Once more with feeling ... Students at Mount Martha Primary School flout the hugging ban today. Credit:Penny Stephens One parent, Tracey, said her son was winded on the playground yesterday and, when his friend tried to console him by putting his arm around his shoulder, the friend was told his actions were against the rules. The friend then had to walk around with the teacher on playground duty for the rest of lunch as punishment, Tracey told radio 3AW. "I’m just a bit outraged that it has come to this. There must be other ways," Tracey said. Another parent, John, said his children were told they could not high-five each other.

"I have a couple of children, and they have been told that if they high-five one another that’s instant detention, and if they do it three times they will be expelled," John said. "I mean, what are they actually trying to teach?" One child was reportedly told that if students wanted to high-five, it would have to be an "air high-five". Principal Judy Beckworth said it was "not actually a policy, it’s a practice that we’ve adopted in the short-term as a no-contact games week". She said the new practice was introduced yesterday after students suffered a number of injuries on the playground in recent weeks, and the new no-touching rule was only due to last for one week.

However one parent, Nicole, claimed that the school was backpedalling because some parents were told by the school that the new rule would be in place for a minimum of three weeks, which would be extended if the children did not behave themselves. "In response to an increased number of recent student injuries, including a broken collarbone, wrists and concussion, we decided to have a ‘no contact games week’ at our school," Ms Beckworth said. "Parents, teachers and I were concerned about the increasing number of students injuring themselves recently by playing roughly in the playground during games like chasey, tiggy, football and basketball. "We are very serious about student safety and that’s why we decided to do this." She did not believe the school’s response was an overreaction.

"When you have students badly injuring themselves, it would be unacceptable for me not to take action," she said. Ms Beckworth said when the children were told of the new rule, some of them asked about high-fiving to clarify the rule. "We spoke about it being contact, but of course that’s something that children really would find that would be acceptable, and I will be talking to my staff about that, chatting with them about trying to get the message across," Ms Beckworth said. "Of course sport and games are an important part of school life and it will be business as usual next week. I’ll chat to my staff about trying to get the message across about rough games and sports, high-fives acceptable." Ms Beckworth said the protesting Year 6 students were removed from the oval yesterday because they had overstayed their allotted time.

When they demanded to speak to someone, the assistant principal addressed them in the school gym. "I understand what he spoke to them about was that ... there are appropriate ways of expressing their opinion," Ms Beckworth said. "We have a lot of respect for our students and he spoke to them about the way to go about that." She said parents would be told of the new rule in this week’s school newsletter. "My door is open to parents and students," Ms Beckworth said.

"Lots of parents are pleased with the action as they value safety."



