A MUM has insisted a school has gone “too far”, after refusing to teach her daughter until she removes her nose piercing.
Tink has been keeping people updated about daughter Ruby’s issues with her school, which got markedly worse after a new head teacher started.
Despite the strict regulations, Tink has continued to help Ruby express her individuality, by dyeing her hair red and even piercing her nose.
But the school have been less than accepting of her latest appearance changes, and put Ruby and her cousin Maisie into isolation when they turned up to school with their noses pierced – despite the fact that they were covered with skin-coloured tape.
On Wednesday night, Tink returned to TikTok to accuse the school of going “too far” with their latest punishment.
“So the school have decided that they will not teach Ruby or Maisie at all until they take the nose stud out,” she said.
“I replaced both of their nose studs yesterday with clear see through plastic containers retainers, so you can’t even see them.
“And they went into school and they got put straight in isolation.
“I went up the school again and I wanted to speak to the head teacher.
“Three times now I’ve asked to speak to the head teacher and every single time they’ve said she’s in a meeting and she’s refused.
“Refused to even ring me, contact me or anything.
“This head teacher has just stayed in our office whenever I’m there and refused to come out.
“Even when I asked her to ring me to let me know their decision today, she didn’t.”
Tink was instead called by the deputy head, who informed her of the decision that teachers will refuse to teach the two girls if they don’t remove their studs.
“Ruby’s obviously upset, Maisie’s upset,” she continued.
“As a parent, I don’t know what I should do because I can’t obviously keep keeping my child off school because it’s gonna be detrimental to her.
“But at the same time, I want her to be proud of who she wants to be and to look exactly how she wants to.”
She concluded: “The school system is failing, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Too far,” she captioned the video.
WHY is it that students aren't allowed dyed hair, painted nails, tattoos or piercings at school? Surely they should be allowed to express their individuality?
Well, according to Quora, there are five main reasons that such appearance alterations are banned in school.
1. Maintaining a professional appearance
Students are required to stick to the uniform policy in order to present themselves in a professional manner. Doing so helps create a sense of discipline and respect for the learning environment.
2. Safety concerns
In some situations, there could be safety concerns about an appearance change. This would be applicable if someone was to have extremely long hair that wasn’t tied up, for example, as it could get caught in equipment during PE lessons or while playing with friends.
3. Minimising disruption
Many schools have a strict policy regarding students’ appearance in a bid to minimise disruption. Some education centres believe that someone having brightly-coloured dyed hair, or a large piercing, ends up being a distraction to other students, and therefore detracts from the learning process.
4. Preparation for the work place
Many jobs – especially corporate or medical ones – have strict rules regarding appearance, with piercings, tattoos and dyed hair all on the banned list. So preventing the students from having these alterations at schools means they’ll be prepared for not being allowed them when they’ve got a job too.
5. Cultural/social norms
Schools may seek to reflect the norms of what’s considered appropriate or acceptable in different cultures and communities in their policies.
“I don’t understand how a piercing affects learning,” one person commented.
“Education board is next step Tink, that’s absolutely ridiculous,” another said.
“I’d ring ur local council and speak to the education department for advice!” a third advised.
