THE mother of a Year 6 pupil who was told to get new shoes for her son has slammed the “pathetic” school over the ordeal.
Leisha Hatton, 42, was left furious after Penkridge Middle School in Staffordshire sent her a note on September 4 saying she had just one week to replace the “unacceptable” footwear.
Mrs Hatton claimed that pupils were inspected “military fashion” on the first day of school.
She said a teacher pointed out her 10-year-old son as the only one in breach of uniform regulations because his completely black shoes were branded with an Adidas logo on the side of the sole.
Mrs Hatton said that later that day, she received a note from the deputy head, telling her she had one week to replace the shoes.
They were bought from Next’s school shoes range and her son had been wearing them since March, Mrs Hatton said.
The mum-of-two told The Sun: “I don’t see how it’s fair in this day and age with the cost of living that you can demand parents replace perfectly good school shoes just because you don’t like the fact that they are Adidas.
“I said ‘you’re not having new school shoes mate unless the teachers want to pay for them themselves’.
“From March to July nobody checked, nobody even noticed.”
The school’s uniform policy allows for “sensible, sturdy, low heeled shoes without coloured branding, decoration or trim”.
The £37 Adidas school shoes are completely black with the brand’s trademark stripes subtly embossed on the sides.
“You’ve got kids wearing Kickers and Doc Martens, both of which are branded shoes and those are acceptable. It turns out it’s just these Adidas shoes they have a problem with,” Mrs Hatton claimed.
Mrs Hatton said she confronted the headteacher, Mr Grocutt, who has now offered to give her the money to buy more “appropriate” shoes, and extended the one-week deadline.
The mum says she told the headteacher she would buy £60 shoes from Clark’s, and he agreed.
Mrs Hatton said: “If I hadn’t stood up and challenged it I would have to go out and buy shoes within a week.
“The headteacher says I can take longer to buy the shoes and to be fair he says he’ll give me the money back to buy the shoes.”
When asked if she considered the outcome a “win”, Mrs Hatton said she did not, adding: “Why should I or any other parent have to go out and replace shoes that are perfectly good.
“They should be teaching my children, educating, them.
“If my child is five minutes late, I get a letter preaching about the impact of the lost five minutes of education, but it seems that’s different when they’re being lined up by the teacher for a shoe inspection.”
She claimed that her son’s friends in the same classroom are wearing Kickers with coloured decoration on, but it was only her child who was singled out.
“The learning isn’t impacted by shoes having a brand on them,” Mrs Hatton said.
“Teach my child, for God’s sake. It’s pathetic.”
The school’s headteacher, Mr Grocutt, told The Sun Mrs Hatton was not “ordered” to buy new shoes, but was “simply asked to change them as they are not in keeping with the school’s uniform policy”.
He also said there is no “military fashion” inspection, adding: “Our pupils line up to go into class at different intervals throughout the day, we do a quick check on uniform to ensure that pupils are dressed appropriately for learning and that our policies are being adhered to.
“On this occasion the child’s footwear were not in keeping with our policy which is clearly available on the school website and shared with parents at regular intervals throughout the school.
“This was shared prior to the school holidays and again during the holidays to ensure parents were prepared.
“The policy has been in place for the past two years and this isn’t something that is new.”
He told The Sun that a “polite message” was sent from the Form Teacher asking for the uniform to be corrected and a week was given as an amount of time for this to be rectified.
There was also an offer that if there were any problems with this to come and discuss it with staff, Mr Grocutt said.
Regarding Mrs Hatton’s comments about her get a “preaching letter” when her child was five minutes late, he said: “We do have high standards at the school.
“We do place high importance on punctuality and attendance. This has led us to being in the top 10% of attendance nationally.”
He added that the school does offer to help replace items “where we find parents are unable to support the school’s request”.
Mr Grocutt said: “We certainly do not want these thrown away and advised that her son can wear them for his PE lessons.”
When asked about other pupils wearing Kickers and Doc Martens, he said: “I’m unaware of the other pupils’ shoes mentioned.
“We are committed to working with our parents and have a fantastic relationship with them, our parents are keen fundraisers for the school, and many are actively involved in the many events we put on each year.”
