Pupils told to wear goggles when handling Blu-Tack

Teachers are being handed five-page guides warning of the dangers of Pritt Stick, fuelling claims health and safety rules are ruining education.

Staff have told how they had been subjected to a series of increasingly bizarre guidelines to stop schools being sued in the event of an accident.

A teacher said one school ordered adults and children to wear goggles when using Blu-Tack.

Another told how a school banned them from using spray foam when marking out spaces in case a child slips and "drowns" in it.

And at one primary school, a three-legged race was dropped from sports day because it was too dangerous.



Other rules revealed by teachers include:

* A ban on children being sent out of the classroom to "cool off" because it is a fire hazard

* The removal of climbing equipment because bark chippings beneath did not meet the required depth

* Wet grass stopping PE lessons

* Children told not to eat sweets for fear of choking

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "We urge schools to take a common sense approach to keeping safe. Health and safety should not be a major burden and it shouldn't stop pupils from learning and playing. A small amount of risk is part and parcel of growing up and we do not subscribe to a cotton wool culture of a sanitised childhood."