False eyelashes ‘part of school’s uniform’
A SCHOOL has raised eyebrows by letting pupils wear false lashes.
Knole Academy sent a letter to parents about a rise in absences due to “students taking time off to have false eyelashes removed or refusing to attend school through mental health considerations”.
Headmaster David Collins, right, added: “Having students in school is the most important consideration and therefore we shall allow false eyelashes to be worn as long as they are discreet.” He said the rules on school uniform can be altered “when changes in society make a previous standpoint redundant or untenable”.
The academy in Sevenoaks, Kent, accepts girls and boys from the age of 11.
But some parents are seeing red over the change, with a mum of a 13-year-old girl saying: “It’s making eyelashes part of the uniform for children. It’s making my daughter do it, which is causing me a problem because I’m literally having to peel them off her in the morning.
“There is a lot of peer pressure at the school. The next thing would be that they’re going to announce false nails, and then where does it end?”
She added: “We’re a society being run by children which I’m not going to stand for. Rules are rules.”
She also claimed that false eyelashes made children look older. “If you’ve got an 11-year-old with lashes on she’s going to look 14.
“My daughter is quite tall and slim so she already does look older than she is anyway.
“It’s quite worrying because are they going to start getting the attention of older men?
“We are allowing this to take over what the actual role of the school is.”
Knole Academy did not comment.
TEENAGE girls who claim taking off false eyelashes damages their mental health are probably amazed their school fell for it.You can’t blame pupils for trying their luck but who’s really in charge here – the teachers or the children?
If the school wants to promote good mental health, setting boundaries and enforcing a few commonsense rules would probably help.