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.

The real story is the way the school slithered out of accepting any liability for the situation meaning they can't even say "lessons will be learned" with the usual insincere intent.

I am shocked at the article but equally bad some of the comments here. How can anyone excuse this behaviour, it’s so clearly racist!

Yanbu. Braiding takes a very long time doesn’t it and why on earth should anyone have to cover their natural hair with a wig?

Go to Nigeria and children have to plat[sic] their hair when in school. If that is fine in Africa, why not here?
Because this isn't Africa and it's not necessary.

@Hagbeth but I bet the white pupils didn't have the same 'tie your hair back' rule.

I have never heard a rule like this in all my life. Surely not too difficult to comprehend, no?

Here are some rules from Nigeria for example
www.riverbankschools.org/school-policies/uniform-policy/

There are lots of beautiful hair styles that are acceptable
lagosmums.com/back-to-school-hairstyles-for-black-girls/

There's nothing racist in adhering to uniform policy.

While I do see the point that very big hair can block another pupils' view, surely the answer would be to ask her to tie it back or sit behind other pupils, like you would with a tall pupil.

I also don't see how tying it back would be such a problem?

You can't just tie afro hair back in a ponytail. It damages the scalp and causes hair loss. So yeah, a racist rule

Not true at all coming from someone with afro hair. Type 4c.

If her hair is obstructing a pupils view and disrupting their learning then of course she should tie it back.

@Hagbeth, nice of you to continually ignore how time consuming/expensive/highly damaging it is to constantly style afro hair to 'an acceptable standard'.

My sister is mixed race and we never used elastic bands for her hair we used heavy duty hair claws to keep it tidy because she didn't like braids:

That's absolutely ridiculous - you can't possibly specify 'afro hair must be of 'reasonable' length'. What's reasonable? And why only afro hair? So people with longer, yet straight hair are fine, but this girl isn't? It's racist AND stupid. The mind boggles.

Ofcourse it is racist. It specified afro hair and not curly hair. But I also don't understand why there needs to be do many rules regarding appearance at school any way

Awful. Poor girl.

Some of the comments on here are embarrassing too

There's nothing racist in adhering to uniform policy.

There is if the policy is ridiculous and racist.

Posting stuff from a quick Google of schools in Nigeria isn't the same as a proper comparison by the way. To be honest, there aren't many parts of the Nigerian education system I think we ought to adopt - but in particular daft rules about hair would be low down the list. Not sure why you think it's in any way relevant to school in London.

I couldn't believe they didn't just adjust the seating plan. What do they do for the tall, wide-shouldered boys?

How do they think schools in the 80's coped when big hairstyles were in fashion? I used to go through a can of hairspray a week.

Or 60s beehives, for that matter.

@PotholeParadise There not allowed to move them because that's racist too!
@MouthBreathingRage I'm sure there are ways to keep black hair tidy for school as well without incurring damage.

Poor girl. The school rules were clearly racist. A pity it was settled out of court, as even now the school is not admitting they did anything wrong. They appear to have learnt nothing.

Like a pp said you do tend to get this with academies, the school management let their little power go to their heads and think they can impose anything they like on students, parents and staff.

Nat6999 Ha, ha, yes. I somehow managed to see around all the huge triangle perms to the board in the 80s. Choking on hairspray in the changing rooms after Games was a hazard, though.

Awful behaviour by the school. Strong girl to have coped so well with this treatment.

Hagbeth

Nah. No school that was scared to move a girl with an afro in case it was racist would have ended up in this position.

Looks more like a petty power struggle to me.

The usual 'this isn't racist' brigade will come out in force.

Some people find the concept of institutional discrimination very hard to grasp, for some reason.

My school never asked me to tie back my hair or said it was blocking the board - mine was at least as big but also twice as long. Also that hair shown in the pics is hardly big!

And I’m white.

What do other black students at this school do? Surely they aren't all being sent home?