As four-letter words go, you and your pupils can probably think of worse, but that hasn’t stopped one American school from banning the word “meep” in class.

Better known as the noise made by orange-haired lab assistant Beaker from The Muppet Show, meep has now been outlawed by Danvers High School in Massachusetts.

Teachers report that pupils are constantly disrupting lessons by saying it - perhaps like our “Am I bovvered?” here in Blighty.

But this was no spontaneous craze. The meep explosion had been carefully orchestrated on Facebook, according to Thomas Murray, the principal.

The school has now informed parents of the new anti-meep policy, threatening any dissenters with possible suspension.

Mr Murray says the crackdown was necessary after pupils failed to follow a “reasonable request” to stop meeping.