A STUDENT has been banned from her Worcester school - until she changes the colour of her hair.

Jenna Hewlett had been told she is not welcome at Christopher Whitehead Language College until she gets rid of her blonde streaks.

The 15-year-old, of Margaret Road, Lower Wick, is in her final year of school and preparing for her GCSE exams. She was told on her first day back that she would have to change her hair colour as it was too extreme.

She refused and on Friday, September 14, her mother Sarah was sent a letter saying she was no longer welcome in class.

Mrs Hewlett said her daughter had a similar hair colour last year, but this term the brown was a darker shade than before.

"I'm being stubborn now and saying that she isn't having it changed," she said. "It's her final year. I need her back at school. But I'm not backing down on this.

"I can't see how it is distracting. It's just got some blonde streaks in it. If she had sworn at somebody or hit somebody or bullied somebody then I could understand it. They are saying her hair is extreme but it is their reaction which is extreme.

"I am angry about it. She just wants to be in school."

Miss Hewlett, who has not been to school this week, added: "I think it's silly for not letting me go to school. They say that distracting my and other people's learning."

David Thompson, deputy headteacher of the school in Bromwich Road, St John's said Miss Hewlett had not been excluded from school.

He said: "It is not as if we haven't given her a chance to make her hairstyle more in accordance with our school policy. I have the feeling her mum is digging her heels in.

Mr Thompson said the school's guidelines for uniform, dress and appearance are given to all pupils and they stated hairstyles should have no extremes of style, cut or colour.

He added: "It could damage her education and her GCSE results if she is away for too long. We seem to have come to a head-to-head situation about her hair."

Mr Thompson said he'd be willing to talk to Mrs Hewlett about the situation in the hope of having it resolved.