Mum's fury after son, 5, 'told he's not black enough to need hair gel at school and put in detention'

 A mum has spoken of her fury after her son, five, was allegedly told he was "not black enough" to use conditioner at school and kept inside at playtime.

Mum-of-three Rosie Gillam claims son Shay Naidu was not allowed to play with classmates at Christ Church CofE Primary School, in Croydon, south London, after a teacher told him he was "not black enough" to need hair styling products.

Miss Gillam claims her son, who is mixed race, was told he could not join in with other pupils during lunchtime or play breaks until his hair “stopped looking wet from conditioning".

She has since removed him from the school.

The mum said: “I took what I was told as a racist remark.

“Teachers are completely bypassing his skin colour and ignoring the fact that he does need something in his hair because he is not a white child.

“White people’s hair does not need grease to maintain it but he has to have something to stop it from going everywhere.”

She told the Croydon Advertiser : “The conditioner helps prevent nits and keeps his hair off of his face.”

Shay told his family that he would “rather be dead than go into school” because of the punishment, according to his mother.

Miss Gillam, who lives with Shay and his two younger sisters, added: “He used to enjoy going to school but now he doesn't and he comes home telling me that he would would rather be dead than go in to school. It's heartbreaking.

“It got to the point where, since January, he's missed about 90% of his lunchtimes and he thinks it's unusual not to get punished every day.”

Miss Gillam is now calling for the school's head teacher to resign and has a petition, entitled 'justice for Shay', with 130 signatures.

Christ Church Primary’s uniform policy, which is published on the school website, states: “Hair dye is inappropriate for primary age children and hair styling products such as gel, wax or spray should not be worn as it can mark school equipment.

“Long hair must be tied back by a hair tie coloured red, white or black.”

The school's head teacher, Mary Pike, said she was “unable to comment on this individual case” and declined to speak about the petition calling for her resignation.

But talking about the school's policy, Mrs Pike said: “Like most schools we have rules about uniform and appearance.

“We work hard to communicate these to parents, initially through the home school agreement and then through reminders in newsletters.

“We take pride in the appearance of our children and they learn what it means to be part of a school community.

“Parents like the fact that this is a smart school so we expect parents to help their children to adhere to the rules and most parents appreciate that we do this.”

Miss Gillam has now taken the matter up with the school's board of governors and said she intends to raise the issue with Ofsted.