Really. Sent home from school. Denied education. Because the authorities didn't like the way her hair was tied back, despite explicit guidance from the Department for Education and Skills that exclusion should not be used for breaches of school rules on appearance.
Neil Brett, head teacher at St Edmonds Catholic School, Southsea, in Hampshire, was reported in the Daily Mirror as saying there was a zero-tolerance policy on flouting school rules. Yet two other students have their hair in braids.
Ah yes. But that, according to the school, is because they are African-Caribbean students. And that is allowed in the name of "cultural integration". Jade's mother thinks the school's action is racist. That seems unlikely. Discriminatory is a good word though. Perhaps the best description is a zero-tolerance policy towards good sense.
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