A dad has slammed a school for placing his daughter in isolation for three weeks after a member of staff spotted her Manchester Arena bombing tribute tattoo.
Kia Hilton, 16, was at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017, where 22 people died when a suicide bomber launched an attack.
Along with thousands of other Mancunians, Kia went on to have a bee tattooed on to her body as a symbol of the city's courage and unity in the wake of the attack.
Despite being under the 18 age limit for tattoos, with her parents' permission, Kia chose to have the small bee tattoo behind her ear, similar to the one Ariana Grande herself had done, reports the Manchester Evening News .
Although Kia has had the tattoo since November last year, her dad says a teacher at her school, Hyde Community College, only spotted it earlier this week - and put the teenager in isolation.
Brian says they got a call from school to say she would be in isolation for Kia's remaining three weeks and would not be able to attend GCSE revision classes before and after school.
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He said: "It's horrendous the way they have treated her. It's not just the isolation, but the fact they're stopping her doing her extra GCSE revision.
"We've both struggled since the bomb, we've been on medication since and we don't even go out on our own.
"Things like Bonfire Night are awful. Kia will be in the corner of the room curled up in a ball because of all the bangs.
"Kia got blown to the floor with the force of the bomb and the ambulance was called to my address afterwards because as soon as we got out of the car I passed out.
"It was just the trauma of the things we saw. Honestly we have tried everything to try and forget those memories but the slightest thing, a bang or crowds, just brings it all back."
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The 36-year-old, who lives five minutes' from the school in Busheyfield Close, Hyde, said he doesn't understand why it has only just become an issue then, when the tattoo was done last year.
The dad-of-six said: "Kia has really long hair and you honestly can't see the tattoo unless you look for it. It's exactly the same as Ariana Grande's and is just something she wanted to do. You'd think the school would realise the special circumstances for her having it.
"We know she's not 18 and I'd always said be in your 20s before having one, especially girls as I think they can end up regretting them, but in these circumstances we allowed it."
Kia told us: "I was just walking down the stairs at school and one of the teachers was looking at me and asked what I was doing, saying it looked like I was trying to hide earrings.
"When I said I didn't have earrings in, he saw the tattoo and started shouting, saying it was against school rules. If I hadn't have been walking near him he wouldn't have even seen it.
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"Other teachers have seen it before and made comments like 'well you can't exactly take it off can you'. It's not like it's been any sort of distraction, you can't even see it under my hair."
After the M.E.N requested a response from the school, Kia's family received a phone call telling them she was able to return to normal classes from Friday morning - and do her extra revision classes - but with a plaster over the tattoo.
A spokesperson for Hyde Community College said: “The school provided extensive support for pupils affected by the Manchester Arena bombing, including counselling.
"We cannot discuss a pupil’s personal situation but any incidents are dealt with in line with school policy. If any parent has concerns we are happy to discuss this directly with them.”
