A conservative Catholic school has come under fire from some angry parents over its new code of conduct regarding how female students wear their hair.
Some parents who send their children to Catholic College Bendigo were incensed after an email was sent out instructing that every girl with shoulder length hair must have it put in a bun at all times.
But the Victorian school’s new hair policy appears to have been bombarded with opposition after more than 800 parents, pupils and other community members signed a student-organised petition rejecting the new guidelines, reports Kidspot.
One irate parent, Peta Thompson, reportedly told Kidspot she was so incensed by the rule she was threatening to pull both her long-haired daughters, Molly in Year 9 and Maggie in Year 7, out of the school because demanding buns from girls is a step too far.
“All of the girls wear ponytails to school – you very rarely find a girl go to school with their hair down,” Peta told Kidspot.
“Personally, I don’t like my girls going to school with their hair down for the fact of head lice, but asking pony tails below the shoulders to be put up in buns is ridiculous.”
Peta, who was once a student of the school and has already had two sons graduate from CCB, added there should be more of a focus on education rather than an emphasis on looks.
“They are focusing on a stupid hair rule rather than focusing on helping the kids to apply themselves to learning and bettering themselves,” said Peta.
Peta also claimed to the local Bendigo Advertiser that the new rule serves as a double-standard – describing some teachers at the school to have a “wacky and out-there” appearance.
“Everyone is entitled to self-expression, the way you wear your clothes, the way you wear your makeup,” Peta told the newspaper. “Its showing who you are… If you stop someone doing that, it’s wrong.”
The petition, which has since been taken down, appears to have put the school in a hairy predicament.
The Bendigo Advertiser reports that CCB’s headmaster, Brian Turner confirmed on Sunday he would meet with the school’s leadership team this week to discuss the controversial ‘bun rule’.
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