WAIT at the gates of many Hampshire schools and you will witness children flocking to classes from a rapidly growing number of diverse communities and cultures from around the globe.

An incredible 42 languages alone are spoken at one school – St Mark’s School in Shirley, Southampton, which lies in one of the city’s most multicultural areas.

The rocketing numbers of pupils from different backgrounds and religions presents a difficult task for head teachers trying to balance the needs for a school uniform policy with children’s rights to wear their chosen cultural dress and religious symbols.

The delicate balance was cast into the spotlight when a religious row erupted when two city schoolgirls were ordered to remove their turbans on the first day of school.

As previously reported St Anne’s Catholic School head teacher Lyn Bourne apologised to the families of Prasimran Kaur, 11, and Simranjot Kaur, 13, when staff told them to take off the religious headwear on the first day of term.

Both Southampton girls have returned to classes after being granted permission to wear their turbans which their families claim teachers had branded “fashion” items.

But now Southampton City Council education chiefs will write to city head teachers demanding tougher measures ensuring school uniforms respect the needs of pupils from all faiths and religions.

But how can schools make their decisions to ensure clothing and other items are genuinely for religious purposes rather than fashion items?

Religious symbols can range from clothing such as Muslim headscarves to gold crucifixes worn by Christians.

Turbans are worn by baptised Sikhs of both sexes but are more commonly worn by men – which can cause confusion among those seeing them for the first time.

Harmeet Singh Brar, a spokesman for the Sikh Council Hampshire, is among those calling for guidelines to be drawn to ensure that teachers are aware of cultural and religious dress.

He called for teachers to develop greater awareness of their pupils and added: “Things went horribly wrong and we can’t have that again.

“Whatever we can do to prevent it happening is the right thing to do.

“Schools need to be able to be able to identify whether their pupils are certain faiths and the things that are associated with that faith.”

There are five physical symbols of faith worn by Sikhs which are Kesh (uncut hair), Kara (a steel bracelet), Kanga (a wooden comb), Kaccha (cotton underwear) and Kirpan (steel sword).

But said there is a wide range of variations in dress, adding: “There has to be common sense and you have to think where does it become a religious symbol and when is it appropriate for them to wear it in school.

“If they have made a choice to be devotes to their faith then it is something to be encouraged.

“The black turbans are quite modest but if they were luminous coloured it would be different to wear with school uniform.

“Similarly if a Sikh has a bracelet and it is made out of metal it is more than acceptable, but if it is 22 carat gold then the parents should think twice about it.

Southampton Pakistani Welfare Association secretary Ahmed Hussain said schools should provide clear rules so that pupils know what to wear before they arrive.

He said: “The schools should have a clear policy in the first place so that when they take their children to admissions they know what is acceptable.

“If they know all the rules and regulations they can know what can be worn at the school or whether to go elsewhere.”

He said that Muslim schoolgirls often wear hijab headscarf to lessons but that he feels the niqab full veil is less practical in classes as it only leaves the eyes on view.

Similarly he said jewellery worn by many Muslims ought to be limited to prevent thefts adding: “Girls are asked not to wear long silver earrings for safety reasons.”

David Vane, of Southampton Council of Faiths, who is himself a Buddhist and former headteacher, said the organisation works hard to promote awareness of the city’s diverse communities and faiths.

He said: “Generally Southampton is a very peaceful place due to the communication between the faith communities and some of the work the council of faiths does.”

As previously reported Southampton City Council deputy leader Warwick Payne is planning circulating a memorandum to all Local Educational Authority (LEA) area schools which could also be sent to academies and free schools which are independent of local authority control.

He said: “The important thing is to strike a balance between respecting the religious faiths and ensuring that the business of Southampton schools can carry on as usual. Most schools in the city are dealing well with striking that balance.”

He said the Kaurs’ situation is very rare. But he stressed the need for diligence from parents when deciding whether items should be worn, adding: “Some religious symbols are very valuable such as Christian crucifixes and it’s a case of taking precautions and being aware of risks if pupils want to wear something of value.

“But Southampton schools tend to be a very safe place to be and Southampton is a very safe city.”