spend but knowing my luck she'll have had a growth spurt by half term!

thefoosa Trainers for school! I'm not even going to dignify that with a response!

I still struggle with shoes for my dd. She's now 13 and with size 1 feet. This means that the shoes that are fashionable for her age do not fit as they start at size 3. But I don't begrudge spending the £40 on shoes, as she doesn't outgrow them, so all shoes are worn to destruction first. Normally two pairs of shoes per academic year.

13 with size 1 feet keepitsweet- mine has size 7 feet!!!

My ds has size 12.5 (age 5), you can imagine how much this irks his sister!!!

BTW recommend the insert - means the shoes last twice as long before they grow out. I asked about one in September - looks like DDs start rite shoes will last whole school year, they are still fine now (without insert).

My DTD has tiny feet too, they're particularly narrow. Have a look at the Shoes for Kids website, it has Start Rite and Clarks at big discounts, and also some of the european brands which seem to fit narrow widths well. I usually get her feet measured in a good shoe shop before going online, or you can download measuring guides or buy a foot gauge for home from the Start Rite website.

Hope this is useful as your expensive journey into school shoes begins!

I use javari which has loads of small shoes and some are really reasonable - maybe something like this?

Scooby I have a DS who was premmie and eventually got shoes for him from Clarks - would say that he hasn't grown at all in the feet department this year so they have turned out to be excellent value

Hush Puppies for £7.99. Can't beat that!
www.mandmdirect.com/products-Hush-Puppies-Girls-Missy-Shoe-Black_HP159.htm
They have all sizes starting at infant 4 to 8! HTH