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Footwear policy review

by | Nov 12, 2015

Our Uniform Review Committee recently met to review the changes made to the ‘Footwear’ section of our School Uniform Policy.  As our policy states, we are to conduct a review of these changes one year later. We believe there has been a positive response to the changes made but if you would like to provide feedback on the changes, you may like to do this in the comments section below.  These changes were largely in regard to footwear colour and choice. The detail is provided below.

Thank you,

Uniform Review Committee

Footwear (taken from Woodend’s Uniform Policy, 2014 – 2015)

The shoes students wear every day at school are most important for their healthy growth and development as well as for their active and safe participation in all school activities. Students are wearing those shoes for at least 8 hours a day, every school day, and in many cases these are the shoes students continue to wear well outside school hours. This makes decisions about what shoes to purchase, most crucial for the well- being of every child.

It is the strong view of the school community that shoes should be good quality, maintained in good condition and good for students’ feet.

We acknowledge that there are fashion considerations made every time footwear
is purchased. While the colour of shoes is no longer specified in this policy,
we continue to strongly believe that shoes worn at school are primarily functional and not primarily about making fashion statements. With this in mind, the purchase of shoes for school would not be about novelty, advertising or attention seeking. While we understand that some shoes come with coloured laces, it is not within the spirit of the policy for shoelaces to be deliberately replaced for fashion purposes.

Woodend students are involved in physical activity and/or PE lessons most days; play outside at recess and lunch times; and may require safe footwear for Science/Technology and Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden lessons. Therefore in addition to the above considerations, acceptable footwear should be: closed for protection of the toes; fastened appropriately; and allow students to participate safely in all school activities.

The following footwear is not acceptable at school: any footwear in poor condition; primarily a fashion statement; not suitable for all school activities; thongs and other slip ons; sandals with open toes; party/fashion shoes; high top boots; gumboots or snow boots (smooth soled shoes); skate shoes and shoes with oversized heels.