By 3 News online staff
Two Blenheim girls who have been refused access to their former school's annual ball have launched a petition.
Marlborough Girls' College won't let Kate Lindstrom, who suffers from lupus, or Dagmar van Antwerpen, who has neuroimmune disease, attend the formal because they're no longer students.
Dagmar had to un-enrol in May due to the disease, and says the school has handled the situation poorly.
"It was a bit of a heartless way they approached it," she told RadioLIVE, "to say well, 'you don't have any ambitions toward your learning', and I know Kate and I would be at school if we could."
Dagmar says thousands have signed a petition they launched.
"The love that people have shared is already quite overwhelming," she says. "It would be awesome if we could go to the formal as well, but for me it's already a huge, positive win."
Principal Karen Stewart said the school has fielded "numerous approaches" from non-students to attend the formal, but it has always been restricted to students from Marlborough Girls' and Boys' Colleges.
She said she could not discuss Dagmar and Kate's individual cases for privacy reasons.
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