A dad is furious after his 12-year-old son was placed in isolation for his "extreme" haircut.
James Cullen believes his son, Jacob, was discriminated against by his school after they place him in isolation when he returned from Easter break with a new hairstyle.
Jacob returned back to St Andrew's Catholic School in Leatherhead on April 19 with a new hair do, which included blond highlights and some of his hair shaved down to a one.
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But his dad later received a phone call from the school saying his son was placed in isolation.
James believes his son would have been treated differently if he was a girl, saying he had seen female pupils getting away with similar highlights.
Mr Cullen told Surrey Live : "In the meeting I had with the school, his head of year suggested that he shave his head.
"I don't believe for a minute if he was a female pupil that they would have said that."
However, the school said that no such suggestion was made during the meeting.
Despite Mr Cullen's stance on the issue, Jacob was placed in isolation until Monday, April 25.
The father threatened to keep his son at home and the school ended his isolation on Tuesday, saying they wanted to draw a line on the issue.
Mr Cullen added: "I don't want to draw a line under it, I've just started.
"What we need is consistency, the rules need to apply across the board. I've dropped Jacob off at school every morning for the past seven months, and I've seen lots of female students with bleached blonde hair."
The school's uniform policy, as stated on its website, says: "Extremes of fashion in clothing, footwear and hairstyle are not permitted. Hair colour and style must be appropriate for school. Dyed hair is not acceptable. Number 2 is the shortest cut allowed."
Headteacher Alan Mitchell denied that the rules are applied differently for male and female students, and said that the school's rules are explained clearly to parents in the months before their child is admitted.
He said: "Parents would expect me to apply the rules fairly and consistently.
"We made the rules crystal clear, and we know that's what is best for the kids."
