A TRAINEE teaching assistant has claimed she was told to go home for having tattoos.

Charlotte Tumilty, 26, a mother-of-two, was told her tattoos were "inappropriate" when she arrived at the Roman Catholic St John Vianney's Primary School in her home town of Hartlepool.

However, the school said that in fact Miss Tumilty was merely told to cover up her tattoos and return later this week.

The mother is on a level two teacher training course at Hartlepool College of Further Education (FE) was due to start the teaching assistant placement twice a week for a year as part of her studies.

She said when she went for an interview at the school to secure her placement, staff could see some of her tattoos, though she was smartly dressed, and she promised to take her piercings out during the placement.

her arms were covered up when she went to the school although the top of her neck tattoo could be seen,

Accepting her look is “alternative”, she said: “It ticks me off. They said I could maybe start later in the week, but I don’t think it’s going to get anywhere because you can still see bits of my tattoos.”

St John Vianney’s deputy headteacher Martin Boagey said: “She was politely asked to consider how best to cover up her tattoos and it was suggested that she should begin her placement later in the week. At no point was she ever told that she could not work in the school."

The FE college has said staff would support Miss Tumilty as much as they could.