Northern Ireland

Mother's anger as boy (14) punished by school over haircut

Henry Miskimmin spent two days in 'isolation' at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School because of his haircut
Henry Miskimmin spent two days in 'isolation' at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School because of his haircut Henry Miskimmin spent two days in 'isolation' at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School because of his haircut

A Fermanagh mother has expressed outrage after her 14-year-old son was excluded from school classes for two days because of his haircut.

Henry Miskimmin, a fourth year student at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, was placed in 'isolation' for what has been described as a "short back and sides".

His mother Sandra said he went to the barber's after school on Thursday, but on Friday and Monday he was put in a separate classroom away from friends and also told to take lunch outside of normal hours.

Mrs Miskimmin posted a picture of her son's haircut on Facebook on Monday evening, asking "Do you think my son's hair is too short?"

The mother-of-three said she received dozens of messages of support.

"When Henry came home from school on Friday after getting a haircut on Thursday - which I approved of - he said that he had been put into isolation away from his friends all day because it wasn't the image that the school wanted to portray to the public," she told Radio Ulster's Talkback programme.

"He does get his hair cut shorter during the school holidays, but I don't allow him to get it cut too short during the school term because we support the rules that the school enforce.

"I am quite a strict parent and his hair, in my opinion, was not offensive or inappropriate. He has what a lot of people would describe as short-back-and-sides. It doesn't look untidy it is clean and neat."

The school's uniform guidelines for boys state: "Hair should be above the collar and hairstyles should be tidy and unobtrusive. Hair should not be conspicuously coloured or shaven to extreme i.e number one."

Mrs Miskimmin, from Enniskillen, was due to meet with the school yesterday to discuss the rules and the punishment used against her son.

"If a group of children isolated a child for how they looked there would be uproar - they would be accused of bullying - and to me it is not appropriate behaviour to take my child out of his education," she said.

When contacted yesterday, Enniskillen Royal Grammar School said only that it was an internal matter.

"This is an internal school matter and we are dealing with the parent concerned," principal Elizabeth Armstrong said.

Enniskillen Royal Grammar School opened its doors last September as a merger of Portora Royal School and Enniskillen Collegiate Grammar.

It operates across both former school sites and The Irish News reported in October how some staff were missing parts of lessons while travelling to classes across the town.