Pupil’s hair doesn’t make the grade

A NATURALLY red-head school pupil has been barred from classes for being too ginger.

Emily Reay, 17, has sported the same vibrant ginger hair for the last three years. But on her return to lessons following the Easter break she was ordered to tone it down.

Teachers at Trinity School, Carlisle, Cumbria, decided the colour was inappropriate.

Now, during her last year of A-levels, Emily – who is naturally auburn – has been told she is banned from lessons until she changes her appearance.

Emily was informed of the action being taken at the end of Monday’s assembly.

“I was very angry at first, and then burst into tears. I’ve had the same colour for the past three years, and nobody at school has commented on it,” she said.

Described as a stunningly talented musician, Emily maintains her ginger hair is her trademark.

“Everybody knows me as that ‘young ginger singer’. For me it is a confidence thing. If I had to dye my hair brown, I would lose this,” Emily said.

Her parents, Julie and Andy Reay, went to the school to discuss the matter with head teacher Andrew Winter.

They claim they were told that Emily’s hair colour needed to be changed or she would not be allowed to continue her education.

“I had to dye my hair to a more natural colour, or tone it down considerably,” Emily said.

“I offered to pin it up, or wear a beanie hat, but I was told ‘no’ to both.”

Her parents are backing their daughter’s decision not to change her hair colour.

“They do not realise what her hair means to her. The irony is she is playing Scaramouche in the school’s adaptation of We Will Rock You, which is about society suppressing people’s creativity and self-expression,” Julie said.

Emily said: “I was told my hair had been a bone of contention since the beginning of the school year, but they had let it slip up until now.”

– The Telegraph