Dress and faith in schools

Many religious and cultural traditions require particular dress, for example:

• wearing the hair in a certain way
• having locks
• not cutting the hair
• wearing head coverings
• hijabs
• turbans and Yarmulke
• wearing long or modest clothing which covers the body
• the wearing of particular articles of faith like the Sikh Kara, or bracelet.

In most cases these should not be in conflict with office dress codes, uniforms, or health and safety, but sensitivity and flexibility should be shown and efforts made to accommodate the wearing of religious dress safely.

If it is practical and safe to do so, staff and pupils may welcome the opportunity to wear clothing consistent with their religion.

Where organisations adopt a specific dress code or uniform, careful consideration should be given to the proposed code to ensure it does not conflict with the dress requirements of some religions.

General dress codes which have the effect of conflicting with religious requirements may constitute indirect discrimination unless they can be justified for example, on the grounds of health and safety.

Further reading on dress codes can be found in the attached files section below.

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Further Information

Community Participation Officer
Children and Young People’s Service
Tel 020 8489 3884
Email faith@haringey.gov.uk

Attached Files

Filename	Filetype	Size
dress and faith in schools.pdf	PDF	208K
frequently asked question on dress and faith.pdf	PDF	206K
PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat reader. Please click here to download.

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