A FUMING mum has slammed a school’s “Victorian-style” uniform policy after her daughter was put in isolation for wearing earrings.
Helen Gent’s 14-year-old daughter Lucille arrived at Magnus Church of England Academy in Newark, Nottinghamshire, wearing “tiny” stud earrings after the half-term break.
SWNSHelen Gent accused Magnus Church of England Academy of ‘sexism’[/caption]
SWNSLucille was told the earrings went against uniform policy[/caption]
SWNSThe fuming mum has blasted what she calls the ‘Victorian-style authoritarian policy’[/caption]
But the “straight A and B” Year 8 student was left devastated after being told they went against uniform policy and she would have to be put into isolation.
Helen, 45, claims that even after explaining they would need to stay in for six to eight weeks to avoid the risk of infection while healing, the school still refused to allow her back into class.
The fuming mum has now blasted what she calls the “Victorian-style authoritarian policy”, because many schools and workplaces across Britain allow for simple stud earrings to be worn.
Helen even took her daughter out of classes to homeschool her but says she was then threatened with a £60-a-day fine for unauthorised absences.
She says she got another shock when she was told a different school had been found for Lucille to transfer to, three miles away, despite the mother not asking for her daughter to be moved.
Helen has now criticised the uniform policy and branded the state-run school “sexist, archaic and irrelevant”.
The mum-of-one, who runs a taxi firm, said: “I could not believe they were happy for her education to suffer just for wearing a single pair of tiny stud earrings.
“Forbidding a girl from accessing her education due to ear piercing is indirect sexism.
“The teachers don’t understand what that is at all. I pointed this out and their response was it can’t be sexist because it applies to boys too.
“But most boys don’t wear earrings so it is inadvertently sexist as it effects one gender more predominately.”
The mother said she agreed to remove them but it would take six to eight weeks to heal in order to avoid the risk of infection.
She added: “But they even refused that compromise and said she would go into isolation.”
Helen said that a single pair of tiny stud earrings should not be a problem, and they are “part of British culture”.
She added: “It’s basically saying that piercing her ears is shameful and should be punished by removing her valuable education.
“Other schools have the common sense to realise having ear piercings doesn’t affect a child’s ability to learn.
“Even the NHS has revised its policy to allow stud earrings, because they recognise it doesn’t prevent their staff from doing their work and is not a health and safety obstacle.”
Lucille starts GCSEs this year and is on the Duke of Edinburgh course, which makes it essential that she doesn’t miss any classes to obtain the bronze DofE certificate, her mother said.
Helen said her daughter is a shy and introverted person, and academic to the point she “cries if she fails tests or exams”.
The mother claims that she said that if the school was going to put her daughter in isolation then she would homeschool her until the ears had healed.
She was then told she would be fined £60 a day for unauthorised absence, Helen said.
She added: “They further said they had found her a place at another school and were moving her.
“I could not believe what we were hearing, they can’t find her a new school against parents’ wishes unless they are expelling her.
“They haven’t consulted us about moving and I’m angry they just want to send her to another school with no consultation.”
She said that one of Lucille’s teachers goes to school with tattoos showing from his hand to his neck, and this is “as it should be” in the current year.
Helen said: “Nobody should be shamed or told they have less academic ability because of their physical appearance, in any way, whether that’s a disability, a tattoo, or a piercing.”
She added: “A Victorian-style dictatorial, authoritarian policy, using strict military discipline across a standard state school, that reinforces ‘do what I say and not what I do’, is not the best way to get the most out of children.”
A spokesperson for Magnus Academy said: “Our uniform standards are clear and available on our website.
“These have not changed in over six years, and reminders are sent home frequently throughout the year.
“On rare occasions, and where individuals do arrive at school having not followed our uniform policy, we always give them an opportunity to correct this.
“If they do not, or cannot correct their uniform, we provide work, along with full teacher support, for them to complete elsewhere within the school.
“We do not suspend for uniform breaches, and work with families to resolve them quickly.”
SWNSPictured is Magnus Church of England Academy, in Newark, Notts[/caption]
SWNSHelen Gent with her 14-year-old daughter Lucille[/caption]