Recommendations for School Shoes and Plimsoles

mum2twinsx2

I vote M&S maryjane flower plimsolls here too!! £3 for size my d/d`s are in at moment. Have brought some more ready for september already as marks had 20% off (kept receipt thought incase any miracles happen and they grown an extra size over the holidays!)
School shoes, always use to be clarks but swayed towards startrite recently.

RachelS

I've just found out I've got dyspraxia, at the age of 30! explains so, so much! I'd personally go for decent quality for the normal school shoes and bargain for the plimsolls.

PudseyDB

My son wears Clarks trainers both for school and holidays, so I simply buy the next size when he needs them. I actually try to avoid the end of August though because of the long queues!

As for pumps, I find the cheap £2.99 ones are fine. At that price, I can replace them when when they start to fall apart (which they do as he wears them all the time he's in school as they have to take their outdoor shoes off when they go into class).

debbiedeejay

The original style Plimsoll is a nightmare for a growing foot.

They were designed as beach wear back in the 1830's!(yes thats not a typo) And then as footwear for deck exercises used by the Amercian Navy in the second world war!

As an adult many of us would not be able to tolorate wearing a pair of plimsolls for a couple of hours without starting to feel uncomfortable in our toes and back of the legs.

How many teachers do you know willing to wear a pair all day and then keep changing their footwear through out the day too?

Not many probably.

So why do we expect our children to do the same? Feet have to carry us a lifetime and our childrens health is more important than school floors.

Sorry for the rant and apololgies to those that teach or work in schools - I understand its because its quicker to get classes to where they are needed, or someone is sooo slow getting their laces done up or cant - time is short I know but I personally would rather see my kids wearing good fitting proper shoes during the day and trainers for activities then a shiny wooden floor.


Anyone interested in this further may want to check out the Society of shoefitters web site - they have plenty of independant info on shoe fitting(including independant shoe shops) not just for children but for adults too!The big names of shoe shops mentioned above also have used the society for training and research etc and they have a wealth of information including lots of downloadable leaflets.

Reason I mention the society is that I have used them to source hard to fit footwear for people as part of my job and found them really useful so wanted to pass their info on.

Good Luck all! My DD3 is in her last year of school and I admit I won't miss shopping for school shoes after next year!

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

I think i'll go with cheap supermarket or similar plimsoles as in DS school they'll be worn for pe only twice a week for 30 mins ish.

But for his school shoes either clarks/startrite or there is are a couple of independent shops i could check out.

I was wondering if there are any shoe outlets running between the East Sussex A27 west to devon. During the second week of aug we are visiting the eden project, so wondered if there was anywhere to call in en route for cheaper prices. I'm unsure what to search or google for.

To squibbs, thanks for your suggestion for Ashford is a good 90 mins from here so any saving would be lost in fuel costs. I appreciate your thoughts though.

pigpen

shy-but-need-help wrote: »

PP where are you buying your ds's school trousers from? So far DS1 has managed to put holes in M&S, Tesco and Asda ones :cool: He does charge around at full tilt though (head first into doorposts, the other week it was a shiner from running into guttering- he no sense of where he is in relation to things) so when he falls- which is often- he meets the ground with a tremendous force. If there are sturdier trousers out there they'd be most welcome here! (this time of year dd2 looks prestine still, ds1 looks like he escaped the set of Oliver!):rotfl:

We always end up with practically perfect right show, left shoe with hardly any heel left on it and scrubbed out toe. He's just hit a size 4 and I'm dreading him reaching the end of the velcro sizes as I have more chance of him setting on fire than learning to tie laces (his fine motor is very delayed, alot moreso than his gross motor) The poor child still gets stuck in his t-shirts- to the point of anxiety attacks, I really feel for his teacher!- so the thought of laces is worrying.

Littlewoods catalogue.. but he knows he doesn't run now.. the BHS ones we had were really good too. That said the girls have gone through their littlewoods ones (DD4 has cerebral palsy and falls over about 1000 times a day!)

Clarks shoes do velcro up to at least a size 8 which DS2 is in now.. he still can't do laces at 15.5 ... we have had lace up ones before.. I hreaded them with strong elastic instead of the laces and he wore them as 'slip on' style.

squibbs25

Bailey, if you are off to the Eden Project would stopping off at the Clarks Outlet Village in somerset be any good?
Not sure how much of a detour you would have to take as i dont know the area at all.

Link for Clarks Village
http://www.clarksvillage.co.uk/index.php

shy-but-need-help

Pigpen the size 8 news is fabulous, we've tried elastic in the passed and he entirely wigged out about how they slipped around and felt lose (he has tactile/sensory issues with clothes too... never just one issue is it?) but hopefully that will be an option in the future, occupational therapist showed him/us the devices stroke patients use on their shoe laces and he was not impressed with the idea of them. Shall give BHS and littlewoods a go- thanks for that! I'll report back how we get on once the new term starts.