A ROW has erupted between a handful of parents and Hertswood School over kids wearing black canvas trainers instead of leather shoes.

A few parents are angry after they purchased a £40 plain plimsoll made by fashion brand Vans during the summer holidays, which they thought was acceptable uniform.

The school introduced a ban on the shoes from October 1 and has enforced it by sending a number of children home to change their footwear.

One mother, Karen Ronayne, of Manor Way, who has two daughters at the school, is refusing to pay out for replacements shoes.

She said her children will not go back until the school lifts the ban.

She said she was “angry and disgusted” claiming the school had not told parents at the end of term before the summer holidays.

However, the school had given prior warning to parents both before the holidays and a further four times during September about introduction of a stricter policy on the canvas shoes, in the school’s weekly newsletter, Hertsbeat.

Headteacher Jan Palmer Sayer said: “Our uniform rules are as simple as possible and as clear as possible.

“They haven’t changed in 5 years. We ask parents to purchase “sensible black shoes” and trainers are not permitted.

“Canvas shoes are neither weatherproof nor sturdy and actually, the vast majority of our parents agree with us that they are not suitable school shoes.

“We have, via our weekly newsletter, on five separate occasions since July, communicated to parents that canvas shoes would not be permitted from October 1st and from that date, we have applied the ban consistently, equitably and fairly.”

One mother, Amanda Gardiner, of Arundel Drive, said she thought Hertswood was a fantastic school, but said she was baffled as to why the school had suddenly taken issue with the canvas shoes.

The school insists it is sensitive to financial pressures upon parents and points to the past four years in which Hertswood has successfully applied to local county councillors for money to help subsidise the cost of uniform for the most hard-up families.