Back to School - share your photos and win free shoes!

I love the summer holidays, but going back to school is great too, and I love seeing all the back to school photos from all my friends on Facebook. Each morning for the past few days my facebook has been awash with smiling faces as many children set off to start a new year at school.

As I sat and looked through the photos yesterday morning a realisation dawned - My eldest would be joining the smiling faces the next day and my younger two the day after - only one problem, we hadn't got our school shoes yet!

Luckily we had been contacted by Brantano asking if we would like to go along and see how they measure childrens feet and ensure they get correctly fitted shoes, it is so important to have childrens feet measured correctly and it doesn't have to be a bank balance straining exercise.

 Brantanos offer a huge range of shoes ranging in price from lots of the big brand names including Clarks, Start Rite, skittles and fleet street so you are sure to find something to match your budget and childrens style.

So we went along to our local Brantanos store, where the staff were very helpful and tried to encourage the childrens enthusiasm in finding school shoes (not always an easy task as the range of school shoes isn't the most appealing to youngsters!)

The trained staff ensured measurements were taken of both feet, and then helped us to locate the selection of shoes in the right size  whilst being very patient with my childrens demands and moans giving out stickers and plenty of helpful information and advise.

Brantanos have a team of staff expertly trained in shoe fitting, with staff members going through rigorous training to ensure you get the correct shoes for your childrens growing feet. Shoe measurement service is free with no commitment to buy, which is great - stores have long opening hours too making it perfect to pop in and double check your children haven't out grown their shoes.

Childrens feet grow in bursts so it is recommended that you get school aged childrens feet measured every 3 - 4 months, but as every parent knows shoes can be expensive but Brantanos have a huge selection to choose from in a range of prices, the staff are happy to help you pick a pair of shoes that fits your budget and personal style preferences.

Then before you purchase the shoes you can walk up and down the long isles to ensuring they are correctly fitted, comfortable and the staff can then check again, advising if your child need insoles - like in our case where Chloe has one foot slightly larger than the other.

After we had all settled on a pair of shoes we were told of the importance of checking growing feet and given a handy little card to bring back in 3 months time for a free fitting check, and 15% discount of adult shoes which is a nice added touch.

Brantanos also sell many other school essentials such as pumps, lunch boxes, drink bottles and wallets - so you can kit out everyone in one stop.

We left very happy, with all three finding a pair of shoes that fit well and looked great.

Jake went for the classic black school shoe from Clarks priced £30 with Chloe picking out a pair osh Kosh pretty detailed shoes priced £28 and Mikey settled on the slightly more trainer style, but still smart enough for school, shoes from Osaga for a great value £16 I really was impressed with the huge variety of shoes on offer and will be visiting again to get new trainers for the children.

This morning I was able to post a photo to join the others on facebook of Jake as he set of on his journey to senior school, sighing with relief that I think he had everything he needed.

Now I can relax, without having to rush anywhere, and tomorrow I can hopefully get a photo of all three in their uniform to proudly show share and then stash in the memory archives.

Disclosure : we were given 1 free pair of shoes as a thank you for writing this post, I however paid for the other two pairs myself.