PEDANTIC, or pursuing excellence? Angry parents have blasted a Bournemouth school for taking their children out of lessons for not wearing the right shoes.

Several mums contacted the Daily Echo to say their youngsters had been pulled up this week, despite wearing what they deemed normal school shoes – bought from school ranges in Clarks and Asda.

It comes after the Bishop of Winchester School changed to an academy, complete with a new uniform.

One parent, who said her son was also told his shoes – a lace-up “Callum black leather” style from Clarks – were unacceptable, said he felt “bullied by the school”.

Another, Chris Moore, bought his son’s shoes from Clarks’ school range to be told they were not acceptable and when his wife went to return them, staff at the Castlepoint store said several other parents had done so.

Elaine Appleby said her daughter Kireen Blake wore “dolly shoes” to school.

The academy’s uniform policy says pupils should wear “black, leather-type formal shoes”.

Elaine said: “I think it’s unfair that they’re being discriminated against. My daughter is into her 10th year and should be knuckling down into her education.

“It’s a joke that a child cannot get their education because of some shoes.”

School principal Paul McKeown said the “vast majority” of children had made the uniform switch without a problem.

He said the changes had been highlighted during the spring and summer terms and again on the first day of the new year and parents were told that a “zero tolerance” approach would be taken as the school strove for exceptional standards.

“We aspire to become a top school, so we’re not going to have fashion shoes. It’s the hard line that we will take and we’re grateful for almost 100 per cent of our parents that supported that,” he said.

Mr McKeown said that all children were now either in correct footwear or had agreed a date by which they would be. The academy would pay for shoes for parents who could not afford them.

Simone Kelly, whose daughter, Faith, 14, was also kept out of lessons because of her shoes, said: “They need to concentrate more on grades and teaching lessons rather than making a big issue out of this.”