As Grace now moves up into Year 1, luckily I have managed to reuse a lot of the school uniform from last year. All her skirts, pinafore dresses and cardigans still fit fine as does her P.E. kit. I just need to get some white tops and trousers. The one thing, and unfortunately the most expensive thing, that needs replacing are her school shoes. They wear them day in day out, running round the playground, scuffing on the tarmac, so it’s little wonder they need replacing.

I always think, rightly or wrongly, that you should get your children’s feet measured regularly and their shoes properly fitted. Common sense tells me that if they spend so long in them, then they must fit properly and not risk damaging their little feet. With this in mind, off we trotted to join the huge queues in Clarks (this being the only shop in town who fit children’s shoes).

Grace had her feet measured and not only has giant feet (almost size 12!) but they are also nearly a size different to each other and are a funny shape! This seriously limited the already poor choice of shoes until we were down to just one pair. They’re fine I guess. I’m not a huge fan of patent leather but the shop assistant assures me they are tough and will not scuff easily! I hope so at that price!

While we were there we thought we’d better get Faith’s feet measured and she needed new shoes too. She finally settled on these purple shoes but, again, I wasn’t hugely impressed by the selection on offer. So we got two pairs of shoes and left £60 lighter. That’s way more than I ever spend on shoes! Can’t complain too much tough as my Grandma always pays for the girls’ shoes. Yay for Grandmas!

Do you always get properly fitted school shoes and do they cost the earth? Or do you know of a secret shop where shoes are good quality and cheap?