School Shoes and Board Governance
Published in
2 min readSep 12, 2016
Children being sent home for not wearing the correct shoes was in the news nearly every day last week.
Karren Brady makes the point it is creating a level playing field for students and preparing them for work. There have been similar stories in our local media and on social platforms of parents frustrated that the shoes are not correct.
Ultimately the school uniform policy is agreed by the board of governors. Just like board governance for a housing association a school board needs to consider all the information and options available before deciding on a policy. I have previously talked about asking questions to help the board make decisions so let me pretend for a moment I am on a school board.
Agenda Item: School Uniform Policy
My Questions
- What is the purpose of the school uniform policy?
- Why do we have a school uniform policy?
- How does the policy impact pupil behaviour in school?
- What impact does the policy have on our equality, diversity and inclusion policies?
- How does the policy improve educational results?
- What testing has the uniform undertaken for comfort and durability?
- What support do we provide low income families to comply with the policy?
- What process have we gone through to source and provide an approved supplier for all elements of the uniform including shoes?
- How will we communicate the policy to parents, guardians, teachers and pupils?
- What input have the pupils had on the policy?
- How do we draw a distinction between a leather show and a leather trainer?
- What consideration have we given to pupils who may have to walk significant distance to/from school and spend all day in such shoes?
- How do we identify that the incorrect uniform is a signpost to home life issues?
- How do we deal with low income families who can only afford a single pair of shoes and so purchase lifestyle shoes?
- Who is responsible for school uniform enforcement?
- What does enforcement of the policy look like?
- How are we going to provide support and assistance to pupils who have the incorrect uniform?
- How does the policy help create a feeling of safety and wellbeing within the school?
- For pupils that consistently breach the uniform policy what identifiers and support networks are available to them?
- How can we define “too trainer like in appearance”?
