Girl treated 'like an animal' over Vivienne Westwood pumps
BBC By Andy Watson and Chris Robinson
BBC North East and Cumbria
A mum claims her daughter was treated "like an animal" on her first day of secondary school for wearing Vivienne Westwood designer shoes.
She told how the 11-year-old was put in isolation at Grace College, Gateshead, for breaching its uniform policy.
The mum said the girl and dozens of other pupils were made to sit on the hard sports hall floor for four hours.
Grace College said it reiterated "the importance of applying our rules consistently on issues like uniform".
Other parents, speaking outside the school in Low Fell, said children were pulled up or sent home for wearing other branded footwear or because they were the wrong style.
'Army camp'
"Education is more important than a pair of shoes," one grandmother told BBC Radio Newcastle.
"Everybody used to say 'send your kids here', now they will be pulling their kids out.
"It's like a proper army camp, it's ridiculous."
The mum of the 11-year-old, who the BBC is not naming, said the school had deemed the Vivienne Westwood pumps "unsafe" as they did not cover her entire foot.
