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MNHQ

Mum takes daughter out of GCSE exam over an earring

106 replies

CatherineHMumsnet · 30/09/2010 10:17

We've been asked to comment on a story in Leeds today - and wondered what Mumsnetters think of this news story

OP posts:
MackerelOfFact · 30/09/2010 11:30

Totally ridiculous. The school requesting the earring be removed and the pupil missing her exam were entirely unconnected events. The mother over-reacted and decided to pull her daughter from the exam. THIS is the cause of her failed exam, not the damn earring. She basically punished her own child to make a point to the school which was pretty stupid and misguided!

MackerelOfFact · 30/09/2010 11:30

(The mother was stupid and misguided, not the school).

TheFallenMadonna · 30/09/2010 11:37

We don't allow any facial piercings, and I suspect this would come under that heading, although for us it's usually lips. I doubt it's a new rule in the school. Is it a new piercing. Or just a "it's non-uniform" thing? Always tricky.

And I think if you ask your daughter which is more important - an earring or an exam - and they answer the earring, then blaming the school for ruining their education is slightly Hmm

BrightLightBrightLight · 30/09/2010 11:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MackerelOfFact · 30/09/2010 11:38

I'm also a bit confused as to why the mother was loitering while her daughter was waiting to go into the exam in the first place. That's a bit odd, unless she was planning to kick up a fuss. In which case why wait until the girl's exam to do this, why not take it up with the school beforehand?

She also says "Dakota is being punished for a rule that is unclear and they aren?t listening to anything I?m saying" - erm, no she's not! You punished her.

Hassled · 30/09/2010 11:39

Human rights. FFS. The mother's a nutter.

GoodDaysBadDays · 30/09/2010 11:41

Totally ridiculous. I can't bear hearing the Human Rights act being bandied about like this.

But, using her own argument, If Dakota's Hmm mother had really valued her human rights she would have told her to grow up, take the earing out (or not) and sit the exam thereby continuing the education that millions of children would love to have as a basic human right and that some reject so flippantly.

How can schools enforce anything with parents like this around?

Miasma · 30/09/2010 11:43

They are a pair of twats.

GoodDaysBadDays · 30/09/2010 11:45

You put it much better than me Miasma Grin

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 30/09/2010 11:48

I'm speechless. The daughter is stupid to think that keeping her earring is more important than her exam, and the mother is utterly irresponsible for supporting this decision!!

I'd be interested to know whether this was the first time the child had been asked to remove the earring - I suspect that it wasn't, and the mother and daughter decided to force the issue at the exam hall door. I can't see any other reason why the mum would have been right there when her dd was told to remove the earring.

I used to invigilate GCSE and A levels at ds1's school, and I never, ever saw a parent with the pupils at the exam hall door. They obviously decided to make an issue of it, and felt that the publicity was worth costing the child her exam result.

Or, to summarise, as Hassled says, the mother's a nutter.

nickschick · 30/09/2010 11:54

Its absolutely ridiculous.

I,I like to think as a 'younger' mum of teens appreciate their need to validate their youth and trends etc etc but even I think that Dakotas mum has let her down.

I have 2 teen ds and there have been many petty school rules that I have forced my dc to adhere to simply because they are rules- its part of life.

Ds2 has his ear pierced and on what we call a 'mufti' day the pupils pay a sum and are allowed to wear their own clothes,Ds wanted to wear his ear ring (a tacky diamante stud)- I said it was OK so long as nobody at school asked him to remove it.....some of the girls were wearing huge hoop earrings and were asked to take them out as it wasnt very safe,Ds took his out too as he felt that schools argument was valid.

What message is that Mum giving her daughter?.

Besides I think that that piercing is beyond an ear piercing and has become a body piercing.

There must be more to this story,surely no mother would damage her childs education by supporting this.

juuule · 30/09/2010 11:57

I agree with SGM that both parties over-reacted and "Its such petty idiocy to be fighting over something so stupid."

If the school rule is that one earring per ear is allowed and doesn't specify where on the ear then no school rule has been broken. So, I'm not sure what the school's issue with it was.

However, if not taking the earring out would mean the school stopping the daughter being able to take the exam then the earring would have to come out temporarily.

"The headteacher said it would have to be ?exceptional? circumstances if he were to prevent any pupil from taking an exam"

and

"Shelley College staff told the teen to take her stud earring out before taking a module for her drama GCSE."

sounds a bit contradictory. Would Shelley College staff have stopped the teen taking her module if she didn't remove the stud?

defyingravity · 30/09/2010 11:58

Was it a practical drama exam. If so then in most schools rules similar to those for PE apply.

I don't allow earrings for drama or dance classes.

maryz · 30/09/2010 11:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DinahRod · 30/09/2010 11:59

The only ones responsible for damaging Dakota's education are Dakota and her mother.

And then they cover themselves in further 'glory' by going to the local press [shudder]

VivaLeBeaver · 30/09/2010 12:01

Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

defyingravity · 30/09/2010 12:04

Also re the mum loitering. Audiences are sometimes allowed and in some exam boards they have to perform in front of an audience.

VivaLeBeaver · 30/09/2010 12:04

Although I see it was a drama GCSE so maybe no great loss. Grin

juuule · 30/09/2010 12:06

I do think there's more to it than just the earring, though.

Ms Firth said ?It has been a battle of wills between me and the school for some time now.?

DinahRod · 30/09/2010 12:08

Bet there is a lot the school could say but are not allowed to

youknowmeasharimo · 30/09/2010 12:09

My feeling is that the only person who has harmed her daughter is the mother.

Naming her Dakota was mistake no. 1

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 30/09/2010 12:14

Defyingravity - I hadn't thought about the possibility of an audience.

fruitshootsandheaves · 30/09/2010 12:20

I think she had all the drama exam answers written on the earring which is why she didn't want to take it out Wink

tokyonambu · 30/09/2010 12:23

Usually, these sort of stories are the culmination of low-level stupidity over the course of the whole year, or the whole time in school. The school's probably not being petty just this once, but is at the end of its willingness to compromise with Dakota (Biscuit) and her mother. The mother is clearly about fifteen herself, in attitude if not in actual age. The child is also old enough to know better.

But her, they're in the Huddersfield Examiner. What price fame, eh?

tokyonambu · 30/09/2010 12:24

Ah yes. Last comment in the story: "?It has been a battle of wills between me and the school for some time now.?, says the mother. [biscuit[