STUDENTS have been banned from performing handstands and cartwheels in the playground of a Sydney primary school unless under the direct supervision of a trained gymnastics teacher.

Parents described the ban as extreme and ridiculous as principals warned more schools would implement similar rules.

Drummoyne Public School said children could perform cartwheels and somersaults "under the supervision of a trained gymnastics teacher and with correct equipment. These activities therefore cannot be condoned during lesson breaks."

In a newsletter sent to parents and posted on the school's website, principal Gail Charlier said it followed consultations with the Education Department's state schools sports unit

A department spokesman said the ban was to prevent, and not in response to, playground injuries.

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"School playground rules are set at school level, based on work health and safety considerations and taking into the account the terrain and layout of the school and the level of supervision," he said. "There is no departmental ban on unstructured play activities like cartwheels or handstands."

A spokesman for Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said the "operational" policy had no statewide implications.

But a NSW Federation of P&C Association spokeswoman said the decree was extreme. She said: "Parents always have concerns about the safety of their children but they don't want their children wrapped in cotton wool."

NSW Primary Principals Association president Jim Cooper said: "The irony is while parents are aghast, there's a group of parents who, if a child has a little accident, they hold the school to answer," he said. Drummoyne parent Rebecca Chown has collected more than 250 signatures on a petition demanding the rule be overturned. "It's ridiculous," she said. "What's the world coming to when kids can't do handstands and cartwheels at lunch time."

Ms Chown said she understood the principal "felt she was doing the right thing", but the children were playing, not training to be gymnasts.

The Daily Telegraph was inundated with comments after breaking the story online. Mayling Quay wrote on the Telegraph's Facebook page: "This has been in force at my daughter's primary school for a few years now. (It) sucks."

Originally published as School rules turned upside down