Marie Curie badge row: Runcorn school reverses ban

A school which took at least 40 pupils out of lessons for refusing to remove a Marie Curie symbol from their blazers has lifted its ban on charity badges.

Students at Grange School in Runcorn were asked to take off the charity's yellow daffodil badges on Friday as they breached the school's dress code.

Those who refused to comply were segregated from their classmates.

Head teacher Barry Carney said he had now suspended the ban on charity pin badges after discussions with pupils.

Mr Carney has written a letter to parents and carers stating he has "suspended the rules for now" and the dress code policy is to be reviewed because it was "not in the best interests of the pupils at this time".

He said 70 pupils wore the cancer charity's badge but many had removed them when asked.

A "small number" of those who refused were kept in separate classrooms, he said.

Pupils who were kept in classrooms disputed this claim, and told the BBC the actual number isolated was about 120.

Marie Curie UK have yet to comment.