Wigan schoolboy sent home over short hair on first day back, after missing months of school due to pandemic

Julie Gaskell was stunned to receive a call from Dean Trust Rose Bridge on Thursday, explaining that her 15-year-old son Linden was being sent home because of his hair length.

It was the Year 11’s first proper day back in school for months, and Mrs Gaskell was furious that the school did not make an exception to its usual haircut regulations, in light of how much school her son has missed already this year.

It is understood that several pupils were sent home for the same reason.

Mrs Gaskell said: “At 9.40am I got a phone call from the school. They said Linden’s hair is too short, we have to send him home.

“I went into school and spoke to the head of year. They said his hair was supposed to be a minimum of a number two back and sides, and as they could see with my son, it was shorter than that.

“My child is in year 11 and has missed six months of education. But also, for four weeks over the summer, he went in every Wednesday with the same haircut, and nothing was mentioned.

“If it was too short, why didn’t they pick up on it during those days that he was going in?

“One of the teachers should have noticed it then, if those were the rules, but it wasn’t. If they had mentioned it back then, I would have made sure it was grown out during the summer holidays.”

She went on: “I think for once, they should have let the rules slide and just sent a letter home and said ‘his hair is too short, but in future can you make sure it’s longer’.

“He’s lost another day of education, and they told him he as very lucky they weren’t excluding him until his hair was longer.

“He’s also been told he will sit at the back of the classroom until it grows back.

“With everything that’s going on, they should have just rung up and explained the situation to us.

“They’ve already missed enough important education. I’ve never, ever had a phone call from school about my child. They always speak very highly of him. Yet they’ve sent him home for this when it could have been resolved in another way.”

Mrs Gaskell added: “Schools should be welcoming students in with open arms and keeping them safe.

“All children are vulnerable at the moment and it’s a shame for them to be sent home just for a haircut.”

The Dean Trust did not wish to comment.