Parent Stunned After Daughter Gets Sent Home From School For Wearing $130 Vivienne Westwood Shoes
Whether you graced the school hallways or rebelled against them, odds are those rebelliously stylish school year-ready shoes of yours didn’t land you an unscheduled trip back home. Yet, in the curious case of Grace College in Gateshead, UK, this year, a peculiar paradigm shift occurred: one that made countless students reconsider their footwear.
One of those students was Layla Pope, an 11-year-old who was welcomed back, not with hugs and kisses but with a one-day suspension on her first day of term. The reason? Vivienne Westwood slip-on shoes that the school deemed “incorrect” due to “health and safety” reasons.
Recently, a school in the UK sparked controversy after turning away multiple students on their first day of term for wearing “incorrect” shoes
Image credits: chroniclelive
However, Layla’s 37-year-old mom, Melissa, concerned as any mom worth her salt would be, unapologetically labeled the school’s reaction as “disgusting” and “ridiculous”, firmly asserting the fact that her daughter’s future attendance was not on the horizon.
“My daughter has had her first day at secondary school. She’s been sitting in a room not learning anything at all and not wanting to go back,” Melissa explained to ChronicleLive.
She continued: “They’ve said she can’t wear them for health and safety because the shoe doesn’t cover the top of the foot. I asked if I could get her a loafer and they said that still wasn’t acceptable, it had to be a brogue type of shoe.”
Layla Pope, an 11-year-old, was one of the students at Gateshead’s Grace College who was sent home for wearing Vivienne Westwood shoes that day
Image credits: chroniclelive
Image source: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
Besides calling Grace College “an Army camp,” Melissa explained that this was the first time her daughter’s shoes were deemed problematic and she would rather find a respectable institution that wouldn’t pick on students for absurd reasons.
A Grace College spokesperson had this to say about the matter: “Grace College is proud of its uniform for the professional image it portrays, and we expect students to wear it with pride.”
“Our uniform policy is designed to be fair, equal and affordable to all students, which is especially important during a cost of living crisis,” Grace College told Chronicle Live.
The school explained that its goal is to create an atmosphere where everything is “fair and equal”
Image source: Kampus Production (not the actual photo)
However, Layla was far from the only teen to suffer bizarre consequences for wearing Vivienne Westwood shoes. Another instance emerged when the father of a 9th-grade student, similarly sent packing for donning Nike walking boots, voiced his confusion and frustration regarding the situation.
“The North East has the lowest GCSE results in the country and we’ve got a secondary school sending students home for a pair of shoes,” the boy’s father said, adding that “a large proportion” of girls were sent home that day.
“I’m quite angry that they are clearly focusing on matters that are less concerning than others that have been raised to them. There’s more important things that should be addressed rather than shoes.”
Most folks online thought that these parents are making it a bigger deal than it really is
However, some parents had a slightly different opinion
Ballerinas in stockings are truly a health and safetly hazard. They slip off all the time. The point of a uniform is also so that children cannot be 'set apart' by their close. I'm normally against extreme dress code enforcement, but if you have a uniform, then follow the uniform. It makes everyone's life easier
Exactly. If you want to show off your clothes go to the mall or join some other school that doesn't have a set uniform.
I think most of the schools in the UK require uniforms.
Yeah, but if the uniform rules state only a style such as flat black shoes.. then this isn't the parents fault. Ìn my school, one of the years, they did name a specific brand. Mostly because it was popular and the majority wore them anyway. I refused, and my mum backed me up. I wore the same shoes id worn the previous few years, with zero issue. I did try on the brand they specified, but hated them, and they were so flat they caused pain in a matter of minutes. Zero support for my arches, which are high. My shoes were nothing fancy. They were black, with a little bit of design. Chunky 2in heel and 1in sole. Comfortable and didn't hurt my feet. The shoes the school named came in all sorts of colours. And colour didn't matter. I actually got bullied for not wearing the brand the school recommended. Even before they recommended it. But eh.. I prefer comfort over fashion. And that's what this was. They were a trend amd the school assumed everyone had a pair.
