what would you do

reeree

my grandson suffers from a condition called achilles tendon, it means its very difficult to find shoes to fit him as his feet are so wide and oddly shaped, in the six weeks holiday hes gone up to a size nine in shoe, my daughter has been all over the place trying to get shoes for school for him but none of them would fit as he couldnt get his foot in them the only ones that fit him across the width were 3 sizes bigger than what he is, the only thing she could get him were trainers not fancy ones just plain black with two straps across the front, she sent him to school with a letter explaining why she had sent him in trainers, the head of year has phoned me this morning to tell me that black trainers are not acceptable for school, i tried to explain to her why but she wouldnt have it, i said to her do you know what achilles tendon is, she said yes, that her daughter had a car accident and now she suffers from it, but how can it be the same thing, my grandson was born with it, his feet look as if theyve been squashed into shoes 2 sizes to small for him for all of his life. Ive phoned his doctor who he is under at the clinic and she has said to bring him in for a full assesment of his feet but we cant get in to see her till the 28th of september, meanwhile what do we do, she was insistent that he comes in shoes, she told me you can get insoles from boots that will help his feet, i dont think, so the last ones he had had to be specialy made for his individual feet, how do i handle it as my daughter is at work mon -fri it falls on me to deal with it i would be so grateful for any help, my grandson has enough to deal with, (he gets bullied) without this woman making things worse, sorry for the long rant

jenhug

I would remind the teacher that there is no law stating that school uniform has to be applied to, but you will happily allow her to come shopping with you to find a better fitting pair of shoes if she feels she can do a better job! Get a doctors letter, speak to the school nurse also. She should be able to speak up on your grand sons behalf.

jockettuk

make a doctors appointment and get a letter from them explaining your grandson has this problem..

my daughters school has the same policy but will ok trainers if they get a doctors letter outlinning a medical condition.

If this woman seems stuborn then go over her head she not the only one .. ask to speak to the headteacher or at least email the head/deputy head explaining why you think she is unreasonable

jenhug

My friends son has spina bifida and he wears black trainers, school are fine with this.
I feel so angry for you!

reeree

jenhug wrote: »

My friends son has spina bifida and he wears black trainers, school are fine with this.
I feel so angry for you!

thankyou all for your replys, this particular teacher talks down to you and makes you feel so small as if you dont know what you are talking about, and getting a word in edge ways is so hard, you can hardly even tell they are trainers unless you had a really good look, i dont see why we should force his feet into shoes that will do more harm than good

Bufger

I would book him straight into the doctors so you can make it official. Whilst waiting to see the docs you should write to or ring the headteacher and explain the situation. If he/she is unhelpful invite them to take a look at the childs feet (with you there) or even measure them up and then invite them to find a pair of shoes suitable to fit and wear for a full day of school.

Failing that continue to send him in trainers until they take action. By that time you should have the evidence in place to make them look really stupid :cool:

busiscoming2

Speak to the doctor and get him to write a letter. Speak to the head of year or head of school and if you get no joy there go to the board of governers!
Isn't the person you spoke to just bullying as well???!!

Dabode

Hi there

I think you really need to get a letter from your GS's doctor to explain why it is proving to be very difficult to get appropriate shoes. I do fully appreciaye how angry you must be feeling as I would be absolutely livid especially when you see youngsters wearing totally outlandish shoes at some schools.

One thing that confused me though, you said that your gs suffered from "achilles tendon". Everyone has an achilles tendon, in fact, they have 2, this is the tendon that runs at the back of the heel and allows you to draw your foot up and down so I think maybe that you have been told the wrong thing when you have been told that he has "achilles tendon" Perhaps a letter from his GP explaining what his real condition is may go a long way to resolving the issue especially if the GP states that trainers are appropriate footwear for his condition.

Katie-Kat-Kins

Sounds like your son is being discriminated against on the grounds of his medical condition.

I would get your GP to write a note confirming he is waiting for an appointment at the specialist and confirming that the condition makes wearing normal shoes difficult.

Include the head in all discussions/correspondence too. They are the one with the power.

It sounds as though this is most likely a different condition to the one that the teachers daughter suffers from. She may have had a shortened achilles tendon which can be helped by special insoles and basically just makes it difficult to touch the heel to the floor. Or she could have had a ruptured achilles tendon which causes "foot drop" and can be helped with a splint.

reeree

Dabode wrote: »

Hi there

I think you really need to get a letter from your GS's doctor to explain why it is proving to be very difficult to get appropriate shoes. I do fully appreciaye how angry you must be feeling as I would be absolutely livid especially when you see youngsters wearing totally outlandish shoes at some schools.

One thing that confused me though, you said that your gs suffered from "achilles tendon". Everyone has an achilles tendon, in fact, they have 2, this is the tendon that runs at the back of the heel and allows you to draw your foot up and down so I think maybe that you have been told the wrong thing when you have been told that he has "achilles tendon" Perhaps a letter from his GP explaining what his real condition is may go a long way to resolving the issue especially if the GP states that trainers are appropriate footwear for his condition.

i actually think you have a point about that, i noticed when i googled it all sorts of sporting injuries came up for achilles tendon and not actually what was wrong with him so i will ask the doctor for a specific diagnosis, what made us take him to the doctor in the first place when he first started walking was that he used to walk as if he had high heels on in other words on his tiptoes all the time, when we asked why he does that she said its actually more comfortable for him to walk like that than on the ball of his feet,

Bufger

I have a condition called hammer-toe which means i find it hard to get nice shoes that fit my toes in comfortably. There will be a technical term for the condition but until then just prove that you're not making up any old excuse for him wearing trainers.