To expect school to take responsibility for DDs mobile phone when in their possession?

[knittwitt]

My DDs school has introduced a change to their mobile phone policy and I'm slightly uneasy about it.

Currently the school says no phones to be used on premises and they accept no responsibility/liability for loss, damage etc. If girls are caught using them the phone can be confiscated. TBH they don't particularly police this and the girls use phones in class, with teacher permission, to take photos of notes on boards, art work etc.

All well and good but a new head has has introduced a 'slight' change...
The school understands that students/parents may want/need phones for travel to/from school and therefore from September pupils may bring phones with them (very understanding) but must hand them in at morning registration to their firm teacher to lock them away. They are returned at afternoon registration (to avoid delays leaving school to catch buses etc) but must not be used. If you're caught using it then it's an after school detention.

If you don't hand your phone in at all and it's seen/heard then it's confiscated, parents asked to collect it & a detention.

I have no problem with the school comping down on phone use during the school day. However AIBU to expect the school to accept responsibility/liability for the phone whilst in their possession? The school is maintaining that they still cannot take responsibility/liability even though they are enforcing the handing over of phones.

It's not about cost etc. Just where does the responsibility/liability lie?

Advice gratefully received.

[WillRikersExtraNipple]

Why not just keep the phone in the bag switched off during the day? Then you don't have to hand it in and they won't get into any trouble because it isn't seen or heard.


They should just ban all phones from school. We all managed to get to school and back before mobiles were ubiquitous, they aren't necessary.

[Spikeyball]

I doubt the form tutors want to be faffing about with mobile phones and are probably not happy with this new policy.

[knittwitt]

I've heard a whisper that staff are not overly happy about the change but I don't know how true that is.

I think some parents, or some students, will go down the route of keeping the phone off and in their bag.

Just seems odd that the school can insist on handing phones in and then accept no responsibility for them.

[mummyrabbitpeppapig]

My son's school had exactly the same policy - my son got caught twice in three years and had detention. He k we the rules he broke them he did the detention

[mummyrabbitpeppapig]

He broke the

[mummyrabbitpeppapig]

He knew the rules! Ffs

[FrToddUnctious]

They've probably brought this in because of children filming other kids during the school day and posting it on social media, maybe even filming them getting changed or filming teachers without their knowledge or something. Could you insure your dd's phone? The school will probably care for it properly but can't promise to replace phones that cost hundreds of pounds as the money wouldn't be there. Doesn't mean they'd actually lose the phones.

[AngeloftheSouth84]

If the school insist on keeping phones in their care, then they need to accept responsibility for their safe keeping

[AlmostAJillSandwich]

But it is not their responsibility. They don't WANT phones brought in, but some parents/kids will take/send them in regardless. They're trying to compromise so kids don't have phones out in classes. If the kids could be trusted to keep them in their bags/switched off etc they wouldn't have to bring in this new policy, but clearly at least a number of the kids big enough to be making a nuisance aren't keeping them in bags etc and have them out so the school has to bring in a new policy that accomodates everyone and doesn't impact on the learning of other students when the ones who mess on their phones are being disruptive.

[HipsterHunter]

Put the phone in a little bag or pencil case, switched off, in the bottom of her school bag.

If she can't resist the temptation to get it out, more fool her.

[chemenger]

My dd's school have a strict rule that phones must be in lockers all day. All of them keep their phones in their pockets. Both of mine have had detention for being caught with their phones out or their phones making a noise. Which I'm fine with. I don't think the phones were confiscated at the time. Mind you, one teacher once confiscated a girl's shoes for having slipped them off in class. I'm assuming she gave them back at the end of the lesson. (Before anyone gets up in arms this was a deeply eccentric but wildly popular teacher, this was not out of character, no children were harmed in this episode).

[Jaxhog]

If the school insist on keeping phones in their care, then they need to accept responsibility for their safe keeping
this

Easy answer - your DD doesn't take her phone to school. Problem solved.

[frami]

My DCs school tried this for a while but after a couple of months it was quietly abandoned. Same thing will probably happen in your school especially if like ours it's the admin staff that have to deal with it. They have enough to do in the mornings.

[Jaxhog]

I can't help wondering what the schools insurance company thinks about this?

[Floggingmolly]

Not really. If it was compulsory to carry a mobile it would be different, but she has the option not to. If she chooses to; she's subject to the conditions the school has laid out.

[PatriciaHolm]

How old are they?

DD's school (year 7) positively expects them to have phones - they are encouraged to take pictures of homework on the whiteboards, for example. In reality it's bonkers to expect secondary school kids through to 16 to hand over their phones every morning - it simply won't happen.

[Tissunnyupnorth]

No phones allowed at my DS's school. At all. If you are caught it's a Saturday detention. What does this mean in practice? It's a phone free school, they are not seen or used in school. We actually agree with this policy. I assume that those that bring their phones, turn them off and put them well out of the way in the bottom of their bags.

Thinking about it, the policy you describe in the OP is much like the approach taken by car parks? You can use them as a convenience but the store takes no responsibility for your car?

[Glumglowworm]

Students don't NEED to take phones to school. If they chose to, they can keep them in their bags on silent and won't get in trouble. If they are silly enough to hand them in (stupid policy I agree but having them in bags out of sight is a better option) then no school won't take responsibility for them, it opens them up for malicious or fictitious claims.

[TheMysteriousJackelope]

I feel sorry for the staff who will probably feel morally (if not legally responsible) for the phones and who will have to deal with angry parents when a phone does, inevitably, get mislaid. A child who loses their phone on the way home can now blame it on their form teacher.

Why don't they just ban phones and let the children use the school phone to contact parents if there is an emergency?

[CremeFresh]

Schools are doing their best to educate children . Mobile phones in schools are a bloody nuisance and I expect teachers are fed up with having to constantly think of ways to manage them. Kids need to follow the rules and switch them off during lessons.

[mummyrabbitpeppapig]

( remembers her own school days - blissfully phone free )-

[Urubu]

We all managed to get to school and back before mobiles were ubiquitous, they aren't necessary
This argument always makes me laugh. We all managed with black and white TV and a couple of chanels only, we managed before the internet, we managed before online delivery was available, we managed before microwaves... but if you stop living in the past and actually puts yourself in the shoes of today's young generation, these are the norm and are essentials.

[FrToddUnctious]

There were more pay phones around back then. My school had one in the 80s.

[knittwitt]

I'm glad the school is being stricter re phones and my DD will have to suck it up if she gets caught - I've already made that clear to her And I agree that it would have been better to just ban them completely and if you get caught then take the punishment. Instead we have this halfway house which will cause all sorts of problems for everyone I suspect.

I do think they have their uses though - youngest DD goes by school bus to a different school & phone is handy when the bus fails to appear or breaks down. I don't think the office staff would appreciate having to cater for all the students who need to make alternative travel arrangements at the end of the school day But she's supposed to keep it off/in bag during the school day.