School shoes- boy starting y7

[Psst1980]

My 11 year old is worrying about getting the “right” school shoes. He likes to be on trend, he’s active and sporty. He’s been wearing black airforce at primary as have all his mates.

The secondary school he will be attending have a strict uniform policy- no trainers or ‘trainer style’ (not even ones that could be polished- so airforce are out!) no boots and need to be black. What to buy?!
He’s got annoyingly narrow feel too🤦🏻‍♀️

Most boys just wear Clarks or Start Rite if they can’t wear trainers

He had those earlier in primary but it was easier then, a dinosaur or a flashing light was all good. But which style for year 7? it’s all about the fashion…he’s desperate to look ‘right’- I’m showing him some and he thinks they look a bit like Grandad’s. Aargh

When my kids secondary school banned trainers, most of the boys seemed to have Clark’s or Kickers and the girls had Clark’s or Dr Martens. Do you know anyone with kids at the school already that you could ask? Or failing that, are there any photos of kids on the school website that you can see what shoes they have on? I say that because it can be area dependent as to what is ‘in’.

Eta, once they couldn’t wear trainers, no one really seemed to care which shoes anyone had on though so I don’t think it’ll be as bad as you think.

Kickers or Dr Martens. Definitely no Clarks! If those two brands are too expensive then Next do good boys’s school shoes. Tell him to pick a pair he likes. Either slip ons or lace ups. Both seem acceptable.

Kickers seem to last well and are ok for fashionableness

The point of the uniform policy of no trainer style shoes is to avoid brands and peer pressure. I find it hard to believe boys would look at what brands of shoes their peers are wearing. My DS school has the same policy and everyone wears any old black school shoes. It’s the last thing any of his friends or peers care about. My DS has worn Clarks, shoes from Asda and Sainsbury’s - whatever fits and works.

My daughter actually goes there and says she doesn’t notice the boys shoes…only the girls ones! Useless 😆

It is rubbish isn’t it. Poor kids should just be kids. But sadly this lot seem to really care about what they own and how they look. I should have better morals probably, but if he’s more confident wearing what’s cool I’ll get him what he wants- I have to buy shoes anyway he may as well have the preferred ones!

As long as you avoid Velcro and go for laces, it will be fine

Jumping on to ask if people got Kickers, did you just colour over the red and green tags?

Apparently everyone at my sons school wears these

ebay.us/m/fkuSpT

DS is also starting year 7 in September and I’m wondering the same! His primary was not strict so he’s always worn all black Nike or Adidas. He’s very active so I can’t see many “smart” shoes lasting as he’s always running and playing football. I’m leaning towards Dr Martens as I think they’re quite hard wearing.

No we didn’t. My ds wore the high top ones so you couldn’t really see anything as his trousers covered most of the shoes.

My son is going in to Y11 and has never once mentioned the brand of his own shoes or anyone elses in secondary school 😂
I doubt they really care?

My son is at a school which is obsessed by uniform. Must be polishable, no brands. Clarks basic lace ups are what they all wear.

M+S all the way. Our son has wide feet and the wide fit of the next size up are always fine. They do a narrow fit too!

Are M&S shoes not all plastic?

We've got Startrite Rhino range (older boys), so no flashing lights or dinosaurs
https://www.startriteshoes.com/boys-shoes/rhino?sort=bestselling

We bought the Glitch ones but Sherman are better if he's going to be kicking a football around. Found Startrite very robust, hard wearing compared to Clarks. My son is narrow fit, but is in the regular width fine. Good padding around the ankle where he's really slim.

My dc has to wear black shoes to his school. We always buy the Hampton Classics George School Shoes. They are from Trotters. Sized go up to UK 7.5. They recommend an insole for narrow feet. They have a few options.

Just normal solid leather shoes that are laced (although a significant minority still wore Velcro). My son is at an all-boy school and I can promise you one thing no one ever gets teased about is their shoes! There isn’t a wild range of black school shoes!

I would say 75pc of the boys in my son’s year 10 class still wear Clarks. But none of them give a shit anyway. Black school shoes are black school shoes. Would be worse to be a try-hard tbh

I think school shoes is a thing mums care about a lot more than teenage boys 😂

Kickers only ones that last ( a while) for my son, after getting through Clarkes, and other more expensive leather shoes brands, in a few months (walks thru park, kicks a ball on way home etc) no issue with coloured label bits, and can get on sale or online around £50. Wouldn’t buy anything else now.

This very same question has been asked in our school's parent fb group and Kickers seem to be the most common answer.

Have a look at Nicholas Deakins Jacku. The sole is a lot like an Air Force 1, but it’s a proper shoe. They’ve lasted my son a full school year so I’ve just bought him another pair.