Flat black shoes are never the norm. School shoes for girls have always required a strap over the foot to keep the shoe secure specifically so that it couldn't just slip off while you're switching classes in crowded hallways. You either wear the T-band shoes or you wear lace up shoes, never flats.
Where I live I've never heard of a rule that girl's shoes have to have t-band or lace ups. My son's school simply says "black shoes, not trainers" and that is it as far as guidance goes.
Shoes for girls in schools everywhere for all time? I have been in a lot of schools over many years and not one required such a thing. Do you mean that, in your own, personal experience specific types of schools in specific places require this specific type of shoe? Also, it says that a father had his son sent home for Nike's, which must be lace-ups and that most students targeted were girls. Sounds like most people angry at the kids and parents are making a lot of assumptions.
What flats are you wearing that slide off when you take a step? I wear flats with tights all of the time and the only time my shoes slide off is when I do it myself.
*clothes not close.
Clothes not close....
Meanwhile millions of other parents in the UK managed to send their kids back to school in appropriate uniform just as the schools requested. Honestly do not understand how hard it is to follow instructions. Also £100 on a pair of shoes is ridiculous. Morons!
Seriously, kids feet grow so fast. If they got money to spend on designer shoes she won't get much wear out of, they can afford the correct uniform shoes.
I loved having a uniform, never had to think of what to wear, only which set is dirty lol
Ballerinas in stockings are truly a health and safetly hazard. They slip off all the time. The point of a uniform is also so that children cannot be 'set apart' by their close. I'm normally against extreme dress code enforcement, but if you have a uniform, then follow the uniform. It makes everyone's life easier
Exactly. If you want to show off your clothes go to the mall or join some other school that doesn't have a set uniform.
I think most of the schools in the UK require uniforms.
Yeah, but if the uniform rules state only a style such as flat black shoes.. then this isn't the parents fault. Ìn my school, one of the years, they did name a specific brand. Mostly because it was popular and the majority wore them anyway. I refused, and my mum backed me up. I wore the same shoes id worn the previous few years, with zero issue. I did try on the brand they specified, but hated them, and they were so flat they caused pain in a matter of minutes. Zero support for my arches, which are high. My shoes were nothing fancy. They were black, with a little bit of design. Chunky 2in heel and 1in sole. Comfortable and didn't hurt my feet. The shoes the school named came in all sorts of colours. And colour didn't matter. I actually got bullied for not wearing the brand the school recommended. Even before they recommended it. But eh.. I prefer comfort over fashion. And that's what this was. They were a trend amd the school assumed everyone had a pair.
Flat black shoes are never the norm. School shoes for girls have always required a strap over the foot to keep the shoe secure specifically so that it couldn't just slip off while you're switching classes in crowded hallways. You either wear the T-band shoes or you wear lace up shoes, never flats.
Where I live I've never heard of a rule that girl's shoes have to have t-band or lace ups. My son's school simply says "black shoes, not trainers" and that is it as far as guidance goes.
Shoes for girls in schools everywhere for all time? I have been in a lot of schools over many years and not one required such a thing. Do you mean that, in your own, personal experience specific types of schools in specific places require this specific type of shoe? Also, it says that a father had his son sent home for Nike's, which must be lace-ups and that most students targeted were girls. Sounds like most people angry at the kids and parents are making a lot of assumptions.
What flats are you wearing that slide off when you take a step? I wear flats with tights all of the time and the only time my shoes slide off is when I do it myself.
*clothes not close.
Clothes not close....
Meanwhile millions of other parents in the UK managed to send their kids back to school in appropriate uniform just as the schools requested. Honestly do not understand how hard it is to follow instructions. Also £100 on a pair of shoes is ridiculous. Morons!
Seriously, kids feet grow so fast. If they got money to spend on designer shoes she won't get much wear out of, they can afford the correct uniform shoes.
I loved having a uniform, never had to think of what to wear, only which set is dirty lol