A stubbly face is not grounds to ban a student from school, the Ministry of Education says.

A Christchurch mother is fighting an "archaic, discriminatory and sexist" rule that meant her 16-year-old son has been banned from school for more than a week.

Kay Peebles says her high-achieving Year 12 son was sent home from Hornby High School about noon on April 30 and told not to come back until he removed his facial stubble. Its school rules state that pupils must be clean-shaven.

She met with the school hoping for a "change of attitude against the discrimination of the hairy" but had no luck.

A Ministry of Education spokeswoman said a school's Board of Trustees had "complete discretion" to manage the school as it saw fit, including bylaws that prohibited facial hair.

However, she said stubble was not "of itself" grounds to stand down or suspend a student.

"If a student repeatedly refuses to comply with school rules, that can amount to continual disobedience," she said.

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"For this to result in a stand-down or suspension, the continual disobedience must be a harmful or dangerous example to other students at the school."

Peebles said people her son's age could drive or decide to be parents, she said, "but are treated like kindergarteners when it comes to their facial hair". "It's important to me that he be allowed the choice at his age what he does with parts of his own body.

"There is nothing more natural than body hair."

The school allowed her son - who Peebles did not want to name because he was "just a kid" with good job prospects - to sit an assessment in a time out room this week. "But he was to show up to school and leave immediately."

Youth Law lawyer Joanna Maskell said school rules had the same bearing as a bylaw, as long as they did not infringe the Bill of Rights.

Maskell said she occasionally fielded queries from youth about school rules regarding appearance.

She said schools were not allowed to bar a student from attending except for gross misconduct.

It was "a bit of a tricky one" to justify facial hair being gross misconduct and worth missing school over, Maskell said.

Peebles said correspondence school was not an option for her son, since he had not been suspended or expelled, and she said the more liberal Hagley College did not have room on its roll.

She had contacted various agencies for help but while she waited for responses, her son was not in school.

"The dead ends have made it clear it doesn't matter how good your grades or behaviour is, if you have a hairy face you will forfeit an education, a facist rule," she said.

Hornby High principal Richard Edmundson said there had been "things that have happened" but it considered it "a matter between the boy, his family, and the school". He would not comment further.

A Human Rights Commission spokeswoman said the Commission encouraged families to work through these issues with schools.

"We encourage all parties to keep talking the issues through, keep meeting," she said.

"That's the best way to get a sustainable outcome, a sustainable resolution."

Last year, St John's College Hastings pupil Lucan Battison, 16, successfully fought to keep his long hair after he was suspended for refusing to cut it according to the rule "off the collar and out of the eyes".

His lawyer, Jol Bates, took the matter to the High Court for a judicial review, and won.

Bates said on Friday the arguments for Peebles' son's situation were "practically identical" to the Battison case.

The Battison case clarified the law, but Bates' concern about whether schools had the authority to create rules about a person's body was left unresolved.

"At some point in time the court is going to be forced with answering that question, whether the school has got power to set a rule dictating how someone's body should look," he said.

Hagley College principal Brent Ingram said the school had no issues "whether somebody has got facial hair, a different-coloured hair, studs or earrings, or wearing a burka".

Many students enrolled there because they could not conform in other mainstream school rules, he said.

"Sometimes some of those things don't really stand up to a depth of scrutiny, but that's how some schools choose to do things."

School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said the decision on a facial hair policy rested with boards.

"If a school has rules . . . rules are rules."

"If we didn't, imagine what our schools would be like."

Picton's Queen Charlotte College principal and former Secondary Principals' Association president Tom Parsons, said while beards were "fashionable", being clean-shaven might be expected in order to prepare pupils for abiding by workplace rules.

"Movie stars and rock stars have a lot to answer for. It's a fad, it will go out."

It was the same as the "long-haired Lucan" issue, where the enrolment policy had to clearly state expectations.

Some schools even had rules about mufti for senior pupils being as if they were attending a job interview. "The idea of growing a beard and trying to look cool, it doesn't get to be an issue."

"Rightly or wrongly, the school is the keeper of community standards. They're the only ones who enforce community standards these days."

SPANZ president Sandy Pasley said schools needed to have "clear, explicit" rules so pupils knew them before enrolling.

Issues with any policies addressed before then, meant parents, pupils, and the school were on the same page from day one.

Christchurch Boys' High principal Nic Hill said if boys arrived at school with a couple of days facial hair growth, they were handed a disposal shaver and some cheap shaving cream and told to get rid of it, unless it was for religious reasons.

Keeping strict uniform rules meant allowing boys to be comfortable without worrying about the social pressures of "showing off or the latest fashion", Hill said.

SOCIAL MEDIA REACTION

The school's decision to bar the stubbly student from attending until he shaves has attracted strong opinions online.

On the Stuff.co.nz Facebook page, many wrote that school rules should be adhered to.

Vicki-Lee Tyacke said: "Good grief. At what point are we going to teach the youth of today respect for authority. At this rate we are going to have a generation of unemployable individuals because they have not been taught how to follow policies!!"

Rachel Lavis agreed. "Honestly. How are these kids going to cope in the real world where unfortunately there are lots of rules in place for a bunch of reasons (some good, some questionable) that we need to abide by?? I genuinely don't think the mother is doing her son any favours in this instance."

Others were more sympathetic.

"Certain jobs mean you must be clean shaven but a lot of jobs do not require it. And a beard does not get in the way of education," Jessica Alice wrote.

"Just because it has been a rule for however long still doesn't make it right. His body his, rules."

Jenna Robertson wrote schools needed to legislate what was important. "If a beard is tidy whats the problem?... In the real world adults get to choose, unless unsafe/untidy," she said. "No wonder kids leave school etc. Its same as young kids... too many rules make them rebel, put the rules/boundaries into where you need them, and let the unneccesary stuff go. Let kids be humans!"

Kelvin Hampton agreed, say ing the rule was "stupid" and past its "use-by date".

"It's not a valid argument to say 'every other school says the same thing, so you must abide by the rule'," he wrote.

"Who does it hurt? No one...What's the schools justification?"

Some questioned how stubble was different to other body hair.

"If you don't force students to shave other areas of their body (legs, armpits,) why the face?" Jennifer McGavin said.

Some offered novel solutions to the student's predicament.

Thong Nguyen said: "No problem. Let him go to school with a beard under a Burka and watch the school squirm."

Aaron Robert Drawbridge said while he did not condone rule breaking, "if the student isn't allowed a beard then I think the teachers shouldn't either."

Others bemoaned their comparative lack of beard-growing prowess.

Craig Ure said: "42 still can't grow one."