Teen banned from class over earring so stuck ‘even pliers can’t remove it’
A teen’s mum claims her schoolgirl daughter was banned from class due to an earring that even pliers couldn’t remove.
Holly Wade, 16, had her ear pierced in December as a birthday treat while beauty salons remained open.
But the shops were shut in England’s third lockdown and had not reopened by the time pupils returned to school earlier this month.
Her mum claims she was forced to take pliers to her daughter’s ear after she was banned from class and forced to stay home learning remotely online due to the earring.
Holly had pierced her tragus – the small piece of cartilage which protrudes over the centre of the ear, mum Julie told Chronicle Live.
Knowing such piercings were banned at Holly’s school, Bede Academy in Blyth, Northumberland, Julie allowed her to get it over the Christmas holiday.
She told her daughter that she could have the piercing done if she agreed that before class resumed she return to the salon to have the difficult-to-remove jewellery taken out and replaced with something she could take out herself in the mornings before school.
But when beauty salons were shut due to lockdown, Julie says she and her daughter were left with nowhere to turn.
When school reopened on March 8, Holly and Julie desperately tried to yank the hoop and ball piercing free – but with no success.
Julie says she asked teachers if she could simply cover the jewellery with a plaster during school hours, but was told this wasn’t good enough.
Instead, teachers warned, Holly would be put in isolation and taking her classes alone on a computer until the earring was removed.
A further warning was issued last Wednesday, and on Thursday and Friday Holly was unable to join classes with her friends.
Her mum asked for her to be allowed to work from home online, as opposed to being kept in isolation in school.
NHS worker Julie, 45, said: “They basically told me she was not having face-to-face interaction, she’d be put in a separate room until the piercing was removed.
“I’m really upset by it. All I wanted was for her to go to school and have some teaching – I offered to cover it with a plaster, but they wouldn’t accept that.
“Considering we are in a global pandemic, could there not have been a little bit of leniency until I could get it professionally removed? One earring was getting in the way of her education, through no fault of her own.”
The mum said she understood that the piercing was against the rules, but argued it was unfair for her daughter to be continually punished over something she was unable to change.
The whole family had tried to safely remove the jewellery but “physically couldn’t get it out”, Julie said.
On Sunday, after trying everything they could to remove it by hand, Julie finally managed to cut the earring loose with a small pair of pliers so Holly could return to school.
But she said she was angry she’d been put in the position of having to try a removal method which, she said, did not feel safe.
The only alternative, she felt, would have been for Holly to miss face-to-face classes until salons reopen, on April 12 at the very earliest.
“It was absolutely awful,” she said. “She was sobbing her heart out, but what choice did we have? It’s her final year, she can’t keep missing school.”
A Bede Academy spokesperson said families were all made aware of the policy students were meant to follow.
But Julie argued the strict ruling suggested the school was prioritising uniform compliance over children’s education.
