London: A primary school in the UK has introduced a policy of allowing students to wear slippers in class as part of a move it claims improves learning.
Findern Primary School in Derby adopted the approach based on global research indicating the positive impact of relaxed footwear in classrooms and say they have already noticed improvements.
"One of the teachers suggested the idea after seeing some research, and when we pitched the idea to the children they were very excited. It has been a success so far, most of the children and even some members of staff are wearing slippers now," deputy head teacher Michelle Hall told Derby Telegraph.
"Our pupils are already very well behaved but there have been some changes. There is less stomping around and the pupils are a lot calmer and seem very relaxed. The children love it and that's why we do our jobs, with them at the heart of everything," she added.
A Bournemouth University study completed over 10 years in 25 countries had found that when students removed their shoes at school, it created a calmer and quieter environment.
They also found that children were more likely to get to school earlier, leave later and read more, the newspaper reports.
As well as visiting schools in New Zealand and Australia for the project, researchers had studied children's attainment at a school in west London after the habit was introduced, analysing the pupils' academic results all the way up through to university.
The system is already in use in Scandinavian countries, where cold weather conditions mean that children take their snow boots off before entering the classroom.
