A school has changed its uniform rules to allow students to wear fake eyelashes due to “mental health considerations”.

Parents were sent a letter about the change after attendance was affected by youngsters taking time off due to lash appointments and their mental well-being.

Headmaster David Collins, who runs the Knole Academy in Sevenoaks, said students were missing school to have their lashes removed or refusing to attend school without them.

The letter continued: "Having students in school is the most important consideration and therefore, from Monday 19 February, we shall allow false eyelashes to be worn as long as they are discrete."

He added they made changes to a uniform "when changes in society make a previous standpoint redundant or untenable".

However, one furious mum whose 13-year-old daughter attends school has slammed the decision.

She said: "It’s making my daughter do it which is causing me a problem because I'm literally having to peel them off her in the morning.

‘What are the school going to say when they end up with girls who end up pregnant?’

“There is a lot of peer pressure at the school. We’re a society being run by children which I’m not going to stand for. Rules are rules and that’s the end of it.”

The mum also said that in allowing eyelashes, the school were making them part of the "uniform".

She added: "I get that girls experiment, and they will do things like this, but I just think it's not part of the uniform. It’s making eyelashes part of the uniform for children.

“The next thing would be that they're going to announce false nails, and then where does it end?”

The parent is concerned the decision could lead to a slippery slope of other concessions.

"I thought I might have been a bit crazy because I'm a lot more strict about it,” she continued.

“It’s like they’re snowflakes. They don’t really care, or is it because everyone’s going down the mental health route now?"

The worried mum is concerned youngsters at the school could also receive attention from men as the lashes make them look older.

“My daughter is quite tall and slim so she already does look older than she is anyway,” she explained. “It’s quite worrying because are they going to start getting the attention of older men?

“What are the school going to say when they end up with girls who end up pregnant?”

“We are allowing this to take over what the actual role of the school is. They’re all going to do it. They’re almost being told by the school that they can do it so they will do it”.

Knole Academy has more than 1,300 pupils aged 11 to 19 and sent the letter out earlier this month.

Under a subtitle of "eyelashes and earrings" the letter said: "We review out school rules on a regular basis and make amendments when changes in society make a previous standpoint redundant or untenable.

"We are increasingly seeing attendance affected by students taking time off to have false eyelashes removed or refusing to attend school through mental health considerations.

"We need to balance this against having a standard of dress which helps to create a work ethos and sets parameters for behaviour.

"In this case, having students in school is the most important consideration and therefore, from Monday 19 February, we shall allow false eyelashes to be worn as long as they are discrete".

The letter adds rules will also be changed to allow one set of small silver, pearl or crystal studs - rather than just gold.

Knole Academy declined to comment.