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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Original poster

Girls must have their hair tied up

117 replies

nothappymummy2014 · 20/10/2014 18:41

Our daughter's school has now said all girls must wear their hair tied up. I think this is ridiculous and just wondered if this was a rule in other primary schools?

Our DD hates her hair being tied up and her hair is only just about shoulder length. Getting more and more fed up of parental and child choice being taken away over trivial matters.

OP posts:
specialsubject · 20/10/2014 19:14

may this be the worst you both ever have to cope with. The responses here make it perfectly clear what the reason is.

cut your daughter's hair a bit shorter or tie it up. She's old enough to understand.

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/10/2014 19:15

Sensible rule Imo.

Kids hide behind their hair. Use it as an excuse not to listen as it's over ten or ears, they fiddle, it ruins work if it falls in pain and flips onto the paper. Gets in the way whilst working and eating. And of course the obvious nit spreading problem.

Should be non gendered though.

Anyone taking kick.out of heating aid should be dealt with and your dd should be told not to pull out hair.

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/10/2014 19:16

Oh ffs typo central. Over their ears

Falls In paint and flops onto paper

spanieleyes · 20/10/2014 19:17

I have had several boys in my class with hair tied back, all for one and one for all!

Showy · 20/10/2014 19:19

Some of our local schools send home DC with nits.

SuburbanRhonda · 20/10/2014 19:23

OP, as the parent, what do you intend to do about your DD refusing to follow the school rule by taking her hair band out?

Hulababy · 20/10/2014 19:23

Momagain1 - nope, not able to send home. We can put a generic headlice letter in the drawer of every child in the class, and we can put a copy up on the class noticeboard - but beyond that, nothing. We are certainly not allowed to refuse them access to school due to head lice.

Sunflower6 · 20/10/2014 19:26

My daughter would hate to be made to tie her hair back, she is 8 and I keep her hair in a shirt bob as she refuses to tie it back, she is a bit of a tom boy.

She also has recently had to start wearing a hearing aid, she is very self conscious off it and likes to hide it under her hair. She doesn't want any of her friends to know she has a hearing aid even though a boy in her class has two hearing aids.

HouseofEliot · 20/10/2014 20:30

Normal at our school and the two other local schools.

teacherwith2kids · 20/10/2014 20:32

Any child with long hair (boy or girl) has to have it tied back, everywhere I have taught. Adapting a hairstyle to cover e.g. ears, a birth mark, a hearing aid etc is very common - have you tried lots of different options?

I re-tie hair for any child whose band comes off / they take it off, and who cannot put it back up again themselves. It's a common feature in the first week or so of term, but like all of those little behavioural issues it gets ironed out through all the usual classroom management tools.

mrsminiverscharlady · 20/10/2014 20:33

Nits are spread through head to head contact so why would tying hair back prevent a child catching them?

Jellyandjam · 20/10/2014 20:37

It's not an actual rule at my children's school although it is encouraged. However it is a rule that I have always had for my daughter. She doesn't always like it but she wouldn't like getting lice either so she knows that's my rule and just gets on with it.

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/10/2014 20:41

Nits are spread through head to head contact so why would tying hair back prevent a child catching them?

Well , hair isn't covering ears or hiding faces kids can see and hear without needing to lean up really close.

m0therofdragons · 20/10/2014 20:48

Wow, this was the rule when I was at primary and now dd has the same rule at her primary. I'm stunned schools exist that don't have this rule. Dd does prefer her hair down so last year had a Bob that was short enough not to need tying up. Now it's grown she just takes it out as soon as she gets in the car to go home. As a compromise we do a style we call "a little bit up and down". It means it's off her face but that could still hide hearing aids.

MiaowTheCat · 20/10/2014 20:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

feelingmellow · 20/10/2014 20:51

Was a rule even when I was at school (a long time ago)

SevenZarkSeven · 20/10/2014 20:55

Our primary school says "long hair must be tied back".

Having a rule that says "girls hair must be tied back" is ludicrous for the reasons stated.

Assuming the school actually mean that long hair must be tied back, rather than what they have actually said, she could have her hair cut in a bob like the poster upthread whose daughter also wants to cover a hearing aid. Depends on what sort of hair she has though I suppose. But worth a thought.

guitarosauras · 20/10/2014 20:58

I gave my dd the choice of hair up or cut into a bob. she chose a bob.

ds was the one that always got nits Sad (slightly long but more surfer chic than long hair).

nonicknameseemsavailable · 20/10/2014 21:00

I assumed it was the rule everywhere - it was when I was at school and it is in my children's school, boys and girls.

it helps stop nits, stops them fiddling with it and gives more chance they may concentrate, enables them to see what they are doing etc. I can't see why it would be an issue.

hearing aids are a fact of life, my daughter has to wear glasses, bright coloured lenses at that, you can't hide them or look like everyone else but I have taught her to be proud of being different and to recognise that she happens to need them and they help her.

OddBoots · 20/10/2014 21:07

My dd had her hair in a bob when she started school so it stayed down btut later she grew it and as she has very sticky outy ears and I was a bit worried she would be teased with her hair tied back but I didn't need to worry as it's never been an issue.

If your dd really doesn't want to tie it up could it be cut in a bob?

Pikkewyn · 20/10/2014 21:11

It is the rule at our school too, we told DD2 this and said tie and keep it up or we get it cut. She wore bunches for 3 days and now has a very cute pixie cut. She was given the choice and made her decision, DD1's curls are french plaited on a Sunday night and repeated during the week as they come loose. There are lots of long haired boys who seem to be immune to school rules.

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/10/2014 21:13

Apart from anything else it's school not a fashion parade.

For infants especially hair can be distracting. Accessories fall out and get lost and kids can't re do fancy styles themselves. So that lovelu sleek straightened shoulder length down do is a frizzy Tangley mess by home time.

Practicality is important

furcoatbigknickers · 20/10/2014 21:15

Dd has repeatdly had nits since moving schools. Im sure its own hair of a certain length.

DuelingFanjo · 20/10/2014 21:18

'Some kids wear glasses too. A hearing aid isn't anything to be ashamed of, or am I missing something?'

I wear glasses and wasn't ashamed of them but still got bullied for it.
My mum has a hearing aid and is really self-conscious about it, she never has her hair back.

The rule, if applied, should state that any one with long hair should have it tied back, it's wrong to assume it's just girls who need to do it.

DaisyFlowerChain · 20/10/2014 21:21

Hair has to be tied up here too be it boys or girls. Party for nit reasons and it's cleaner and safer and stops children playing with it.