PRESS reports that a six-year-old boy, Riley Pearson, was expelled from Colnbrook Church of England School, in Slough, on Monday, for bringing a bag of Mini Cheddars to school were inaccurate and grossly misleading, the head teacher, Jeremy Meek, said this week.

In a statement, he said that the decision on Monday permanently to exclude Riley, after a four-day exclusion last week, was taken because of an irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between the school and his parents, Natalie Mardle and Tom Pearson, who had persistently refused to co-operate with the school's healthy-eating policy, which bans crisps, snack foods, and fizzy drinks. The parents had also "taken inappropriate action designed to damage the school's reputation".

Other parents had welcomed the healthy-eating policy, which was launched with a visit from dieticians and cookery lessons, the school said.