AIBU to be fuming that DS has been sent home because of his hair???

[brodyblake]

DS had his haircut just before he started secondary school. In the uniform rules, it just saying no "extreme hairstyles" does not give any kind of description as to what those may be. Bugger me, he goes in with a perfect uniform, a nice smart haircut and is told it's a no!!! They have said that he is to be in isolation until it grows to an acceptable length they didn't say what would be classed as extreme!!!!!!!!

Its the thin end of the wedge, once you allow something a bit 'edgy' just because its fashionable then you open the door to the next hair style and the next. A fashion parade is not conducive to studying and you have to draw the line some where.

WTF, "It was ok to fight Hitler so its ok for school". Someones been on the shrooms early!

Isolation!!! Wtf sounds like prison. How do they put a child in isolation? Who is teaching him? Do they have spare rooms in these schools with random teachers waiting for the haircut kids?

When I was at school over a decade ago we had isolation; the pupil had to go to their teachers for some work and spend the entire day doing said work on a table outside the heads office.

My son has a peaky blinders type haircut, until recently, it was always #1 at the sides and back, I never considered this would be too short for school!

He has a 2 now, but no ones ever said anything.

Its madness, my mum went up the school to complain i was sent home for two tone bleached hair at school (oh the 80s) they didn't budge though, and I had to dye over it.

Rules should always be challenged and broken when they are nothing but a petty exercise of power. The way to check is: can the person trying to enforce the rule give a brief, clear explanation of why it is necessary? If not, fuck the rule. Disobey it until it becomes impossible to enforce.

This is what we should be teaching kids. Not 'obey adults without question' because blind obedience is never a good idea.

YABU. The school has rules, just follow them. It's perfectly obvious to anyone with common sense that if it's very short on the sides and significantly longer on top it'll count as extreme.

My dd was taken aside last week and told her hair style wasn't allowed. It's narural highlights that have been bleached by the sun on holiday the teacher argued that it ombre or something. I can't even remember. She's 18!

Isolation at my school was a room, with special tables that had a board on both sides, so couldn't see other kids and there was a teacher always on duty in there. It's still like this

Really don't see anything wrong with the 'skin fade' short back & sides cut so I too wouldn't have thought it inappropriate for school.
To put him in isolation until it grows out is ridiculous.

At ours anything less than a 2 is unacceptable. Also long on top and shaved sides not ok. Long all over is fine. They make it very clear in the literature and stressed it on the new intake evening too so no excuse for not complying here. The barber was even advising one boy against a 1 cut when we were in there so even he knew the local rules!

AKA the Kim Jong Un cut.

Well how pathetic... What are you going to do about it though, OP? If I were you, I'd do the following:

1. move him from this school. If they are so bothered by something as small as this, they're clearly a bunch of narrow minded idiots. I wouldn't want my children exposed to that kind if thinking.

2. contact the local authority and kick up merry hell about how your son has been discriminated against. I'd be tempted to send a solicitor's letter too given there is no reason on earth that his hair cut should be detrimental to his education.

3. contact Ofsted. The more this kind of petty idiocy is challenged, the more likely things are to change.

Even with the school in our case specifying a grade im not sure how they would chack

I mean i can see the difference between a 1 and a 3 or 4, but i cant see much of a difference between 2 and 3, wouldnt it vary from child to child

I think anything particularly "fashionable" makes it more obvious which students have parents/carers that can afford a trip to the hairdressers every week, and which don't. School is meant to be a level playing field. Everyone needs to look similar, not because of control, but so everyone is the same and individuals can't be picked out.

We've had issues with 'extreme hair' this year too.

They phoned to warn me that my DD2's highlights would be tolerated for that day, but that I must dye it back over night.

I explained that we'd been on holiday and her hair had lightened in the sun.

They tried to insist I dye it anyway. I refused. My DD's hair is her natural colour, way am I dyeing it.

They have defined 'extreme hair' this year though, lots of boys were being sent home last year for similar cuts. They've specified a minimum of no 3 now

so what do rasta children do???freedom of religion is a part of uk isn't it?

polly

I think in most cases people are just saying what their schools do

In my case i didnt even know they specified a grade til i looked it up just now

As i said above i dont even know how they would know for definite

Franciscrawford - that's what I was thinking. I love the skin fade look and think it should be compulsory on all men!! But on a serious note- I sometimes think that some schools do not understand young people one bit.

My dad had that hair style in the 1940's, short back and sides, strange it's seen as 'extreme' now

The school I work in (ofsted outstanding) doesn't care about wild hair, coloured hair or facial studs or makeup as long as the rest of the uniform is smart.

Once again I am amazed. When I was at secondary in the 90s there were boys with long hair, girls with undercuts, dreadlocks and green/pink/blue hair. We all managed to do well in exams and some of us even have jobs now. However we weren't allowed to wear black trousers: navy for girls, black for boys. No reason specified. So daft draconian rules have been around forever and need, in my opinion to be challenged at every opportunity.

Grey for boys not black!!

Here in Scotland we are simply not allowed to refuse on the basis of appearance. Even though schools push uniform they are legally not able to enforce any rules.

And this is one of the reasons I'm so glad to be moving back up there next year.

Seriously, what fucking difference does the length of someone's hair make to their education?? None. Absolutely none whatso-fucking-ever.

Several days/weeks in exclusion, on the other hand, I imagine could have quite a negative impact on someone's education and general attitude towards learning and school.

Rules for no fucking reason other than to have rules piss me off so much (can you tell?)!

Thats absolutely ridiculous! Theres no way a child should be put in isolation for a haircut, how long is he going to be in there? I would never consider a skin fade as an extreme haircut, round me pretty much every teenage boy has had similar for the last 5 years. That or long shaggy hair, either one is fine. I think its important to teach children the difference between rules that should be followed and petty rules that should be chqllenged, and tbh this is a petty rule that should be broken. If I was your ds id probably keep getting my haircut like this, they cant keep him in isolation forever

Aaagghh! This is one of the many reasons I'm so pleased my two have both left school. My DS2 was put in isolation last year as apparently his hair was too short at the sides (number 2). So in his gcse year he spent the day in a room by himself doing no work. I would have kind of understood if he'd had patterns, but his hair was really neat and tidy.

My Dad always had a short back and sides. He was a school headmaster.

Putting your DS in isolation is OTT.

I've met plenty of headteachers with shorter hair than that.