>

Welcome to the difference between "what we want kids to learn" versus "the practicality, red-tape, and real-world experience of attempting to herd 1000 cats on a regular basis".  
(I'm not saying that I *agree* with any of this, by the way.... I'm just saying that it's an overblown "Oh, for fuck's sake, I'm tired of spending half the day dealing with kids who don't know boundaries, arguing with them about what they actually did, pulling CCTV footage, filling out paperwork, filing official child protection records in case anything later comes up in court, and wasting so much teaching time both dealing with it AND having to pull the kids out of class to deal with them for it".... not some invented "kids must not hold hands because we're all woke" nonsense).
My school here in the us has that banned too >

They've also drafted a bill to outlaw dancing, but that will be overturned once Kevin Bacon comes to town and has to cut loose. >

But y tho? >

I work in UK schools, including specialist schools, but not these two.  However, let me take a stab:
The holding-hands thing is likely taken out of context or a clarification of a knock-on effect.
The policies are basically "no contact".  This means that any "But we're just play-fighting, miss" or "I was just giving her a cuddle, I didn't know she didn't want me to!", etc. is the actual target, but the side-effect is no "hugging" and no hand-holding.
Bear in mind - a teacher already can't do those things to a pupil in many schools (some primary or special schools will allow hugging for comfort - so long as it's public, visible, appropriate, etc., some allow little ones to hold hands with teacher when the class are walking somewhere, etc.) , or even to another teacher.
It's nothing to do with "consensual touching" as such, it's to stop "non-consensual touching" so there is no excuse of "but I thought I had consent" and having to deal with the fallout of girlfriend trying to get ex-boyfriend in trouble because he hugged her against her will.
It's removal of the basis of "if they consent" so that there's no doubt about consent, in effect.  If you shouldn't have been touching them anyway, it doesn't matter if you "believed" they consented or not... you shouldn't have been touching them.  Same with the application of this to teachers for the last... 15-20 years?  It doesn't matter if the kid "didn't mind" you touching them innocently, you shouldn't have been doing it anyway.
It's an anti-bullying thing.  It's a personal space thing.  It's a sexual-consent thing (yes, sexual activity between consenting children is a category in every UK secondary school's disciplinary log!).  It's a "let's just remove the entire issue" solution.
How often did you see the school bully saying "Ah, but we're just joshing around miss, he doesn't mind really", while he's got the nerd in a headlock?  It's to stop that, remove all doubt.
And in legal terms - you shouldn't BE touching another person physically, without explicit consent.  Yes, it sounds pathetic, but I don't want you touching me at all.  Not at all.  Are we dating?  Are we family?  Are we close personal friends?  If not, then you don't touch me.  I'm not joking.
I took much "offence" once at a teacher in a school who - as a fellow adult professional colleague - grabbed me by the elbow and tried to "hold" me there so he could talk to me about a problem he was having with a computer.  That SERIOUSLY pissed me off.  I wasn't "offended".  I wasn't "injured".  I was pissed off at the sheer fucking audacity of doing that to another adult human you don't know.
These schools are going zero-contact, to drive home that you aren't entitled to just grab, kiss, hug, punch, push or pull someone.  And rather than have to navigate a minefield of "he said, she said, but last week, ..." etc. they are just taking the simpler route. >

Can you please explain how this makes any sense, surely if their goal is to educate children on consensual touching etc it would be best to let them teach each other through socialisation when they're in school and there's significantly less chance for harm rather than removing all situations where consent would be required. I simply don't understand how removing the children's ability to learn consent naturally while they're young and learning to socialize is going to create functioning adults.