Girl, 12, sues school for making pupils wear a face mask

A 12-year-old girl is taking her school to court for “requiring or encouraging” pupils to wear a face mask.

The schoolgirl argues Tapton Academy School Trust in Sheffield may be causing “serious harm” by asking students and staff to use face coverings, the BBC reported.

On Friday, the girl's lawyer Francis Hoar requested an interim injunction to prevent the trust or her school from implementing the mask rule.

She is currently exempt from wearing a mask at school.

Read more: Anger in village after erotic novel is left in community book exchange

Read more: Massive fatberg weighing 300 tonnes may take a month to clear

Mr Hoar said during the remote hearing: "The school's policy risks causing children serious harm to their physical health and their mental health.

"If the trust had done its job properly... it would have gathered evidence and reached a view as to the effectiveness of this particular measure, but it has done no such thing."

Mr Hoar said mask-wearing was enforced "aggressively” at the school.

Ben Bentley, representing the trust, told the court the trust tried to “encourage” mask-wearing and not “enforce” it.

He said the trust’s policy had been made following a risk assessment and it was put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the wider community.

Mr Bentley added 120 staff members (10% of the total workforce) in the area had been infected with coronavirus in the past eight months.

Read more: Teenagers ‘force hedgehog to inhale cannabis smoke before throwing it in river’

He argued preventing the trust from encouraging mask-wearing could cause pupils who agreed with the policy to bring their own cases against it.

Mr Bentley pointed out the injunction was made by one person in the school, which had 1000 pupils.

Tapton Academy School Trust said it followed government guidance regarding COVID safety measures.

The judge will give his ruling at a later date.