A school has been criticised for a new “no contact policy” that bans children from any physical contact including hugging each other.

       Pupils at Mossley Hollins High School in Greater Manchester have also been barred from sitting on overcrowded benches, playfighting and even holding a place for friends in the lunch queue.

       “No student should ever be touching another student,’” the school headed by Ms Andrea Din in Mossley, Ashton-under-Lyne announced in its latest newsletter.

       Parents and pupils have described the new policy as “ridiculous” and “unfair” as students now have to ask teachers to hug friends at the school.

       The school said in their “newsflash” that the rule will “further improve our positive school culture,” by making pupils “good citizens” and encouraging them to have “mutual respect for each other”.

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       However, a former student said the rules were “not going down very well” with pupils and left them feeling “pressured”, the Manchester Evening News reports.

       Emma Halpin, who left the school in 2019, said: “I used to go to the school, and I still know people there. Nobody seems to be in favour of it, from what I have seen.

       “It does not seem to be going down very well. A lot of students feel pressured with the rules so far.”

       The school has faced a heavy condemnation on social media for the strict rule, with one commenter accusing the school of turning children into “robots”

       A Mossley Hollins High School spokesperson said: “This trial no contact policy builds on over 25 years of our no contact practice. It is not new but just clearer.

       “It aims to ensure all students can enjoy their own personal space and comes at a time when so many young students have missed out on this great practice at primary school and are learning again to socialise well together.

       “We will be monitoring the policy's impact on healthy play and dialogue at break and lunchtime, outside, and we always listen to good ideas when communicated to us using the proper channels.”