A demonstration has taken place this week outside a Church of England school in West London – the Fulham Boys School – for refusing to include Rastfarian pupils with dreaded hair. The demonstration follows the school offering to only teach in isolation a new Rastafarian pupil with dreaded hair, until the pupil conformed with the school’s policy.
Accord reported on the case back in September and urged the secondary school to promptly include the pupil. The pupil has since been admitted to a different school.
The Fulham Boys School’s uniform and appearance policy, which still appears on its website, forbids dreadlocks under a list of prohibited ‘extreme or “cult” haircuts’. This is despite having dreaded hair being religiously important to many Rastafarians. A complaint about the pupil’s treatment is currently being considered by the school.
