[Livia]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I tackled this point earlier because I knew it would come up.

There aren't many workplaces that would care about what the shoes look like as long as they are black. None of the shoes in the pictures are at all 'funky' and few employers would bat an eyelid at them. Sending pupils home on a pedantic technicality does not prepare them for working life at all. It's silly to say so.

The Headtwat is being a pedantic mess to try to flex his authority and send a message but all he has done is bring bad press to the school and antagonised the parents and pupils because he's focusing on the insignificant details when he should be focused on doing his job and ensuring these kids get an education.

My three nieces were doing quite badly at their local school and my brother and his wife decided to send them to private school. They're not wealthy, they have good jobs and they've given up moving, holidays, an extension and all kinds of other stuff they were planning to send them to this new school. The old school was really lax about uniforms... the new school, you have to wear exactly what the school dictates, including shoes. My nieces are thriving... and their parents are paying. No one moans about the shoes. No one moans that they are not being allowed to "express themselves", on the contrary they are encouraged to follow their passions... my eldest niece is barely in her teens and is doing extra-curricular film studies and one of the others is learning street dance. But the uniform is non-negotiable. The school doesn't see uniform as an insignificant detail. They have all sorts of kids there, kids who have wealthy parents, kids who have parents working hard to pay their fees and kids on scholarships. They all wear the same. They are all equal. I see that as a positive thing.