A 14-year-old Sikh boy has been withdrawn by his family from a north London school after the management banned the teenager from carrying a 'kirpan' or religious dagger.

The boy was told not to wear the five-inch (12.5 cm) kirpan at the Compton School in Barnet after Governors ruled that it was a "health and safety risk".

Under Sikhism, the shweathed scimitar is one of the five "articles of faith" that must be carried at all times.

The school governors have said that they have tried to find a compromise and a place remains open for the boy.

They suggested that he wear a two-innch version of the dagger wielded into a sheath. But the offer was rejected by the boy's parents who said the miniature dagger was a replica and not a genuine kirpan.

The family has taken him out of the school.

The boy first started carrying the religious dagger two years ago when he was baptised as a Sikh.

However, according to his older brother Ravjeet Singh, at the start of term last month, he was told it was no longer allowed.

"He was greeted by the head teacher at the school and was asked if he was wearing the kirpan," he told the BBC's Asian Network. "He said yes and then they said, 'we're going to have to turn you away."