Stop where do you think you are going?

"And where’s your lanyard? And why are you wearing trainers?", shrieks the Assistant Head for Personal Development and Well Being!

A barrage of questions for a child who probably has not had breakfast, had to drop off two younger siblings, search for homework, find PE kit that has sat in the laundry basket all weekend unwashed and now smelling worse than when placed their last Friday, says bye to Mum who isn’t coping so well today and goes off to school to be met by this …

Perhaps we should give a thought to where some of our kids have come from and what they’ve had to deal with before even setting foot outside the home.

What’s important?

Is it really the lanyard or is it the more important things that we can help to care about and be kind about…

Let’s now talk about the issue of trainers:

Let’s now talk about the issue of trainers: firstly, define a trainer – they come in all styles and colours and it’s a very wide ranging term. Secondly, as a workforce we no longer go dressed in pin striped suits with overcoats and umbrellas slung over our arm. No, a Gen Z will, at best, wear a shirt/t shirt and jeans and most likely trainers.

This over the top emphasis on shoes is out of date and quite frankly during an economic cost of living crisis when many families are struggling to buy one pair of footwear let alone two is at best out of touch and at worst insensitive and highly unnecessary.

What would be a better approach?