A six-year-old boy has been excluded from his primary school for four days amid a stand-off between his parents and the school authorities over its healthy eating policy.

Riley Pearson's parents were called to a meeting at Colnbrook Church of England primary school after a bag of Mini Cheddars, an oven-baked snack, was discovered in his packed lunch following the introduction of the new policy which stipulated that packed lunches should be a "healthy and balanced meal".

The child's parents, Nicola Mardle and Tom Pearson, were told in a letter that he was being excluded for four days, while a permanent exclusion was considered. It said that a continued lack of parental support for school policy had "led to Riley being put in a situation where he is continuously breaking school rules regarding healthy eating".

However, his parents were angry at the stance of the school, in Colnbrook, near Slough, Berks. Mardle said: "We just do not see how they have the right to tell us what we can feed our son.

"If anything, Riley is underweight and could do with putting on a few pounds.

"Having a balanced diet also includes eating some carbohydrates, sugars and fats.

"It is not about excluding some foods it is about getting the mix right," she added.

Headteacher Jeremy Meek said the school had one family who "do not agree with the policy."

"We have had a wonderful response and the parents and children are on board and pleased with the way the policy has been impacted on our pupils.

"We cannot talk about individual circumstances but there is one family who are not prepared to support the policy.

"We are in discussions with them about how we move it forward. We have excluded (the pupil) for four days due to lack of support for the policy.

"It is to avoid putting the children in a difficult situation. If the policy is not being abided by then that potentially harms that pupil."