A MOTHER was not allowed in a school parents’ evening — because she was wearing a veil.

Our Lady and St. John Catholic Art College, North Road, Blackburn, said all visitor’s faces must be identifiable for ‘health, safety and security grounds’.

But the 34-year-old mum said the situation had left her upset and asked: “Why should how I dress make a difference?”.

The woman, who does not want to be named, was wearing a full veil, which covers every part of the body except the eyes.

A minority of Muslim women in the UK wear it to protect their modesty from other men.

The school said she was the only person to ever attend one of its parents’ evening wearing the full veil.

The mum, who is a former pupil of the school, said she had been having similar problems since 2007, and claimed she had been asked to remove the item before she stepped inside.

She said: “In September 2007 when I attended a parents’ evening I got told I could not go into the main hall because I was wearing a veil.

“I explained that I was willing to take the veil off in front of the female teachers but not the male teachers.

“A year later the same thing happened when I went to drop my son off at the school.

“Then this week at a parents’ evening I signed myself in, and saw two teachers in the library as I was not allowed in the main hall.

“Then I got asked by a senior member of staff ‘whether I was aware of the school’s policy on identification’.”

Since the issue came to light in 2007, the school has amended its policy which adds full veils alongside hoodies and crash helmets as items that have to be removed before someone can enter the building.

The woman said this was not in force when she enrolled her son at the school, neither was it in the school prospectus.

She said: “If I had been told this was their intended policy then maybe I would not have considered asking my son to go to the school in the first place.

“The whole situation has upset me and I don’t like going to the school any more because I always leave crying.

“I can understand that people should be identified but I am just a normal person trying to lead a normal life.

"Why should how I dress make a difference?

“My son enjoys going to the school and has settled in and I am now in a strange situation where I can’t see how he is progressing or even go to drop him off inside.”

Anjum Anwar, chair of Woman’s Voice, has been working with the mum.

She said: “Ater meeting with the headteacher and representative of the school's Governing body, we had hoped that the situation would have been resolved.

“Women’s Voice is saddened to hear that this young lady is still not being given access to participate in her child's education because of her faith.”

Headteacher Colette Gillen stressed that the school was rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted for community cohesion, care and guidance.

Mrs Gillen said it was important parents were able to discuss children’s progress with staff and revealed she had offered for the woman to meet with staff on a one-to-one basis in her office.

She said: “This means that neither position would be compromised.

“Whilst this would be acceptable on a one-to-one basis as offered, the difficulty would be if a number of ladies wearing veils were free to wander corridors or rooms.

“It would not be feasible to monitor who is who.

"All policies and procedures have to attempt to cater for every eventuality.”

Issues around the full veil hit the headlines in October 2006 when Blackburn MP Jack Straw called on Muslim women not to wear them ‘in a bid to help relations with the rest of the community’.

He said they could be seen as a ‘visible statement of separation and difference’.

Mr Straw declined to comment on the Our Lady and St. John’s situation yesterday.

Blackburn with Darwen Council said it was up to each individual school to implement its own policy with regards to head gear, including the veil.