Mum takes 11-year-old son out of school after he is threatened with isolation for short haircut
The school apparently told the lad's parents he will be isolated until his hair grows back
A YOUNG lad was threatened with isolation until his ‘short’ hair grows back on his first day of secondary school.
Jody Bradley, 11, was left in tears on arrival at “big school” after he was told his short back and sides haircut wasn’t satisfactory.
The lad was apparently threatened with isolation until the barnet grows back to an acceptable length.
His furious parents Shane and Lynsey have now decided to keep Jody at home following the incident at the gates of Retford Oaks Academy in Nottinghamshire.
Shane, 44, blasted: “It is actually made me quite mad as Jody is being punishment for doing nothing wrong.
“Jody has always had this type of haircut. He even went to the transition week at Retford Oaks just before the holidays and not one person said anything about it.
“Now they are saying his hair is distracting for other pupils and it is offensive. He has no got patterns in his hair or has he dyed it.
“He was so excited about his first day and they had around seven or eight teachers around pulling pupils up on uniform.
“I felt they gave us no choice but to bring him home, as I am not having him punished.
“They said he would remain in isolation until his hair is acceptable, or what they deem is acceptable. Who knows how long that will take? Two, maybe three weeks.”
The fuming parents had a meeting at the school yesterday and were stunned to see other children with either similar hairstyles or pupils with it dyed in unnatural colours.
Retford Oaks states on its website: “Hairstyles should be formal. Lines and patterns should not be cut or shaved into hair. Only colours that could occur naturally may be dyed into hair.”
Mum Lynsey said: “I am still really upset for him. He was up at 7am, got ready and dressed quickly as he was so exciting about going for his first day. It is all he had been talking about during the school holidays.
“I saw them pull him to the side and wondered why. They said it was the hair and I thought they might have meant the top but they said the back and sides we too short.
“I stood and watched about 15 or 16 other children walk past with similar hair styles, although they were slightly longer on top.”
The parents are now keeping Jody off school for the time being and are even considering sending him to another one.
In response to the issue, Retford Oaks Academy stated it is not their policy to remove or isolate a child from their education over uniform.
Heather Widdup, Academy Director, said: “Retford Oaks Academy does have exceptionally high uniform standards, which is one of the key aspects which underpins the outstanding progress our students make, as demonstrated by our superb GCSE results this year.
“Our policy on all aspects of uniform, including hair styles, is abundantly clear in all of our literature and on our website, as demonstrated by the exemplary appearance of our students.
“In this case, as with any other related to a uniform issue, the Academy has offered full education provision on site. For absolute clarity, it is not Academy policy or practice to remove or isolate any child from their educational provision in response to a uniform issue.”
Head Matthew Tate defended the decision despite cops having to be called to the school after he clashed with fuming parents.
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