A BURNLEY school has introduced a blanket ban on name-calling in a bid to encourage pupils to treat each other with respect.

Nasty nicknames have been officially outlawed at Wellfield Methodist And Anglican Church School with the 204 pupils on roll warned that they will be disciplined if they break the policy.

The new code of conduct at the Wellfield Drive school was triggered after two parents complained their children had been the victim of name-calling.

And delighted headteacher Janet Smith said the majority of her pupils were well-behaved but enforcing the ban had succeeded in nipping the problem in the bud before it escalated.

Mrs Smith said the directive complemented the school's anti-bullying policy.

But today education chiefs and parent groups said while anti-bullying measures were important, having such a policy was over zealous and left little room for flexibility.

Mrs Smith said: "We are not talking about banning use of all nicknames pupils can still call their friend Harry and not Harold.

"No, what we are targeting is nasty name-calling.

"We have done this by saying to the children that when they speak to someone they should call them by their proper name and not by name-calling."

Mrs Smith said the policy helped pupils feel school was a "happy place to come" and added: "We received complaints on behalf of two children who said they had been the victim of persistent name-calling so decided we should act.

"There are basically three types of name-calling.

"The first is knee-jerk, gratuitous nasty names such as Fatso', then there is racist which I'm pleased to say we didn't have and the last is through bullying and deliberately targeted type. We were talking about the first kind."

Mrs Smith said the policy, announced to pupils in assembly, and parents via letters and the website, was paying dividends.

"It is having a very positive effect on pupils and parents say they are very pro this. The few incidents we have had involving name-calling have been reduced to nil.

"The odd child who decides to persist is now aware they are acting within a very, very, tiny minority.

"When something is not seen as normal behaviour, children will tend to stop it."

But Nick Seaton, chairman of The Campaign for Real Education, which pushes for higher standards and more parental choice in UK schools, said: "Children should not be mollycoddled if we want them to grow up to be responsible, tough adults and unless these names are extremely unpleasant then such a ban would seem unnecessary and another example of extreme political correctness."

But education officials at Lancashire County Council are more supportive.

A spokesman said the policy was an "interesting idea" and said it was up to schools how they enforced their own discipline.