A schoolgirl was reduced to tears after she was told by teachers she would not be included in the yearly photo because of her hairstyle.
Marcella Marino was told the bow in her hair breached the school's regulations and did not adhere to the uniform code. The four-year-old's hairdresser father Marcello fashioned his daughter's hair into the shape of a bow as she wanted to look "like a princess".
But the family was left "shocked" when Marcella returned home in tears from Ramsgate Holy Trinity Primary School in Kent, after teachers told her hair braids were not allowed.
"I am so disappointed", Marcello said. "I could understand if Marcella arrived with her hair dyed or something, but this is an elegant look which I think the school should be proud of.
"It isn’t a hair braid, it is quite simply a knot in the shape of a bow, and I should know because I’m a hairdresser," he fumed.
A spokesperson for the Broadstairs school said hair braids are not allowed and hair accessories must be dark in colour.
The school, which has 207 pupils, was rated "outstanding" by Ofsted and so will no longer be inspected by the independent watchdog.
The school photo has since been cancelled and rearranged after a mix-up with the photographer.
Marcello, who runs Marcello Hair Salon in Ramsgate, Kent, made the headlines in January last year for making a police complaint after he received 1,000 hate messages for his behaviour on TV show Come Dine With Me.
The hairdresser and father-of-two told one contestant that their main course "looks like a sick bag".