School Bans Tig

A school bans "tag" children’s game to encourage pupils to "settle down."

11:46 14 March 2016

Teachers at Christ the King Catholic School have banned younger children from playing tig in January after pupils became upset when their clothes were “torn” by accident. A move that outraged some parents.

 

Billy Salkeld, who has a child at the school, said: "The world's gone crazy, kids can't do 'owt these days."

 

Dawn O'Toole, who formally oversaw the children as a volunteer playground supervisor, said: "If we saw them playing tig, we had to go over to them and ask them to stop and find something else to play.

"I was very shocked, it is a natural game for children and the children themselves weren't very happy about it."

 

Neil Ryan, head teacher at Christ the King, stood by the decision.

 

He said: "While we are always keen to see our pupils enjoying games at break times, we've had a few instances recently of children being upset and having clothes torn during games of tig.

 

"As a temporary measure, and to allow the children some time to settle down a bit, we have decided to ask pupils not to play tig in our small playground for now.

 

"The space is quite small, which we believe contributed to some of the issues which have happened, but once the weather improves and the larger school field is available to use, the children will be able to play tig again."