A HIGH school student has been suspended from school after shaving his head for charity.

The year nine student at Padua College on the Mornington Peninsula was given an internal suspension after he arrived at school with a shaved head last Thursday.

Padua principal Christopher Houlihan said the boy was removed from classes for the day because he hadn't told the school beforehand and had broken uniform rules.

"The student came to school with a totally shaved head. We had no knowledge this was happening or why it was happening,'' Mr Houlihan said.

"It determined as we went through the process that the boy had done it for a very good reason...it wasn't because of his intent, it was because the communication channels weren't covered.''

Mr Houlihan admitted the school did not do enough to find out why the boy had shaved his head before suspending him.

"I think we could have handled this better. I think if we had done our investigations a bit deeper we would have found out it was for an altruistic reason.

"I think had we got our information fully correct at the time the boy might have been out of class for a couple of periods and then sent back with a cap on, which is the normal procedure.''

It wasn't until Thursday afternoon the school realised the boy, about 14, had shaved his head to support a friend at the school who was undergoing cancer treatment.

The boy returned to normal classes on Friday and his parents were notified.

Mr Houlihan said a second student had come to school on Friday with a shaved head in support of the boy.

That student attended classes with a hat on.