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 The NSW Education Department has denied reports that Elanora Heights Public School has issued a total ban on students clapping and cheering, saying the new guidelines only apply at assemblies held once every few weeks.The new rules – which were announced in the school’s July 18 newsletter – told students to “punch the air, pull excited faces and wriggle about on the spot” when celebrating achievements at school assemblies.The school, on Sydney’s northern beaches, said the decision was made out of respect to students who are sensitive to noise.Under the heading “Did you know…that our school has adopted silent cheers at assemblies?” the newsletter reads:“If you’ve been to a school assembly recently, you may have noticed our students doing silent cheers. Instead of clapping, the students are free to punch the air, pull excited faces and wriggle about on the spot.“This practice has been adopted to respect members of our school community who are sensitive to noise,” it goes on to say.“When you attend an assembly, teachers will prompt the audience to conduct a silent cheer if it is needed.“Teachers have also found the silent cheers to be a great way to expend children’s energy and reduce fidgeting.”In a statement provided to The Educator, a spokesman for the NSW Education Department said a total ban on clapping had not been implemented by the school.“To minimise discomfort to a teacher with a hearing disability that causes acute sensitivity to loud noise, the school has asked students to refrain from clapping and cheering at assemblies. These are held once every few weeks,” he said.“At other school occasions involving all students in the school, such as sporting events, artistic performances, smaller gatherings of students and staff, there are no restrictions on students clapping or cheering.“The school’s Parents and Citizens group was consulted and support this decision.”Yesterday, NSW Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli , said that the school was also supporting one of the school’s teachers, who wears a hearing aid, by making the changes.“The school is supporting a teacher with a disability. The teacher has asked for instances where there is cause for applause, for this not to be done loudly,” he said.“I believe we should be respectful to people with disabilities and if we can slightly change what we do to accommodate them, then we should.”Elanora Heights Public School was contacted for comment. 

 CLAPPING has been banned at a Sydney primary school which has introduced “silent cheering”, “pulling excited faces” and “punching the air” to respect students who are “sensitive to noise”. 
 
 The school now only allows its pupils “to conduct a silent cheer” when prompted by teachers and says the practice “reduces fidgeting”. 
 
 Elanora Heights Public School, which is on Sydney’s northern beaches, announced its new “silent cheer” policy in its latest school newsletter. 
 
 The latest example of a political correctness outbreak in Australian schools, which have banned hugging, singing Christmas carols, celebrating Australia Day and singing the word “black” in the nursery rhyme “baa baa black sheep”. 
 
 The ban on clapping at Elanora Heights Primary School emerged on the same day that an exclusive girls school banned teachers from calling “ladies” or “women” in favour of “gender-neutral” terms. 
 
 In its July 18 newsletter, the Elanora school has published an item under the headline “Did you know” that “our school has adopted silent cheers at assembly’s” (sic). 
 
 “If you’ve been to a school assembly recently, you may have noticed our students doing silent cheers,” the item reads. 
 
 “Instead of clapping, the students are free to punch the air, pull excited faces and wriggle about on the spot. 
 
 “The practice has been adopted to respect members of our school community who are sensitive to noise. 
 
 “When you attend an assembly, teachers will prompt the audience to conduct a silent cheer if it is needed. 
 
 “Teachers have also found the silent cheers to be a great way to expend children’s energy and reduce fidgeting.” 
 
 The ban follows a direction at exclusive Cheltenham Girls High School in northwest Sydney for teachers to avoid discrimination and support LGBTI students by avoiding the words “girls”, “ladies” or “women”. 
 
 Teachers at all-girls school in Sydney told to stop referring to students as "girls" 0:21 Teachers at Cheltenham Girls School in Sydney have been told to stop referring to students as "girls", "ladies" and "women", and to use gender-neutral language instead. Courtesy: Today Show 
 
 The measure followed the introduction of the Safe Schools anti-bullying program and teachers were told at a meeting if they did not comply they could be deemed homophobic and breaking the law. 
 
 The school also has a “Queer-Straight alliance” club and holds gender equality events such as Wear it Purple Day 
 
 Last month, it lowered the Aboriginal flag to raise the rainbow flag at half-mast following the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. 
 
 Local MP Damien Tudehope told the Daily Telegraph that parents feared their daughters might be ostracised if they didn’t comply with Rainbow Day and Purple Day. 
 
