Mum seething as daughter, 14, suspended on first day of school for wrong colour hair
Ella Harding was "denied an education" and sent home within an hour of arriving at school.
A mum has furiously condemned a school's treatment of her daughter after she was sent home on the first day back this week.
Ella harding, 14, was suspended within an hour of being at Oakgrove School in Milton Kenyes, Buckinghamshire, on Thursday for her dyed red hair and false eyelashes. The school told April that Ella, who is going into Year 10, had broken the academy's strict uniform policy. The school’s uniform policy states that students' hair "should be all one colour, and close to the student’s natural hair tone".
It is not the first time that Ella has suffered a suspension from school. Her mum, April said that her daughter spent a shocking 40 percent of term time last year either in isolation or at home due to similar "violations".
April is heartbroken for her daughter and seething at the school. Speaking out, she is is urging people to understand that this is not simply just a teenager acting out.
April revealed that Ella's "complex mental health problems around the way she looks" were behind her red-dyed hair and false lashes.
She explained to MK Citizen: "She pulls her eyelashes out as a form of self-harm, so she has no natural lashes at all – they are non-existent."
April said that her daughter will refuse to leave the house unless her hair is dyed red since she dislikes her natural blonde hair. She added: "That’s the colour that makes her feel comfortable. She’s dyed it red for the past two years."
April noted that her 14-year-old daughter had complied with the rest of her uniform.
She slammed the school for "denying my daughter an education," claiming they are punishing Ella "because of the way she looks".
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She claimed that the school's punishment was making her daughter's mental health worse. When she returned home on Thursday, Ella was sobbing and refused to eat. She already suffers from an eating disorder, April says.
April described her daughter as "hard-working, bright, and introverted". She insisted that Ella is "never disruptive" in class.
Ella's council support worker, who helps the student with her mental health difficulties, has tried to explain the situation to the school.
Express.co.uk has approached Oakgrove School for a comment. They told MK Citizen that they had "no comment".
