A mum has spoken out of her outrage after her teenage daughter was "sent into isolation at school for two days" as "punishment" for having dyed hair.
Sarah Burrows says her 15-year-old daughter Jodi had been placed in isolation due to the colour of her hair.
During the school holidays, Jodie dyed her hair purple, but before she returned to Ecclesfield School in Sheffield she had tried to tone it down to "reddish" colour, reports Yorkshire Live.
However, the school were unsatisfied with her attempts and rang Sarah to complain about her daughter's hair last week, which they are understood to have described it as "bright pink" - something that Sarah strongly denies.
Over the weekend, Sarah and Jodi tried again to wash out the red dye - something that Sarah says is mot "easy" - so by the time that Jodi returned to school on September 7 her hair was an "auburn" colour, rather than her natural brown colour.
Sarah says the school were still unsatisfied with her daughter's hair colour so sent her to isolation.
Sarah said: "I didn't know she was put in isolation until she came home. She had to stay inside all day as a punishment.
"I tried to call the school, but I didn't hear anything back. And she was put in isolation again on Wednesday.
"We do not penalise adults in working jobs for a hair colour change so why should this be affecting our children. We have gradually been returning her hair to the colour brown.
"The school have been wrongly isolating my child for the past few days claiming her hair is not of a satisfactory standard.
"My daughter is missing her education through absolutely no fault of her own other than wanting to express herself, which now she has removed the colour is still proving to be an issue for the school."
Sarah believes putting her daughter in isolation is particularly unfair given the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on schooling.
"As we all know the last 2 years during the pandemic have been very unpleasant for all schoolchildren, and now more than ever our children’s education must be paramount," she said.
"Fundamentally my daughter has great grades, a positive and focused attitude toward her education however I feel she is now being penalised because of the way she looks."
Sarah said she didn't understand why youngsters were "targeted" for wanting to express themselves.
"I do not agree nor do I understand why schools target our children for simply wanting to express themselves through hair, make-up and ways of dress," Sarah said.
"None of this impacts our children’s learning, it is morally wrong for anyone, let alone children be made conscious of how they want to look."
Ecclesfield School has been contacted for comment.
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