 Elanora Heights Public School’s ban on clapping in favour of silent cheering comes after several schools have banned hugging. 
 
 In April, hugging was banned at a Geelong primary school and children were told to find other ways to show affection. 
 
 St Patricks Primary School principal John Grant said “nothing in particular” had caused hugging to be replaced by high fiving or “a knuckle handshake”. 
 
 “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,” Mr Grant said. 
 
 He said he had spoken to teachers about his decision to ban hugging and then the teachers had spoken to classes, instructing the children on different methods of showing affection. He had not sent any correspondence home to parents but said there would now be a letter going home on Monday. 
 
 “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’,” Mr Grant said. “There are also verbal affirmations and acknowledgments.” 
 
 Children at the school have been enthusiastic huggers, he said, with hugs given out to teachers and other children. 
 
 “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,” Mr Grant said. “It really comes back to not everyone is comfortable in being hugged.” 
 
 Comment from Elanora Heights Public School about the clapping ban has been sought by news.com.au. 

 Pinterest Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images 
 
 An announcement in the Elanora Heights Public School newsletter explains: "[W]hen you attend an assembly, teachers will prompt the audience to conduct a silent cheer if it is needed." 
 
 A school in Sydney, Australia has banned clapping, citing "members of our school community who are sensitive to noise." (Read: teachers.) This is some Jane Eyre bullshit, I tell you what. 
 
 An announcement in the Elanora Heights Public School newsletter explains that from now on, "when you attend an assembly, teachers will prompt the audience to conduct a silent cheer if it is needed." Sounds like a barrel of silent laughs. Under that announcement, the school includes an inspirational quote from Helen Keller, who probably would rather have been an un-silent cheerer. 
 
 A representative for children everywhere who happened to be chilling in our office today was ultimately in favor of ceding her right to clap, but hers was a complex stance. When asked what she would think if her teachers told her she couldn't clap, Frankie, 7, thought for a full minute and said, "I wouldn't mind." Frankie seemed briefly concerned when asked whether it would bother her if people did not clap for her, like they did at her piano recital, but she pointed out that clapping makes some people, like her brother, feel shy. Frankie hit the crux of the issue when she asked, "why would the teachers ban clapping?" To silence you, child. 
 
 Silent cheering is expected to "reduce fidgeting," which is definitely possible in young children. It seems that nobody at Elanora has foreseen the unintended consequence of total silence, which is that students will be able to hear their teacher screaming into a roll of paper towels when she slips behind the blackboard for some Me Time. 
 
 "Australia, a country with many great attributes, seems to be slipping into some sort of South Park-ian police state." 
 
 While clapping is verboten, students "are free to punch the air, pull excited faces and wriggle about on the spot." At least nobody has taken away your right to silently wriggle about on the spot, kiddos, although that's probably coming down the pipe. Once you get on this kind of fascist trajectory things just kind of ban themselves. 
 
 This well-intentioned injustice comes in the wake of a major push in Australia towards political correctness in schools. An all-girls school in Sydney, for example, has banned teachers from referring to students as "girls." Another school has banned hugging. Australia, a country with many great attributes, seems to be slipping into some sort of South Park-ian police state.
– Feel free to "punch the air, pull excited faces, and wriggle about on the spot" at Australia's Elanora Heights Public School—but whatever you do, don't clap. The public primary school in Sydney has gained some unwanted attention after it banned clapping at assemblies in favor of "silent cheering" for the benefit of "members of our school community who are sensitive to noise," according to a newsletter released Monday, per News.com.au. "When you attend an assembly, teachers will prompt the audience to conduct a silent cheer if it is needed," it reads, noting it's also "a great way to … reduce fidgeting." The school has since become the target of much Internet wrath: "Australia, a country with many great attributes, seems to be slipping into some sort of South Park-ian police state," writes Lauren Larson at GQ. The clapping ban "is one more sure sign that the world is going mad," adds Susie O'Brien at the Herald Sun. In response to criticism that arose after the story was initially reported, a school district official tells the Educator that the rule was implemented to "minimize discomfort to a teacher with a hearing disability that causes acute sensitivity to loud noise." The official adds that the ban applies only to assemblies, which are held once every few weeks.