From conkers to candy cigarettes, many of the things that pupils use to mitigate the monotonous horror of the school day have faced a playground ban.

In fact, taking away products and pastimes that have become too is often the way for a headteacher to put their stamp on the establishment.

No trend or craze was spared from being added to school contraband as the banned list became longer and longer, and many will remember surrendering treasured yo-yos, Pokemon cards or Tamagotchis to be imprisoned in the teacher's locked drawer.

Now a Forfar headteacher has become the latest to pin the ills of today's youth on a current craze by banning energy drinks, after blaming the caffeine-filled product for pupils' bad behaviour.

This is not the first time an over-zealous headteacher has banned something seemingly innocuous for a spurious reason.

It was a familiar sight for many to have a test paper returned covered with red pen pointing out the numerous errors contained within.

The classic circled 'F' has become synonymous with failure in all walks of life, but some schools have scrapped the red pen for a more neutral colour so pupils do not get too de-motivated.

Friends made in your formative years can remain strong for your whole life. But can having a single best friend be a bad thing?

The head of a private school in Battersea said he would "endorse a policy which says we should have lots of good friends, not a best friend".

Such friendships can be exclusionary and risk upsetting fall-outs, he claimed.

A far more popular choice among pupils perhaps, but parents reacted with consternation when an Edinburgh private school headmaster said young pupils should not have to do "meaningless" out-of-hours study.

He failed to persuade parents or his fellow teachers of the merits of his no-homework plan however, so the kids continued to hit the books after school.

Is it the triumphant result of an ever-evolving language or a reductive sign of failing educational standards?

One school in London thinks slang is definitely in the latter category and banned words such as 'coz', 'ain't', 'like', 'innit' and 'bare' supposedly to prepare its pupils for the world of work.

Thank god Shakespeare never employed slang to get his point across, you sodden-witted lord.

Perhaps the most bizarre addition to this list comes from the lairy transgressive 90s.

This permissive society did not extend to exclusive private school Dollar Academy, which in 1995 banned pupils of different genders from being within six inches of each other.

It was brought in after some pupils were spotting holding hands and kissing (!), but whether the law actually had any effect is unknown.