School confiscating phone

Kick off. I would.

Because parents kicking off when they don't like their child being expected to follow rules is going so well for schools. There's not a well established problem with behaviour in schools at all.

The no landline, no emergency phone etc don't work as arguments because they're not the school's problem.

In fact if a parent genuinely feels their child is unsafe without a phone, surely they'd have a plan that doesn't involve them kicking off because their child chose to use their a phone in the school day? They'd have a dumb phone with long battery life in a school bag that's not attractive to use during the day or they'd make arrangements at home so the child's safety isn't dependent on their mobile phone having battery/not getting stolen/not getting misplaced/not breaking.

This poster hits the nail on the head:
The reality is that if we want less draconian phone rules in schools, we have to take responsibility for the way our children use their phones.

Mine kept getting theirs confiscated for getting it out in school. So I insist they leave it at home now. They have a cheap 15 quid Tesco phone in their bag that you can only call or text on for emergencies

The school are saying they will return the phone to the owner. Which is the parent. If the owner cannot collect they will hold it til they can.

And when a video of your child appears on the toilet at school or getting changed for PE or having mashed potato flung at them you will have no problems with that of course.

Definitely not a first time offence it seems. All schools I've worked at get the parents to collect after 3rd phone confiscation. Phones cause a lot of issues in secondary schools (much more than parents are probably aware).

But you are 'musing' that the school would be punished instead of your dd as they would be forced into keeping her.

Why would you not muse about making sure she has money to get home if she loses her bus pass rather than muse about her being taken into care as you wouldn't be able to collect her before five?

Even though the policy will have been made clear at the start of the year, and you will have agreed to it as part of your child's attendance?

And
School policies are for school employees

That's one of the most nonsensical statements I've read here! So the school uniform policy, homework policy etc don't apply either?!

School policies are for school employees. You own that phone because you purchased it. Regardless of their in-class discipline, that phone needs to be returned at the end of the school day.
No landline and no access to communicating with you in an emergency leaves a child extremely vulnerable and school are over stepping.
You are the parent, they have parental responsibility (given by you) during the school day only.
Kick off. I would.

@kisstheblarney presumably I would have to - fortunately I was only musing and it's never happened

The reality is that mobiles are amazing but also equally a safeguarding nightmare. Schools are doing their best to educate parents (and children) in keeping their children safe with smart phones, but the reality is that the advice I would say is ignored by the vast majority of parents. Either because they don’t see the problem, don’t understand how the apps work or their child wouldn’t do that, or you frequently see on here privacy cited. (Nothing is private on a phone - anything you say can now be screenshoted and sent to thousands within seconds plus the data harvesting from some apps.) I’m one of the few parents I know who checks her DD’s phone - I don’t read things but generally just check she’s not messaging random people.

I wish that any parent who doesn’t see an issue could spend some time shadowing a secondary DSL/pastoral leader and you’d realise the extent of the problem.

Schools don’t get everything right; it’s impossible. However if you’re told mobiles out of sight and off during the day, it’s not a difficult rule to remember. Parents can support by making sure there’s a safe place in their bag, set the settings so they can’t use it and then there’s less temptation to check it and it won’t go off. Making sure their child has a watch and not one linked to their phone. You can’t say well they need to get used to it in working life, there are jobs where if you were to take your phone or any unauthorised tech in, it would be gross professional misconduct.

The reality is that if we want less draconian phone rules in schools, we have to take responsibility for the way our children use their phones.

Absolutely this. DS has had screen addiction problems, which we are having to come up with ever increasingly creative and intensive ways of dealing with. My ideal.is he doesn't have a phone or iPad at all, for now. But he would be unable to do any school work. And as well as being a fiend for the screen, he 8s a school boffin.

For the record, we are now managing it by basically using 3 different apps and checking in regularly. He is so addicted (ADHD thing) that he is doing lots of extra MathsWatch.

👏 👏

A responsible parent!

Our school has the same policy and I fully support it. I've told my son that if it gets confiscated it will be at least a week before I collect it. He's managed not to have it confiscated.
Presumably you knew the rule when your daughter started school OP?

I think the problem here is that society is addicted to phones. The parents need their kids to have phones. The school needs the kids to have a phone. The bus company wants a phone. Therefore the kids have trouble regulating their need to have a phone...

I know no schools where everyone finishes at school pick up time.....

So not sure how they'd be inconvenienced.

Moral of the story I suppose, is teach your child not to break the school phone rules 🤷‍♀️?

Presumably, if you were told the child needed to be off site by 5pm or whatever, you'd use the same strategy to collect her as is she was unwell?

This is the same as our area so my dd carries the right cash in case of emergencies like losing her phone. That's just common sense.

@kisstheblarney, yes and them too as there is no way I would manage to get there for school pick up

Fair enough, presumably by doing that it would have the same consequences to you and your DD?

If you give a child back their phone at the end of the day it’s not a punishment!

The whole point of getting parents to sign for them is to inconvenience them and get them to help stop DCs using their phones. I’d always ring a parent if a child needed contact with them, one girl was worried about her dog going to the vet, so I rang mum and let her what she said.

I have given children phones back at the end of the day if they walk home alone, have a bus pass. They tend not to be the repeat offenders.
some children have their phones taken off them every other day, usually in class. Children who are meant to sigh their phones in everyday to remove temptation, lie and say they forgot it, get it taken off in class.
It wastes so much time, causes so much class disruption.

I’m with you entirely. Phones are here to stay whether we like them or not. I don’t like the addiction / dependence on them, but I’m as guilty as anyone else. One workplace tried to make us put our phones in the safe while the managers kept theirs. 😆

Dd wouldn't be able to get home without her phone as the bus pass is digital only - they stopped using cards for it, and before you ask no she couldn't walk - it's about 10 miles with no pavements and a small section of motorway, they'd have to keep dd too until they could get hold of me and I'd arranged cover so that I could collect her

I guess I feel sorry for kids today. I remember being a well intentioned and frightened child early in secondary school, but I got suspended early in year 8 the first time.
I remember well the last offence. It was snowing but boots weren’t allowed. My mum made me wear boots, she actually screamed at me, threw my shoes in the garage and told me in snow I walked in boots. That was that. She took no crap and didn’t listen to English school ‘madness’. I cried in the street I think knowing where it was going , that made me late. I was late, with another uniform breach. On top of having the wrong skirt for half a term. On top of a genuine difficulty with organising myself (I was diagnosed as an adult) and a poor ability to filter mixed messages correctly. Eg actually answering factually things like ‘are you going to stand there all day’ when I spaced out a bit.
I gave up in later school and stopped trying to please do much. It reduced the stress and shame being a ‘bad kid’ rather than feeling stupid. I got funnily no more detentions in comparison really. My grades were better as I wasn’t too stressed to listen and I did well in the end, if mouthy

Great post @Ratsoffasinkingsauage

No parent wants their child filmed at school and the footage circulated on Snapchat but they also don't want us to confiscate phones.

@NightisdarkandfullofterrorsGOT 'I’d contact the police and tell them the phone I bought for my child has been stolen. This is totally unacceptable.'

And the school would show them the standard policy that you signed up to when your child joined the school.

Do you really think the police have time to waste on such indulgent nonsense?

Exactly this!