Preston Lodge High School has warned its pupils about proper hygiene and the risk involved with "unsuitable nails"

The announcement came from the home economics department, who say there has been rise in younger pupils with acrylic nails and pupils dressing unsuitably when handling food.

Pupils with these nails are having to wear latex gloves when in the classroom which is causing an additional expense to the school.

The school stressed that having nails like these represents a large "hygiene risk" and encouraged pupils to restrict their application to holiday periods and special occasions.

Teachers also encouraged pupils to come suitably dressed when in the home economics classroom, with a shirt and tie under their hoodies so these can be removed in class for safety reasons when cooking.

A spokesperson said: "We spend a great deal of time in the department teaching 'hygiene’. However, many of the students do not seem to realise they are ‘food handlers’ when working in their practical home economics classes.

"They should come prepared, by ensuring they are suitably dressed (a shirt and tie under their hoodies to allow the hoodies to be removed) for safety reasons while cooking.

"It gets very hot in the kitchens, so we must insist on this approach.

"Many students also have unsuitable nails. We seem to be experiencing more and more of this with younger pupils, which has not been the case previously.

"Irrespective of which year group a student is in, these nails are a hygiene risk, and we need to provide such students with latex gloves in order to cook.

"This is an additional expense we had not anticipated. We would request that nail art is kept to special occasions only and over holiday periods, if possible.

"It is important that we adhere to the high level of hygiene that we teach regularly."