A fuming mum has blasted a secondary school after her son was forced to shave three times a week – despite being aged just 14.
Kim Wright, 34, said Astor College demanded Connor-Jay shave daily, from the age of just 12, despite him being too young to buy razor blades.
The school in Dover, Kent, even told him to wear makeup when a mate made him look “a bit silly” by shaving a slit into his eyebrow, she claimed.
But the mum-of-two says the school’s demands became too much when the school told Connor-Jay to use a razor blade instead of an electric razor.
Kim said: “He’s missed out on lessons.
“When I spoke to one of the teachers he said he had to shave every day in the army, but these children aren’t soldiers.
“I even had to ask what’s more important, his education or the hair on his face? I was told it’s his education.
“The kids should be able to go through puberty the way they want to – I understand they want him to be neat and tidy but he was anyway.
“They claimed he hadn’t taken out of lessons for facial hair, they said it was other reasons, but never told me what.
“He’s been removed maybe twice for being disruptive, but ten times for his facial hair, and they’re trying to say that’s not the reason he was excluded.
“I’m not saying he’s an angel but he’s not naughty.”
After the post went viral, Kim went for a meeting with headteacher Lee Kane, who she says told her Connor will be allowed to use the electric razor – and only has to shave three days each week.
But she claims he has been forced to visit the head three times a week for the last two years to prove he is clean shaven.
Kim added: “I went for a meeting with the headteacher last Friday after my Facebook post went viral.
“The head has now said he can use an electric razor, but Connor has to go and see him on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so he can be inspected.
“They suspended him even though it’s not his fault he’s going through puberty, they’ve been making him shave since he was 12.
“He doesn’t like it at all, he would have shaved anyway but now he’s being forced to.
“They’ve put him back into lessons but I’ve made them promise he won’t be removed again.”
In January, Astor College even told Connor to use makeup after a mate cut a slit into his eyebrow using a razor.
She added: “He had to use an eyebrow pencil when he went into school.
“Imagine asking a 14-year-old to put makeup on, but he did it, he had to.”
In December, she said she received a letter from the school saying if her son didn’t abide by the school’s “no facial hair’ policy she would be taken to court.
A spokesman for Astor College said: “We expect our students to be clean shaven but do not prescribe how this is achieved.
“Neither would we exclude students from lessons for being unshaven or tell students to wear make-up.
“Connor-Jay’s family has not been threatened with court action. He has been suspended from some lessons but for others reasons.”
