School trainer row: Here's what you had to say on schools' strict uniform rules

As revealed yesterday, Rugeley's Hart School put 120 of its children into isolation for wearing shoes to school that did not conform with its uniform code.

The school had the pupils working out of desks in the gym, with a statement saying: "by upholding a high standard of school uniform we are promoting the best behaviour and raising educational standards."

In light of this, readers were asked if schools are too strict on their shoe policy, with 58% of 1,300 people saying they are.

The revelation at Hart School comes after RSA Academy in Tipton sent dozens of pupils home on the first day of term in September for wearing the wrong shoes to school.

With the great school shoe debate raging once again, where's what some of you had to say on the issue:

Rules are Rules

Mark Bayliss: "Rules are rules simple. If you let one kid in with trainers then the whole school will end up the same. Yes I agree some parents can’t afford expensive shoes but then again trainers aren’t cheap. I think a uniform looks smart and gets children used to fact they may have to wear a uniform for work when they leave."

Emma Harris: "I totally agree with the uniform policy, you wouldn’t argue with your boss about your uniform so it’s sets them in good stead. Why would you want to send your child in trainers to school anyway it’s looks mess."

Carli McConnell: "The school are trying to prepare secondary school kids for the working world. You don’t rock up to a job wearing converse or vans or Nike with your trousers or skirt. Leather style shoes are easily accessed from cheap at primark to expensive elsewhere, get what u can afford. Rules are rules, policies are policies, if the parents don’t enforce it the school has no hope."

Zak Tink: "Some jobs require a strict uniform. Would you argue with your boss about it. Wearing a uniform prepares them for expectations in adult life."

Ammie Lawley: "If you have a strict uniform policy in your office or at work you obeyed by it. You wouldn’t rock up to the office in your snazzy suit wearing last nights dirty converse. It sets them an example for later in life, it’s not about the price of shoes but more the appearance and what it says about you as a child/teenager/adult."

Get a grip

Janice Bleasdale-Lynn: "Get a grip all you going on about uniform – it's a pair of shoes. It's one thing wearing uniform but all these schools issuing protocols on shoes need to give their heads a wobble! So a child turns up immaculate in uniform but is excluded because their shoes (which are decent comfortable shoes) do not meet the criteria. The world has gone crazy."

Rob Clarke: "It's ridiculous. It's a schools job to educate that, not to fashion police. Isolation for wearing trainers is really bad almost bullying the children to do as they say, it's a form of conditioning that needs to be removed from all schools."

Tammy Gilbert: "I'm all for a uniform but I can't see what shoes or hairstyles (seen kids getting kicked out of school for) affects their education....has long as shoes are black I can't see a problem."

Ted Crutchley: "Unsure as to how sartorial elegance has anything to do with educational attainment. I do understand uniformity but as long as footwear is black, smart and respectable it should be enough. I also understand peer pressure of having the latest trendy trainers. Get some realism schools, educate don't litigate."

Debbie Hinsull: "It's getting ridiculous. Does it really matter what shoes someone is wearing? It doesn't affect their ability to learn."