This is one of my bugs about school uniform generally - that it's supposed to save money by reducing competitive dressing, and also not to show which kids are from rich or poor families - but in practice it adds the expense of extra clothes, which well-off families may not notice but poor ones will. When it extends to special school shoes as well, even more so. That said, I'm glad my son's school don't take any notice of shoes. He had Clarkes dinosaur shoes for the last six months or so, outgrown them and has some other Clarks now. I like Clarks for kids shoes not because they are necessarily better shoes, but they always measure, length and width - turns out his feet have been growing sideways! I just hope he learns to do laces before secondary school!