A Nottinghamshire mum has described a "breakdown in communication" at her son's school after he was told to take off a ring containing his dad's ashes. A previous incident also saw an attendance letter being sent to the family after just one day of school was missed to attend a memorial service.
The Holgate Academy in Hucknall is run by the Diverse Academies Trust, which says the problem has now been "resolved." But Suzanne Parker-Hatton says the school's policies need to be improved going forward to prevent similar incidents happening to others.
Her son, 15-year-old Marshall Hatton, is a year 10 pupil at the Holgate Academy. His dad, who was aged 51, died two years ago.
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Ahead of Marshall starting year 10 in September, Suzanne sent an email to the head of year introducing herself and explaining that her son wore a ring containing the ashes of his father. Although the school's policy is to "strongly recommend" that its pupils should not wear jewellery, Suzanne explained in her email that her son had worn the ring during his previous year at school and that the item allowed him to feel as though his father was with him.
Despite that, Marshall phoned his mum on Tuesday (July 4), to tell her that he had been told to take the ring off. Suzanne said: "When he told me that it was his head of year that had asked him to, I just felt as though I was banging my head against a brick wall.
"I had emailed back in September introducing myself and explaining the situation and I never got a response back from it. It's such a sensitive issue and even if this was a staff member who said they didn't know about the ring, something like this should have been circulated immediately."
Suzanne, who was not with Marshall's father at the time of his passing, said a previous incident in March related to Marshall missing a day of school to attend his father's memorial service in Liverpool. To allow Marshall time to travel to Liverpool and to spend time with family there, he spent the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the city ahead of the service on the Saturday.
Due to a nationwide strike by teachers on the Wednesday and Thursday, this plan meant Marshall was only missing one day of school. Suzanne had phoned the school prior to the trip and spoke to the same head of year, who told her he would make necessary arrangements in terms of attendance.
Despite this pledge, an attendance letter still came through the family's door. Marshall had previously missed some time at school due to appointments he was having to attend after having braces fitted.
Suzanne added: "This is just a breakdown of communication between the school and a student. The ring incident happened just before a mock exam and he was stressed about that anyway, so he didn't need this upset on top of that.
"I have spoken to the principal and they are going to investigate this. I've never put a complaint in during the 20 years that I've had children in education, but I had just reached the end of my tether because I will do everything that I can so his dad is with him all the time."
The Holgate Academy's policy on jewellery on its website reads: "In the interests of safety and security, we strongly recommend that jewellery is not worn at the academy... Should the academy deem any jewellery inappropriate, excessive or dangerous, students will be asked to remove items and these may be confiscated.
"The academy also has the discretion to isolate students or restrict their access to certain practical subjects where such items are deemed a risk." Suzanne pointed out that the ring worn by Marshall is incredibly flat and therefore poses little health and safety risk. She also said despite the issues, she had been pleased with how the school's head had been responding to her concerns.
The Diverse Academies Trust said it would not be issuing a full comment, saying it understood the matter had been "resolved." The trust also said it was working "positively" with Suzanne to address the concerns raised.
