To wonder how a school could get this so wrong

[Hingeandbracket]

And not admit it.
www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/newsbeat-45521094
I am not quick to shout racist but this seems pretty clear cut.

It would piss me off if I couldn't see the whiteboard.
She's a selfish girl.

Wonder how you cope at the theatre. I always get 6 foot tall blokes in front of me!

One of the many, many, many things MN has taught me over the years is the disproportionate amount of time and effort black and mixed race women have to put in, in order to meet current social expectations. Worse, that many of them end up shaving their hair off and wearing wigs instead, and some develop alopecia because of the weight of the braids.

I don't think teenage girls should be required to put that amount of personal time into grooming in order to access education, never mind damaging their actual scalps.

Afro hair grows up not down, and I really think that in 2020, we can deal with that, without placing an unfair burden on black and mixed race women because their hair isn't naturally flat. I happen to remember the 80s, when everyone who was anyone had their hair perm'ed. My mother used about a can of hairspray a week!

No point comparing hair that grows with hair that grows up and out. It’s her hair, accommodate it.

The whole rules about hair thing is completely ridiculous anyway. It pisses me off rules like this

And I can see went she became anxious about it. Sending her home for stuff like this is ridiculous

She's not 'wearing her hair as she likes' though. She just grows big hair. Her only choices are to sink tonnes of money, time and energy trying to make her hair be more 'acceptable'.

I work in a secondary school and we have boys and girls with big hair. Bloody hell, I have big hair. It's fine. Nothing terrible has happened.

No this country does not get more racist, it gets more pathetically politically correct

It gets more controlled and intolerant of dissent or difference, more judgemental of appearance and of things that really don't matter that much. Didn't some kids go to school with punk haircuts once? Did it stop their brains working? Did it stop their ears and eyes working?

Yes this is very ta just. I know ruby and can tell you the school made her life hell. If rules are racist which this was they need to be challenged and changed

@Northernparent68

so School rules do n’t apply to this child

So what if the school rules said the child had to be white?

@oulu I think I know who you are!

What's interesting is these sorts of things never seem to happen in independent schools who usually have very strict uniform which must be worn and includes reference to hair on head and face etc.

It's the poor old state schools who get hits at every turn.

@Hepsibar it wasn't the poor old state school it was poor little ruby. The poor old state school shouldn't have employed a racist head who imposed racist policies

ExEUCitizen I had a girl in my class at school back home in the Netherlands who was full punk - spiked black and white hair, the makeup, the clothes. She was a quiet, hard-working and highly academic student. So nobody took any notice of her appearance - they judged her on her merits, just as they did everyone else.

The UK could learn a lot about what's important in life - it isn't appearance. This country's increasing obsession with uniform and conformity is sad.

I love the Netherlands! I spent some time there and in Belgium, and bloody hell do I miss it. The UK could definitely learn a lot from both, completely agree.

Hair Styles should be reasonable and not impact on other students. Long hair needs to be tied back for PE, Science and Technology. Hair should not significantly cover the eyes as this will affect learning

This is from the school's website, showing that the "tie it up" rule applies to all, but I'm wondering what happens about health and safety during things like science lessons, if some afro caribbean hair really can't be easily tied back?

That's what the rule is now. Previously the rule referred specifically to Afro styles. It's interesting that, despite denying racism, the school has changed the rule

This child wouldn't in fact have been caught by this rule, given that her hair isn't actually long.

@MaeveDidIt, what's selfish about simply letting your hair stay natural? If you sat behind someone tall with broad shoulders, would you feel that they were being selfish?

Or might you do the sensible thing and move your chair a few inches to the side, or ask to move forwards/

@oulu I think I know who you are

Do you, @clpsmum? Who are you?

Once again, apart from safety in specific lessons, what does a child's hairstyle have to do with school and why are parents allowing schools to dictate how their child looks when they only spend 20% of their time in school?

It has no impact on learning and you could equally argue the same for uniform, however at least with uniform, they can remove it after school and wear their own clothes. They have to have a school acceptable haircut all the time.

They are actually worse than the military and at least people in the military have a bit more flexibility and have actually chosen to be there.

And before people start saying that you can choose a different school, many people don't actually have a choice and also many schools have the same draconian rules.

my DC attended one of the top state schools and whilst it had a uniform that was generally adhered to, no-one was sent home for wearing leggings instead of trousers or skirt or for shoes with bits of colour on them etc and their hair/facial hair was their own business. I've seen boys with long loose afro type hair, boys with full beard, DC with coloured hair of various styles. As long as there is nothing to cause offense, they are able to have what they like.

Funnily enough they achieve highly in terms of academic success and the school has very little in the way of discipline issues, bullying or LLD.

Batshit school

Previously the rule referred specifically to Afro styles. It's interesting that, despite denying racism, the school has changed the rule

Ah now that's interesting, @Oulu, and something I genuinely wasn't aware of

I'd have thought they'd know better than to target any rule at a particular race, but please may I ask how this came to light? Has someone produced a copy of the policy from back then perhaps, and if so is it available somewhere for the rest of us to read?

The limitation of the rule to Afro hair is reported here and here

I know this is a very serious thread but am I the only one wondering if she wore her hair to school like this:

My school had lots and lots of black children. None of the girls wore their hair as an 'afro'. They all had plaited hair. Yes it takes ages, but the braids lasted for 4-6 weeks. People here are talking as if it has to be done every day.

The school rule didn't discriminate against Afro hair texture as such. It asked that it be short or tied back. And that's what 99% of black girls do with their hair.

It's not relevant what other black girls choose to do with their hair. That's up to them. She should have the choice of whether or not to braid or whatever (time consuming and expensive, but even if it wasn't the principle is the same) or wear her hair naturally. Because that's the way her hair grows, and it's part of her body.

So the original school rules mentioning 'afro hair' specifically were racist. Because a white or Asian girl can wear her hair naturally with no bother and they'll be left alone. They are singling out black children whose hair doesn't grow straight down. It's disgraceful.

The school rules still says that hair only needs to be tied back for science and pe unless it is ‘unreasonable’ or ‘impacts on other students’ and the Independent article talks about uniform guides given to students that still refer to ‘excessive volume’. Therefore black children have to tie their hair back at all times but other children don’t. It’s blatant racism.

The school rule didn't discriminate against Afro hair texture as such. It asked that it be short or tied back. And that's what 99% of black girls do with their hair.

Of course it discriminated. If you have a rule that only applies to children with Afro hair and not others, that is discriminatory.

I agree that it's utterly irrelevant what other children do with their hair. This child's hair looks perfectly nice, it's off her face, that's really all that a school is entitled to ask for on a day to day basis. OK, take precautions for things like science, but that's all that is needed.