School uniform correctness - gone mad!!!

[chubbleigh]

My son got pulled into the deputy heads office today to be told the new shoes he is wearing are not shoes but trainers - in disguise. And could he arrange for them to be replaced by Monday.

Start Rite think they are school shoes, and so do I. This is about pair no.17 and suddenly the are not OK. I need to speak to this pedantic Gove botherer in the morning, I'm not calm on the subject yet, but one thing is for sure, there is not going to be any replacements by Monday.

www.startriteshoes.com/boys-shoes/school-shoes/ethan-black-boys-riptape-school-shoes

T

Shoes in OP would be absolutely fine in my local secondaries. yr8 has a brand new very similar pair!!

So... is ability to tie laces an unstated requirement for all pupils, in some schools?

... DS sometimes walks thru snow to get to the bus. Is he supposed to do that in thin no-traction soles? He'd rather not walk in wellies.

I actually can't believe that schools even waste time on shit like this, you'd think they'd be bigger issues to deal with like actually educating children.
I'm in Scotland and I've never heard of such ridiculously strict uniform rules around uniform. Those shoes look like school shoes to me , does anyone seriously have a pair of trainers that look like that?
I would actually say though that plain black trainers are acceptable for school and good for playing football at lunchtime etc.

yeOldeTrout clearly no room for additional needs kids or ones who just haven't mastered a skill.

I'm the news wasn't there a girl sent home because shoes had a buckle on them?

It's the same here with us. We walk approx a mile to school. Often in the rain DC will wear whatever is best to get them in in a fit state. One winter it was snowboots. Last winter it was too warm so wellies were worn. Secondary will be further away. A shirt plus jumper and blazer and coat will be too hot. Some of these schools even insist kids only war Blazers on site 😡

How old is he? Formal shoes with Velcro more appropriate for Infant/ Primary school age children. Can he do up shoe laces?

nicp, I don't agree. Many secondary school students wear Velcro where I live. Whatever school shoes fit and are functional are appropriate. Why are people so out of touch with what shops sell as 'school shoes' for this age group? Velcro fastenings are functional and I don't really get this sneering snobbishness about them. It just smacks of meaness to me.

Thank god dd's school is sensible - she needs to wear extremely thick orthotics at the moment and the only pair of shoes we could find which both looked vaguely school-like (ie plain black) and fitted the insoles were black geox trainers

We met her lovely form tutor yesterday to have a quick chat about her medical issues and she said she hadn't asked dd why she was wearing trainers as she assumed there must be a good reason and she didn't want dd to feel even more self-conscious about it

Ncip - I have worn Velcro shoes myself. Some are really nice.

They do look like black trainers to me. It's not just the Velcro but also the styling.

There is no uniform where I teach but they would be 'very close to the line'

The way the head explained in at my previous place of work was 'if you don't think you would get away with that styling in an office/workplace then it unlikely to be suitable as a secondary school shoe'

Shadow would you let them be worn for PE, then? If they are so trainer like...

Is it even legal to insist on lace-ups given the trouble they can give dyspraxic/dyslexic kids?

They look like school shoes to me.

trainers have laces and boys shoes are notoriously like trainers anyway adding laces would just compound the issue

It seems parents will make all the excuses under the sun rather than simply buy the kids the correct kit.

a7mints, why do you say that, in reference to this thread?

OP's DS's shoes were correct according to his school's written uniform policy.

Velcro fastening school shoes made by all the major children's shoe brands now are styled pretty much as per the school shoe she had chosen.

Non of the people saying these shoes are trainers have said these shoes would be deemed suitable for PE - which seems pretty definitive. These are black shoes not trainers.

Schools should include Velcro fastening school shoes on their uniform list in order to be inclusive. Just making exceptions for SNs would be unnecessarily othering.

Which of these points do you think is invalid?

What do these strict schools do if parents simply can't afford to replace expensive shoes with another "suitable" pair?

Decided in the end to not call the school and leave it for them to get in touch with me in case it all died a natural death. Didn't replace shoes, had no plans to. Anyways he's been to school today and another teacher who has some sort of management role also, has told him the shoes are fine, no problem. And breathe out......

Just met him at the bus stop and his little buddy who has just started is stood there in his oversized uniform, bless him, wearing the very same shoes and they've passed muster. So there you go, a matter of interpretation. Hopefully this is the last I hear about shoes this year, please God, let that be it.

A friend of mine, same school, told me her boy asked her if his pants were OK, could he wear these pants? Yes, you are in charge of your own pants!

Good!

Re school pants - when I was at school, a million years ago, we did Gym in our aertex shirts and pants. This was a girls' school, but even so! It was not a pleasant experience in any circumstances, but especially not when having a period or on the inevitable occasions when some poor girl forgot it was PE and wasn't wearing the huge green regulation knickers. She would still have to do PE in whatever knickers she had on.

For outdoor PE we wore skirts with the aertex shirts - wraparound pleated skirts, very short indeed (this was the 70s), so it was important to remember the loathsome green knickers on those days too, as walking to the hockey pitch took us past a factory where there were always leering men standing around having a good look as we went past.

I wouldn't go back to my teenage years for any money.

Another ex green PE knicker wearer here Gasp.

Balletgirl

Have you tried these. My DS had very small and narrow feet. These worked!

www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10701_10001_231010230360_-1

Another one who had to wear green gym knickers and airtex blouses. Ugh.

Yep. Navy gym knickers and gym skirt with our names embroidered on in giant letters.
Doing cross country around the town.

Safeguarding nightmare right there!

They are trainers not school shoes. Unfortunately a lot of shops including Clarks sell trainers as school shoes. Our school makes the rules very clear - leather or fake leather shoes that can be polished.

The leather lace up shoes that ds has that some people on here would consider trainers are polishable because they are leather

Fortunately his school is not anal sensible about what is allowed.