Hugging has been banned at a primary school in Geelong in South-East Australia, with children told to find other ways to show affection.

This follows on from late last week, a school in New Zealand asked their female students to wear longer dresses so as to create "a comfortable working environment for the male teachers".

In that same week, it was reported that a school in Melbourne told students to tear pages out of their textbooks dealing with sexuality, and dump those pages in the bin.

Talking to news.com.au, St Patricks Primary School principal John Grant said there was no one reason in particular for the new rule: “But in this current day and age we are really conscious about protecting kids and teaching them from a young age that you have to be cautious."

“There’s a range of methods including a high five or a particular knuckle handshake where they clunk knuckles as a simple way of saying ‘well done’. There are also verbal affirmations and acknowledgments.”

“We have a lot of kids who walk up and hug each other and we’re trying to encourage all of us to respect personal space. It really comes back to not everyone is comfortable in being hugged.”