School bans all romantic relationships between pupils 'to encourage them to behave professionally'
11 January 2023, 08:37 | Updated: 11 January 2023, 09:42
A secondary school in Essex has banned all physical contact between pupils and outlawed relationships in a bid to encourage professional behaviour.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Hylands School, said they “do not allow” romantic relationships in a crackdown on physical touching.
A letter sent from the school and seen by EssexLive, revealed the extent of the strict rules, including staff not tolerating “any physical contact” between pupils.
Hugging and holding hands were among the forms of physical contact which the school said would not be tolerated.
The letter continued: “This is in order to keep your child safe. If your child is touching somebody else, whether they are consenting or not, anything could happen.
“It could lead to an injury, make someone feel very uncomfortable, or someone being touched inappropriately.
“While we want your children to make really positive friendships, hopefully lifelong ones, we don't allow romantic relationships at Hylands. Your child is of course able to have these relationships with your permission outside of school.
“We want your child to focus on their learning while in school and we don't want them to be distracted by relationship issues."
Read more: Sir Francis Drake Primary School to be renamed over slave trading past following BLM protests
One outraged parent claimed that parents had not been told about the new policy prior to the letter.
They were instead told of the new rules through their children.
"I couldn't believe it," they said. "In this day and age, I agree that inappropriate touching - hitting and punching - of course has to be dealt with. But they're not teaching students how to have a healthy relationship.
"The inference is that you can't touch anyone, children won't know what is or isn't appropriate, and the ability to empathise with their peers is being taken away.
"I have a daughter and her and her friends greet each other with a hug, but if they do that now they'll [face being] put into isolation."
The parent went on to say: “Human instinct is that if your friend fell over you might help them up.
“But now they're having their privileges threatened such as losing their lunch or morning breaks, or even isolation for the day - which is all so draconian.
“There's been a huge outcry from other parents. Partly because of the lack of communication with parents, all we've been told is what students tell us.
“But it's also such an archaic approach and is not needed in this day and age.”
Margaret Callaghan, 54, executive headteacher at Hylands School, said: "We always seek to work closely with parents in order to ensure that our pupils are safe and happy.
"Most parents and pupils support this policy which engenders mutual respect and encourages pupils to behave professionally as any future employer would expect."
