A state school in Queensland, Australia, became the target of national outrage last week after deciding that its pupils should not do cartwheels or somersaults unsupervised in the playground.

Glenn Dickson, principal of Belgian Gardens State School, said he had been forced to ban those gymnastics because they were officially classed as “medium risk level 2” activities. Teachers had complained that they had witnessed pupils doing them in dangerous situations.

The ban was defended by the school’s parent teacher association, but criticised by other parents, the press and politicians. Rod Welford, Queensland’s education minister, described the ban as a “ridiculous situation” and called for the policy to be reversed.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Springborg, leader of the Liberal National Party, said Queensland was becoming a nanny state.

“Are we going to have anti-cartwheel officers in our schools? How are you going to do it?” he asked. “Teachers have got enough to do without stopping kids being kids.”