A PUPIL who broke his toe was threatened with being banned from classes at his school unless he wore regulation black shoes, his mum claims.
Liz Jordan, from Hester's Way, said All Saints' Academy told her 15-year-old son Ben he couldn't attend classes unless he changed the soft navy blue shoes he was wearing after breaking his toe.
However, the Hester's Way school has insisted it worked with both parent and pupil to ensure he stayed in school for his classes, with staff even going so far as buying him a pair of comfy black shoes.
The Year 10 pupil injured his big toe on his way home from a football game with friends on Thursday last week, leaving him with a swollen foot which he forced into soft blue shoes before going to school on Friday.
But teachers told him he had to wear regulation black shoes, forcing his mum to buy a bigger pair to fit his swollen toe.
Many schools insist on regulation uniform for their pupils.
Mrs Jordan said she bought him a black shoe with a white stripe, only to be told by the school the shoes had to be all black. She said she refused to colour in the white stripe to make the shoes fit regulations.
"It's just ridiculous," she said. "I know many 15-year-old boys who would try anything just to get out of school, but Ben's different. He just wants to go to school, so I was really shocked the school said he must have the right shoes.
"His foot was too big to fit into the shoe because of the injured toe, so I have no idea why the school insists."
Over the weekend, Ben injured his big toe again, breaking it. But he took painkillers to bear squeezing his foot into the navy shoes to go to school on Monday.
Mrs Jordan claimed the school then threatened Ben with isolation unless he changed his shoes.
Vice-principal Tracey Cummings insisted the school had done everything to keep him in school.
She said: "We were keeping him in all our classes, and Mrs Jordan was happy to colour the strip in, but then came back and said she wouldn't. We offered to get him some black shoes from Tesco, but they had ran out, so we got them online instead. I made it very clear to all staff that it was not an issue, and we can keep him in the classes."
