Schoolboy put in isolation after shaving head for charity

A schoolboy is being placed in isolation after an “extreme haircut” for charity was deemed to have broken school rules.

Taylor Jones, 15, raised £850 for Cancer Research when he shaved his head.

But teachers at Launceston College, Cornwall, were unhappy Taylor had gone through with the act at the end of the holidays and said it should have been planned better.

Taylor will have to take lessons and break times by himself until his hair regrows to a suitable length.

His father, Nick Jones, compared the school’s reaction to a “dictatorship”.

"He has been growing it for a while and it had got very unruly and most people said his previous hairstyle was more of an extreme haircut than this is,” he told Cornwall Live.

Mr Jones explained he tried to persuade his son to have his hair cut at the beginning of the Easter holidays but their preferred hairdresser was unavailable, so it happened just before he returned to school.

Taylor was reportedly so upset at the decision his father had to encourage him to go back into school.

"It sounds like a dictatorship to me,” Mr Taylor said. “It is petty red tape and it's not helping anybody.”

In a statement, Launceston College’s principle, Bryan Maywood, said the institution "has the highest expectations possible for our students, judged outstanding by Ofsted at our last inspection. We will not lower those expectations but will increase the level of support available to help meet them."

He added: "Taylor will be provided with individual specialist tuition from experienced qualified teachers for the four days he will not be in lessons with his peers. After this period his hair will no longer be considered an extreme hairstyle; he will return to normal lessons.

"Taylor was advised before the holiday to have his hair cut to a very short but acceptable length and was asked to undertake this at the start of the recent holiday. He went against this advice having it cut extremely short in the days immediately before term began. There would have been no sanction had he followed this advice.

"The ‘Brave the Shave’ Macmillan Cancer Support website is very clear about procedures for undertaking these charity events and stresses the need to seek permission from school.

"On two separate occasions this academic year members of the College community, a sixth former and a teacher, have also undertaken "Brave the Shave" events with Mrs Spink raising over £3500 for Macmillan Cancer support.

"On each of these occasions the request for permission, good communication and planning allowed both the charity work and the widely understood and clear expectations for 1300 Launceston College students to work hand in hand. Both of these shaves took place at the end of term and prior to a two week holiday."