A FLAGSHIP free school which punishes pupils whose parents do not pay school dinner bills on time illustrates the “appalling” legacy of Tory education policy, Labour said yesterday.

Michaela Community School in Wembley Park, north-west London, was revealed to be placing pupils in “lunch isolation” — forcing them to spend the entire lunch hour away from other children.

Head teacher Katharine Birbalsingh was hailed by top Tories including Michael Gove when she spoke at the Conservative Party conference in 2010 and rubbished the teaching profession.

A deputy head at the time, Ms Birbalsingh was sacked after claiming that teachers were “blinded by leftist ideology.” She went on to found the free school in 2014.

Now she has admitted that her school places children in isolation “to encourage mum [sic] to change her ways and support her son by paying for his food.”

Parent Dionne Kelly received a letter from the school’s deputy head Barry Smith saying she owed £75 in lunch money.

“If this full amount is not received within this week, your child will be placed into lunch isolation,” the letter said.

“They will receive a sandwich and piece of fruit only. Only when the entire outstanding sum is paid in full will they be allowed into family lunch with their classmates.”

Unemployed care worker Ms Kelly told the Daily Mail: “I found the letter quite threatening. Isolating children for their parents not paying upfront is degrading. It’s embarrassing for poor families.”

Labour shadow education secretary Angela Rayner called for the school to immediately “rethink” its policy.

“I am utterly appalled that a school is punishing children for the ‘sins’ of the parents,” she said.

“I think it’s disgusting that children should be isolated from their classmates in this way and stigmatised through no fault of their own.

“They are being doubly punished through being isolated and then through an inferior school lunch.”

Ms Rayner argued that the policy pointed to deficiencies in the Tories’ education policies.

“This school and its head were flagships of Michael Gove’s free school programme and this appalling story well illustrated its problematic legacy,” she added.

A National Union of Teachers spokesman said: “That the letter to parents was impersonal in this way appears to underline the disconnect between the school and the financial situation of the families who’d receive it.

“Schools are under very significant financial pressure, [but] they must also act with sensitivity.”