Headteacher’s ban on pupils HUGGING each other slammed as ‘ridiculous’ by furious parents

ANGRY parents have blasted a secondary school after a headteacher introduced a rule banning pupils from HUGGING each other.

Malcolm Arnold Academy, in Northampton, brought in the "no-touching" policy in September to make sure youngsters respect each other's "personal space".

Mums and dads have criticised the new measure and branded it "draconian" - saying it will have a detrimental effect and fail to teach pupils about the real world.

Mum-of-two Debbie Lowe, 48, from Queen's Park, Northampton, said: "When I was at school I relied on my friends to put a supportive arm around me at times.

"I can understand no shoving or pushing but just banning touching outright is absolutely unbelievable and verging on draconian.

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"It is going to prevent children developing social skills during their most formative years."

Another parent of a 14-year-old teenage boy at the school, who did not want to be named, added: "The school should crack down on bullying first before introducing absurd rules like this.

"It doesn't prepare them for the real world and how to interact with people. It sends all sorts of damaging messages and almost dehumanises children.

"If a friend is upset you should be able to comfort them and hug them. It is just madness that they are essentially banning relationships from forming at school.

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"This will only serve to suppress children's emotions and turn them into robots."

Other parents have taken to Facebook to slam the move - with one even claiming it "infringes the children's human rights".

Anna Lupino Civil wrote: "Absolutely ridiculous! There's a difference between invading someone's personal space and giving someone a supportive hug or an encouraging pat on the back!

Sheila Chamberlain added: "So due to the school being crowded there's no pushing or poking?

"That's not going to be enforceable plus kids can claim others have broken the rules to get them in trouble!

"Then to add no hugging? So a kid loses a grandparent goes in upset and no one can comfort them.

"Yes that's a school that's going to encourage some extremely weird behaviour."

Jean Stiff added: "Infringement of human rights.

"What makes us human is nuances of behaviour - that acknowledging pat on the back, touch to the arm or a quick hug!"

It is going to prevent children developing social skills during their most formative years

Debbie Lowe

But one parent backed the rule and added: " Coming from a mum of a child that has been bullied at this school, some of the things that have happened to my child... may be fun to [other children] but upset my child a lot so I think it could be a good thing."

And the school claims the new standard has actually strengthened its sense of community and has received "overwhelmingly positive" feedback from parents.

Headteacher Chris Steed, said: "Our behavioural standards are a very important part of life at Malcolm Arnold Academy, and something that we are always reviewing.

"After working closely with the student council last spring, we wrote to all parents in June outlining a new set of behaviour expectations for this academic year.

"This included a new expectation that students should respect each other's personal space, something that is particularly important as the school is growing due to the increased numbers of parents selecting us as their first preference.

"The reality is that not being allowed to poke, push or be affectionate to another pupil in public has always been an unwritten rule at the academy, but through the work with students, it is something that we wanted to formalise."

Mr Steed said that at a drop-in session to discuss behaviour at the school, only a few parents attended, nearly all of whom were positive about the rule.

He added: "It is generally felt that the behaviour and sense of community has, in fact, strengthened further.

"Rules and expectations like this are not uncommon in schools."

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