Teachers removing make up

[ljn133]

Does anyone know whether a teacher in a primary school is legally allowed to remove a childs nail polish?

I would be surprised if the school removed it. I would expect a letter or phone call home would suffice.

It will be seen in same way as if they had come to school in a non uniform pair of jeans etc. if child is old enough I would send them to get cotton wool and nail polish remover from office and to do it themselves. If they were not capable or couldn't do it properly I would offer to help them. If they refused to take it off they would be in more bother and I would probably send them to senior teacher to deal with or one parents etc.

Actually in primary school
It could prevent them from learning.

I've taught after school drama classes where young children have been incredibly distracted by Jenny's red nail polish or Sam's face-paint etc etc

I have to admit that I do encourage dd to break the rules though. She wears the clearest least shiny nail polish we could find as it helps stop her biting her nails right down to the bottom.

Our primary says no nail varnish. If my dd wore nail varnish, I would not have an issue with her teacher removing it.

Usually, the approach of our school is to send more letters if kids have nail varnish on. Most teachers at the higher end of primary are careful re physical contact these days so I wouldn't expect them to remove it. But it wouldn't bother me.

If you break the uniform rules you take the consequences. Good on the teacher!

it had to be "in keeping with the uniform code of business attire"

Isn't nail varnish (like shoes) the one area where anything goes even in very formal business environments. I have a manager who regularly wears blue nail varnish. Still seem to be able to do her job better than those without nail varnish.

My kids have gone to school more than once with nail varnish on, nothing has been said. Don't schools have more to worry about than nail varnish?

Shocked my some of these responses (but then I am a loathed teacher).

Nail varnish ban is the same as a makeup ban. Girls aren't allowed to wear makeup to school. Certainly not in any school I've ever heard of. It's distracting. Wearing full slap inc nails is not what coming to school is for. Teenage girls get easily distracted and can spend eons discussing nails/eyelashes/lipstick blah blah.
Plus they are children and here to learn. Makeup has no place in the classroom

It's completely standard to have makeup wipes and nail polish remover in our desks as tutors because it's normally caught first thing in the day. The kids still try it on.

Good behaviour starts with good standards. No makeup is a pretty normal rule enforced by schools as part of school uniform which in itself is there to ensure students are focused on learning and puts them all on equal footing.

I mean in the sense that they all look the same. There's no trying to out do each other with their outfits, no one spending loads more than others so that wealthy/less wealthy stands out. Less pressure of looking a certain way to fit in.

I mean this generally
in terms of uniform. Of course teenagers are teenagers and they still
Have all the normal teenage angst and pressures regardless of uniform

Our primary doesn't care

But what is the reason for it? Does nail polish prevent children from learning?

No. Neither would wearing wellies and a tutu prevent someone doing their office job, but it doesn't mean they are allowed to wear them.

But what is the reason for it? Does nail polish prevent children from learning?

Sometimes, if:

They are more interested in comparing colours than the lesson
They are peeling it off / biting it off and again not paying attention
If the child next to them is picking up the chips to make a pretty pattern and not engaging in the lesson.

It is a bit of a grey area with health and safety - it could chip off into their lunch/someone else's lunch and if they are very little and you want to check they have clean hands it's harder to tell. Don't get me started on colour changing polish and warm water / hand washing.

It can also be used to cover a bruised nail. Yes some parents are that conniving.

I think nail varnish for children in school is not good because:

1: Create drama over chipped nail, create competition among girls.
2: Potentially dangerous for PE/ play time if they have longer nails.
3: Not very healthy for growing children.(I used to wear it all the time. It took ages for my nails to look healthy again.It was completely discoloured and become brittle.)
4: Potentially distractive if they pay too much attention on nails, not the teacher.
5: If they decide to bring it from home and paint during breaks, it will stink the place!!!

But what is the reason for it? Does nail polish prevent children from learning?

The reason is it's the rules. You have your child in that school and you agree to follow that policies in place at that school.

It's a stupid arbitrary rule designed to enforce conformity upon children and reinforce teacher power and I'm really glad my children go to schools which have been more interested in encouraging them to learn than pish like this.

It's attitudes about any rule seen as arbitrary though that are the think end of a wedge for some parents.

Week one - get away with nail varnish
Week four - well I know the rule says blue jumpers but you can go in red one today
Week ten - Go in trainers rather than shoes

End of term you have a child in trainers, wearing what they like and at the start of the next term when the teacher tries to reset the rules that's out of order because "it was okay last term"

But what difference does any of that make to learning?

IT is easier as a teacher to have a blanket ban on nail varnish than have to deal with the kids that have full set of fake glittery knife-like talons that can cause damage.

I've had two girls go through schools with no such rules, and work in/with schools, and I've never heard of a false nail injury. That's just nonsense to justify imposing a set of rules that have no intrinsic value on kids.

Don't get me wrong some employers ;hello Tesco) do it to adults too but I've never found a tattoo or some hair dye to decrease performance in my staff either.

Given in term one they have learnt they can flout those rules you can then start along the paths of:

I don't have to listen in class
I don't have to produce work
I will bring in sweets/pop rather than water
Why do I have to do my homework?

All rules that will be broken and then when you try and enforce them you will be met with "Well how does my child know what rules to follow when you let them break so many"

All the while stopping the learning of others that do follow the rules but can't understand why they have to follow rules and others do not.