A high school has been blasted for threatening pupils with detention if they take part in the bottle flip craze.
The global trend involves filling a plastic bottle half-full with water and throwing it in the air with the aim of making it land upright.
It became an internet sensation after a video was posted in May of US high school student Mike Senatore performing the trick at a talent show.
People now try to outdo each other by performing the trick in increasingly difficult places.
However it hasn’t gone down well with everyone and North Walsham High School in Norfolk banned it for “safety reasons” this week.
The school said it “did not want to spoil fun” but minor injuries involving plastic bottles made the ban necessary.
It posted the ban and detention notice on its website and Facebook page on Monday.
The post said: “Following a misunderstanding today, we would like to confirm that the ‘bottle flip challenge’ is not permitted in school.
“Students caught doing this will have an immediate C3 detention.”
The Facebook post quickly received more than 120 comments from parents.
“It never fails to amuse me how much schools care about ridiculous things,” one person wrote.
“It’s flipping lost its bottle,” said another while others said the school was being “ridiculous” and “pathetic”.
One parent, however, supported it saying “they are there to learn, not to mess about”.
The Facebook post was later removed after the school said “inappropriate language” was being used in comments, but the detention notice remains on the website.
Head teacher Neil Powell said: “Following one or two minor injuries sustained by students when water bottles hit them, we decided that for safety reasons we would ban the practice in school, before a more serious injury occurred.
“We are aware of several schools in Norfolk taking similar action to ban the challenge.”
Emma Kenny, child psychologist, said: “I think that the chance of serious injury is very minimal. This is an activity that a lot of children enjoy, every child can afford and will get them moving about and playing together.
“Schools should be honest and admit that having lots of bottles thrown around the playground is annoying but it’s not dangerous.
“We seem quite happy for children to sit in front of a TV screen and kill each other in computer games but we ban a game that really benefits them.”
