Head teacher puts on conker lessons after finding children don't know how to play On finding that his pupils had no idea how to play conkers, a head teacher struck a blow for traditional playground games. John Cattermole decided to put on conker lessons after noticing some of his pupils at Littleport primary school in Cambridgeshire looking quizzically at horse chestnuts on the ground. He wrote to parents asking their permission to teach pupils about the game - giving the necessary health and safety assurances that there was no need to worry about nut allergies. He wrote: "We believe conkers is a fun, healthy game to play. It is also good for hand/eye coordination and gets children talking about maths and numbers as they play. I have been showing children how to play safely in assembly. Parents were asked to fill in a form to opt their children out of playing conkers, but none has.