Felixstowe Academy has defended its stance on school uniform and the support in place for parents who have issues.

The move comes after the mother of a Year 10 student was angered by the way her daughter had been treated, for wearing non-standard black shoes on her return to the Academy.

While accepting the school's uniform policy, Rachel Gouldby believes the teacher involved should have been more understanding and not singled out individuals in such a public way.

Mrs Gouldby told Nub News: "I feel that my daughter being pulled out of a line and told to stand separately, only to be belittled in front of her peers, over a pair of shoes then threatened to be sent home is dreadful.

"It was my decision to let her go to school in those shoes because they were the only back shoes that fitted her. I understand the school has uniform policy and that is fair enough in normal term time, but these are not normal times.

"It was a last minute thing and I felt it would be fine for her to go in those for one morning, then I could go and get new ones.

"If I had known her wearing those shoes would cause such a fuss then we would have done things differently."

Some parents have not allowed their children go back to school due to concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic, but Mrs Gouldby's daughter was keen to return and prepare for next years GCSEs.

Mrs Gouldby believes the Academy has got its priorities wrong and more focus should have been on providing education

"The school's priority right now for Year 10 should be helping them with as much as possible in preparation for next year.

"If my daughter had been sent home yesterday it would have proven that the school's priority was the way the students dressed over their education, which surely, is why they were there in the first place."

However, Emma Wilson-Downes, headteacher at Felixstowe Academy, told Nub News arrangements had been put in place in case students had problems with having the correct uniform.

"We wrote to all parents last week carefully and concisely setting out what arrangements we had for the return of our Year 10 and Year 12 students," said Mrs Wilson-Downes.

"In the letter, we asked parents if they had any issues with uniform to please let us know beforehand and we would work with them to address these issues – whether by loaning uniform or finding another suitable arrangement.

"After so much time away from school, we understand this may have been a cause of concern and we are pleased to say that the vast majority of parents have worked closely with us on this."

The Academy, which was praised earlier this year for the improvements it had made after going into special measures last year, is determined to achieve and maintain high standards.

Mrs Wilson Downes said: "Felixstowe Academy makes no apology about having high expectations of our students. We are of course acutely aware that our students and families have been through such an unsettling period of education in the last few months.

"But we want to continue providing as much of a consistent and high standard of education as possible. We wanted our students to feel settled and feel as normal as possible about returning to school and part of that is knowing that we still have the same high standards."

The headteacher insisted efforts had been made to speak with Mrs Gouldby about her daughter's situation and added: "With regards to this particular incident, my assistant headteacher did try and contact the parent on numerous occasions to discuss this situation."

When asked about what this week has been like, with many Year 10 and Year 12 students returning to Felixstowe Academy, Mrs Wilson-Downes added: "It has been absolutely fantastic and just wonderful to hear the school filled with joy again.

"We had more students than I expected and I think it has really helped them – both seeing their teachers face-to-face from an education perspective but also a social and mental health perspective.

"Our staff have really enjoyed it as well and we are all desperate to have even more students returning to school once national guidelines deem it safe to do so."