Walsall girl's isolation for hairstyle is 'discrimination'

Mayla's hairstyle has red ends and the colour can be seen in her braids

A black schoolgirl spent two days in isolation because of an "inappropriate hairstyle", her mum said.

Thirteen-year-old Mayla's mother, Kerry, accused Barr Beacon School in Walsall of racial discrimination and said her daughter was singled out.

Mayla had braids with added red hair to attend a wedding but her mum said some of her white classmates also have dyed hair but were not punished.

The school said its policy was "administered equally to all pupils".

While Matrix Academy Trust, which runs the school, said it could not comment on individual cases, it said it had "very high expectations of pupils" and "any pupil with brightly-coloured hair will be asked to remove the hair colour".

A spokesperson added the trust "strongly denied there was any race discrimination".

'Really stressed'

Being in isolation meant Mayla missed lessons and break times, instead working alone from books until she could go home at the end of the day.

"I get really stressed out over it," Mayla said and added it made her feel self-conscious about her hair.

"They're telling me to take it out and put my hair in a bobble, but I don't like it in a bobble," she said.

Her mum Kerry said it was "not right" and Mayla was "a good child".

"She gets good grades, she gets good reports, but for two days she's in isolation [because of her hair]," she said.

"It's absolutely disgusting."

Mayla's hair was also called out in 2022, before it had red in it

In 2022, Mayla was called out for another braided hairstyle, which had not been coloured, which led Kerry to believe she might be a victim of discrimination, rather than just a strict adherence to policy.

A spokesperson for the Matrix Academy Trust highlighted its uniform policy which stated "hair colour and high fashion hairstyles are not permitted".

The webpage features an image of four pupils, one of whom has a similar hairstyle to Mayla, with braids down to her waist.

The trust insisted it did not have a problem with braids.

Kerry said she had approached the school for a meeting but had not had a response.

Britain's human-rights watchdog warned schools in 2022 they could be acting illegally by preventing children with Afro-textured hair from wearing natural hairstyles including braids and cornrows.

In 2020, Ruby Williams received an out-of-court settlement from her school in London after she was repeatedly sent home because her Afro hair was not considered "of reasonable size and length".