I got a shock the other day as my 13-year-old daughter prepared to leave the house to meet friends. She looked perfectly nice, in jeans and a pretty top – it was her face that was the problem.

“What have you done to yourself?” Her face was orange. Not the colour of an actual orange, more like a rusty version, a bit like Ayres Rock in the setting sun. It was a completely different colour to the rest of her body. “Are you joining a circus?” I joked, before insisting that she tone down whatever she’d plastered on to her skin. Predictably, she went crazy, stomping about.

Thankfully, she’s not allowed to wear make-up to school, and long may that continue. Yet such rules are in danger of being broken by pupils, as schools have been warned that children should never be excluded for ‘minor infringements’ such as wearing make-up, having the wrong shoes, or breaking rules on haircuts.

Teachers should exclude them only for safety reasons, or to prevent disruption to learning, says a report by the children’s commissioner for England.

It may sound Victorian, but I believe that appearance is linked to order, and behaviour. The better turned out the pupils, the better behaved they tend to be. Make-up cheapens children, even those on the cusp of womanhood. My elder daughter looks lovely in her natural state, but coats her lashes in so much mascara that at the end of the day she looks like she’s been down a coal mine. At 15, she is allowed to wear make-up to school and while she doesn’t trowel it on like her sister, she still looks better without.

Recently, she left her make-up bag in the school toilets and was distressed to find the bag gone when she returned. “There was £30 worth of make-up in there,” she wailed. While I was sympathetic, I was also angry. No child should be carting around so many cosmetics.

Disturbingly, there are reports of children as young as six wearing make-up to school. If parents allow it – and some encourage it – at least the school can clamp down, although earlier this year a high school in Leeds hit the headlines for teaching pupils how to apply cosmetics. I’m sure some children think a foundation degree involves Max Factor.

If rules are relaxed, parents and teachers will be fighting a losing battle.There is even a website ‘How to wear make-up in a school that doesn’t allow it.’ Whether hair, clothing or make-up, schools should be able to set standards and pupils should have to meet them. Punishment should be an all-over spray tan in bright orange - only the girls would probably like that.