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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have no comment on this whatsoever

75 replies

friday16 · 04/10/2013 16:21

"Rhys Johnson, 14, was ordered to be taught in isolation for flouting the uniform code at Milford Haven school, in west Wales, by getting his head shaved at a Macmillan cancer charity event.

The teenager raised £700 with a friend last weekend when he took part in the charity's UK-wide annual coffee morning. He wanted to raise cash for cancer research after his aunt was diagnosed with the disease.

But he had been warned in advance by the school not to get his head shaved. As a result he was removed from class when he showed up on Monday morning, and was subsequently taught in isolation."

Here

OP posts:
TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking · 04/10/2013 16:25

He should have been praised for this not reprimanded! Shock

Good on the pupils for their protest.

Caboodle · 04/10/2013 16:29

Surely an exception could have been made for this child (although, if he knew beforehand he was going to do it perhaps parents should have raised it with the school first?)

EatingAllTheCrumpets · 04/10/2013 16:34

These sort of rules are absolutely pathetic. Why on earth is a shaved head inappropriate for school? How does that stop him, or other pupils, from being able to learn? That's before we even get into the charitable reason he shaved his head.

There a couple of schools near me that are so strict with hair styles, a girl with a fishtail play was put into isolation as was a girl with a high bun. And we had a youn lad who had a short back and sides suspended as it looked similar to a footballers style.

maddening · 04/10/2013 17:52

Why do you have no comment on it whatsoever?

NotintheMiddle · 04/10/2013 18:11

Gosh. Our sixth years had their heads shaved for charity. In school.

BasilBabyEater · 04/10/2013 18:13

Wankers.

WorraLiberty · 04/10/2013 18:14

Shaving your head isn't the only way of making money for charity.

Why would he do that when he knew the consequence?

raisah · 04/10/2013 18:19

My sister had her shaved in school to raise money for macmillans. The whole school turned out to watch, the head had it filmed and invited the local paper round to cover it. What a difference in attitude, lets hope the person who imposed the rule doesn't need the services of macmillan oneday.

Tavv · 04/10/2013 19:11

Agree with WorraLiberty.

Original poster
friday16 · 04/10/2013 22:21

"Why do you have no comment on it whatsoever?"

Because pointing out that a near-failing ("adequate", one notch above "unsatisfactory") school is behaving like a bunch of complete fuckwits might prejudge the discussion.

OP posts:
WMittens · 04/10/2013 23:11

Why would he do that when he knew the consequence?

Why does there have to be a consequence?

Is there an upper length limit for hair, too? Nothing more than, say, 20"?

At what point is it too short - 9mm, 6mm, 3mm?

If he had been going through a course of chemotherapy would he have been taught in isolation?

WMittens · 04/10/2013 23:12

Shaving your head isn't the only way of making money for charity.

No, but however £700 is raised, it's a fantastic outcome and contribution.

propertyNIGHTmareBEFOREXMAS · 04/10/2013 23:12

What a petty and pointless battle to pick with a child attempting to raise money for a good cause. Pathetic.

AnaisHendricks · 04/10/2013 23:14

I believe the correct term for having no comment is this:

Biscuit
LaQueenForADay · 04/10/2013 23:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PrincessRomy · 04/10/2013 23:19

Don't people choose to use shaving their head as a way of raising money to show a sort of solidarity towards people who may lose their hair as a side effect of some cancer treatments?

So it's not an arbitrary, plucked out of a hat fundraising method but one that's perceived as relevant to the cause. I think the school should not be punishing the boy for this.

All the other pupils at the school should turn up on Monday with their heads shaved too.

backwardpossom · 04/10/2013 23:21

Why is a shaved head even against the rules in the first place? FFS.

phantomnamechanger · 04/10/2013 23:27

Don't people choose to use shaving their head as a way of raising money to show a sort of solidarity towards people who may lose their hair as a side effect of some cancer treatments?

good point, I agree

DH boss went bald very suddenly at 15, Matt Lucas also lost all his hair as a child - how do the school deal with that?

ironically the negative publicity surrounding this case may actually lead to him getting MORE sponsorship from supportive members of the public!

SirChenjin · 04/10/2013 23:31

Difficult one. The school has rules regarding dress code, just like workplaces up and down the country. If you flout dress codes in the workplace there are consequences - so in many ways it's teaching him a valuable life lesson.

Otoh, it seems churlish of the school to punish him when he has raised money for charity.

PrincessRomy · 04/10/2013 23:53

Would a workplace be allowed to put someone to work in isolation or send them home because they got their head shaved? Genuine question, I don't know if this would be legal or not.

AnaisHendricks · 05/10/2013 00:06

I don't know either, but I am having lovely fantasies of Gideon, Dave and Boris without their tresses...

SirChenjin · 05/10/2013 09:28

Don't know about working in isolation, but if you turned up in something that went against the dress code then you could be sent home to change, absolutely. If you continued to flout the dress code then you would face disciplinary procedures or the sack.

yegodsandlittlefishes · 05/10/2013 09:39

So if, at that school, a child was bald for medical reasons, they would presumably be taught as normal in the class setting, but be isolated in the crowd by their appearance. This could give added stress and anxiety to a child alreasy having to deal with difficult circumstances.

Perhaps the school has had problems with gangs who identify their group with short hair.

The school should rethink their policy. The hair is not the problem, it's disruptive or anti social behaviou that should be addressed.

LaQueenForADay · 05/10/2013 09:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bemybebe · 05/10/2013 09:46

Totally inappropriate response. Wankers indeed.