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Labour is sending a “wrecking ball” into England’s education system which threatens to “totally destroy” efforts to improve behaviour, the teacher at one of the country’s most acclaimed inner-city schools has warned. Katharine Birbalsingh, who co-founded the Michaela Community School in Wembley, warns that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s planned changes will “torpedo” the state sector and “make it far worse”.

Her school is famed for its outstanding exam results and strict rules – and she claims the measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill are a “grab for power by the state” motivated by “Leftist ideology”. Ms Birbalsingh predicted “every child will be far worse off” because the Education Secretary is “going to destroy behaviour in our schools”.

She is dismayed by proposals to limit schools to requiring three items of branded uniforms, in addition to a tie. The headteacher argues that uniform has a vital role to play in creating a sense of belonging and tackling the “massive absenteeism problem since Covid”.

She said: “In order for kids to feel like they belong to their school they need very much to have a uniform. Just like the England football team need to have a uniform to know who to pass to, schools need a uniform.”

A strict dress code is also essential, she argues, to creating a culture in a school where bullying and bad behaviour is not tolerated.

Instead of capping the number of branded items, Ms Birbalsingh suggested the overall cost could be capped.

Turning her fire on Ms Phillipson, she said: “She’s not a school leader. She doesn’t realise how important uniform is to behaviour being excellent.”

She also fears measures to push staff to obtain “qualified teacher status” will increase reliance on supply teachers.

“A supply teacher by their very nature only spends a week in a school so you have got different teachers coming in week after week, your behaviour goes kaput,” she warned.

While she supports groups of academies taking over failing schools, she is alarmed by plans to send regional teams into troubled institutions to give advice on raising standards.

“I can assure you, all that is going to happen is more and more schools are going to fail,” she said.

Ms Birbalsingh – dubbed “Britain’s strictest headmistress” by a documentary – hopes the measures can be stopped from becoming law.

“Everybody just needs to keep shouting about it,” she said.

The legislation is now making its way through the Lords.

“It is a wrecking ball and what’s worrying is nobody notices,” she said.

She favours the Government banning “smartphones for under-16s altogether, not just in schools”.

She said: “Their brains essentially get broken. But then there is also just the danger of meeting paedophiles, gang members – children’s lives are literally in danger with them being on smartphones all the time. And the stuff that they view, the beheadings and the rapes and the porn and so which become just normal in their lives. We’re only now as a society seeing the effect of children growing up on these devices.”

A Department for Education spokesperson described Ms Birbalsingh’s claims about the Bill as “unfounded”, adding: “The Bill will be a seminal moment for the safety and success of our children, with common sense measures that will ensure excellence everywhere for every child. It shouldn’t be controversial to expect teachers to be qualified and for all children to have access to a cutting-edge curriculum.

“Whether it’s driving up standards through our new school improvement teams or saving families money on uniform and free breakfast clubs, we are on the side of parents and giving them the confidence that their child will get a great education, no matter their background or postcode.”