Birmingham pupil excluded from school over 'Peaky Blinders' haircut

Teachers at Abbey Catholic Primary School say the fashionable haircut goes against school policy

Cillian Murphy stars as Shelby in BBC drama series Peaky Blinders (Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock)

An eight-year-old boy has been suspended from school because of his “Peaky Blinders” style haircut.

Joshua Reape, a pupil at a school in Birmingham, was sent home and told not to return for a week, despite apparently having the same hair style for months.

Mr Reape was warned that his short back and sides style haircut – similar to that of Tommy Shelby, a character in the hit BBC drama series – did not fit in with school policy.

His mother, Claire Reape, was asked to change her son’s hair or face his expulsion from Abbey Catholic Primary School in Erdington, Birmingham.

“He has had the same short back and style cut for seven months,” she said. “It isn't extremely short at all and it is fashionable.”

Ms Reape said she was surprised by the school’s decision to exclude her son and that she was concerned he would not be in school to sit a maths test to sit that week.

“They've sent him home with no work and I've been forced to try and get the week off work to look after him,” she said, “He is upset because he loves school, his attendance is 100 per cent and he is missing out.

She added: “I would rather be fined than him be kept off school, his education is really important and it is disgraceful that the school have sent him home for a week with nothing to do.”

According to the school’s uniform policy, “odd or unusual, decorative or fashionable hairstyles” are not permitted.

A spokesperson for Abbey Catholic Primary School said: “The school has a strict school uniform policy which all pupils and their families are made aware of when they join the school.”

“A child attended school on Friday with a hair style that was unacceptable and his mother was asked to change his hair style in line with school policy.