Year 11 Milly Turner, who attends Long Stratton High School, arrived at school for the new term with a freshly pierced ear – which she had done over the summer holidays.
But after being told her new piercing contravened the school’s uniform policy, her mother said she was given two options – either go home or spend the day “in isolation”.
Mel Turner said the 15-year-old had intended on removing the new piercing before going to school, but that when they took it out the night before the wound continued to weep.
She had hoped the school would allow it to remain in until it was properly healed – at which point she would stop wearing it.
The school’s uniform policy allows pupils to wear one studded earring in each ear and forbids wearing hoops or dangling earrings.
Because Milly already had her two earlobes pierced, the third piercing in her helix was not permitted.
Ms Turner said: “She has always said she would take them out when they were healing, so we had hoped the school would be able just to show some common sense and give her some leeway.
“I feel it has all got a bit silly now.”
Ms Turner said that since first contacting this newspaper last week, the school had relented and allowed her to tape over the offending earring until the wound had healed – but not without having already missed vital days of her GCSE year while the dispute rumbled on.
It came after another one of her classmates, Shannon Boyd, was suspended for wearing a bracelet to school.
The Enrich Learning Trust, which runs Long Stratton High, has been approached for comment.