Help me parse "school shoes" vs. trainers

[ysette9]

As a new parent newly moved to the UK, I appreciate these forums as a source of advice. My oldest is starting Year 7 and we are parsing the uniform policy. I've never experienced a shoe policy other than "wear something you can safely run and play in", so figuring out what is considered school shoes is a bit mysterious.

I looked at the example images the school provided of acceptable footwear, and it is a collection of horrifyingly ugly and horrifyingly uncomfortable/disfiguring torture devices. I want their feet to be in foot-shaped, flexible, flat shoes to promote balance and proper development. I found these shoes that seem to fit the bill, but my spouse is concerned they look too "trainer-like". Neither of us can determine what a trainer is or is not. I know the decision is ultimately up to the judges at school, but I'd love your collective input to help educate me.

These are the shoes: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/187473076260 I blacked out the edges to make it more subtle. I'll see if I can figure a way to add an attachment to this post with the actual photos.

They would not be acceptable in my dds school.
Basically in a secondary school in the Uk with uniform, the shoes need to be relatively formal and smart. So not trainers, canvas shoes, anything with branding . They need to have low heels and be lace up or buckle up.
The barefoot shoes you have linked would not be smart enough, they are far too casual. They would also get comments from other children.
Go to Clarks or Startrite, get your child fitted and buy something sensible from there. As long as they have properly fitting shoes in the right width your child’s feet will be fine.
There is more flexibility in Primary School.

Any other older ladies here chortling because their own secondary schools/grammars back in the 70's didn't give a damn about footwear? (Altho' perhaps fiercely enforcing other aspects of uniform.) The cool girls (of whom I was not one) were in four inch heels in an interesting range of colors, fancy boots all the way up to the knee, huge platforms during the 1973-4 rage for them, etc. Monstrous Doc Martins (first editions of) on the boys, with the trousers hiked up . . . . Nor, mysteriously, did the Powers that Be police makeup and this was in the era of blue eye shadow and massive amounts of mascara, mind you!

Blimey, I started (strict, all girls ) secondary in the later 70s and we had to wear a specific style of lace up shoe. We had different shoes for indoors. Both were actually really comfortable and sturdy thankfully.

Oh and any makeup was washed off by a stern lady with a flannel..

Yep. Early 70s here. We had beige, suede, crepe soled, laceups as indoor shoes, or we could wear beige suede desert boots. Most of us wore them indoors and outdoors rather than bother with the fag of changing shoes. They lasted forever. They didn't seem to care what we wore outdoors as long as they were brown.

I have no recollection of shoes being an issue at school. Either for me or for my children (now grown up). We just followed the rules which weren't stupid but sometimes stupidly applied. DS had a friend, aged about 7/8 whose shoes broke in the penultimate week of the summer term. The school refused to sanction trainers for 8 days. His mother used an elastic band and the day it rained, a plastic bag! The was a head teacher at another school and made her point well.

We had a very strict uniform.

But its a choice to turn uniform into behaviour.

If you have a rule like 'school shoes' you have to apply it consistently and fairly etc, but my child goes to a school without a uniform and the rule is 'closed toe shoes' due to safety.

In school A wearing an smart ankle boot suitable in the rain and your journey is a behaviour issue and school b it isn't.

💯 It's hard to understand why teachers don't agree. At dd's old school a tiny necklace warranted a detention and formal report. Four girls attacking another and hitting their head on concrete warranted a two day exclusion.

I would venture that responses in schools are wholly disproportionate and that's why families and students do not afford some teachers the respect they would otherwise deserve.

Schools need to be strict in all areas, including uniform and attendance.

This one was once one of the worst in the country, with no learning taking place and staff and students being assaulted. It has been turned around by focusing on zero tolerance for poor behaviour, attendance and uniform.

As shown on this thread, too many parents think the rules don’t apply to their DC so schools need to take a zero tolerance approach.