If back to school fever has gripped your house in recent weeks, chances are you're either relishing the return to normality or quietly mourning the end of summer.
Either way, few of us are quite ready for the onslaught of homework and letters home that this time of year brings. But spare a thought for those parents whose letters from the teacher aren't just about when the Halloween disco will take place or when the first school trip of the term is.
Yep, some parents have already been slapped with notes from headteachers over their kids wearing the 'wrong' uniform to school. And before you assume this is a case of children going to school dressed in entirely inappropriate attire, we're actually talking about shoes. The wrong kind.
The Daily Mail reports:
Angry parents have hit out at a 'petty' headmaster who sent home more than 50 children for wearing the wrong type of shoes on their first day back at school.
Staff at the Djanogly City Academy, in Nottingham, pulled 100 students out of lessons just minutes after they turned up for their first day back from summer yesterday.
Those not wearing plain black leather shoes, which included some wearing trainers and flip-flops, were rounded up and taken to the sports hall before 56 were sent home to change.
The remaining 44 pupils were given appropriate shoes to borrow from the storage cupboards before being allowed to return to lessons.
Eek. Shoes to borrow?! I can imagine there were plenty of parents who didn't take kindly to that. Can you imagine sending your child off to school only to be met with their return home - minutes after their arrival on school premises - under the proviso that they must change their footwear before returning? I wouldn't be happy.
Now I appreciate that school uniform has its place, and that kids can benefit from adhering to school rules and respecting boundaries. But really; it's not as if a child's capacity for learning is in any way compromised if their shoes aren't regulation uniform, is it?!
I don't mind admitting that I sent my lads to school in last term's black trainers this school year - I opted for trainers rather than 'proper' school shoes towards the end of last term when they both suddenly outgrew their school kicks.
Why? Because I knew they'd be wearing them to school for all of a fortnight, so I wanted to make sure the shoes I bought to see them through the end of term could actually be worn throughout the summer, too. And since they haven't yet outgrown them, they'll do for a few more weeks of this term.
Once they've been outgrown a few weeks from now, I'll happily invest in a pair of sensible school shoes but I'm not rushing out to splash the cash on a pair of shoes that we don't actually need, when these trusty trainers will do. Yes, there's a flash of red on them which means they don't technically fit the criteria for school uniform - but do I look bothered?
Sorry, but I'm with the 'angry parents' on this one. By all means send the kids home if they're still coming to school in the 'wrong' shoes in October, but cut the kids - and their cash-strapped parents - some slack for the start of term, I say.
Do you agree? We'd love to hear your views on this over on our Facebook page. How would you react if your child was sent home for wearing the 'wrong' shoes to school, and do you think schools should ease up on the uniform policy for the first few days or weeks of term?
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