School confiscating phone

didn’t as he’s a good kid and isn’t usually on his phone in lessons etc, he was using it at lunchtime. In my opinion that’s not causing a problem to his education and he got top grades. Trust me there’s plenty of kids in his year that cause constant disruption in lessons etc and he wasn’t one of them.

An adherent of my favourite motto, 'Discipline is what other people's children need' !

My father says he quite misses getting reverse charges calls from "DadIt'sMeComeAndGetMe."

It's highly unlikely that this is the first offence.
We confiscate for return at the end of the day. After X number then a parent has to come in & collect it.

Not my DS, but his friend dropped his bag in the corridor one day and his phone skidded out along the floor, to the feet of one of the deputy heads, who confiscated the phone on the spot.

Like my DS the kid has his school bus pass on an app, so he couldn't get the bus home. So he walked. Almost 9 miles, in the tipping down rain, It was November so dark, along busy duel carriageways and roads with no footpath.

When he was an hour late his mum rang school who said he'd left at normal time. No mention of the phone. She rang round the friends she knew and eventually found one who knew that the phone had been confiscated. Eventually she called the police who found him still 2 miles from home. He's 11 years old.

Quite rightly she went ballistic at the school, and the Police weren't impressed either.
Not everyone lives close to school. Not everyone can just wander safely home. They left a child in a very dangerous situation.
He'd not even done anything wrong.

If they returned the phone at the end of the school day where is the learning objective when they shouldn’t have it on them anyway?
yes it’s a pain for parents, and this is how it is hammered home as to speak, as it is a huge inconvenience to parents.
Students tend to get phones out for often no good, some rile the teacher and another films it and puts it on TikTok, sometimes it’s passive bullying, or could be general internet surfing in lesson time. It is staff dread with mobile phones and students, so this really has to be fully supported with the school and not supportive to the student in the wrong.
Best way forward is for schools to remove phones at start of day and return at end of day, any caught with phone, although that is a big responsibility to the school and somewhere safe to store them.

By using the abundance of public telephone boxes.

Our school does this.

After the second time of being called in to collect it at the end of day, I made it clear that I would refuse to collect it until the Friday of that week. Follow a simple rule or lose your phone for 1 - 5 days. It didn’t happen again.

One of the main reasons schools are in such a mess is because some parents undermine teachers and think their little darling's rights trump everything and everyone else's. In the op's situation I'd communicate with the school, explain what steps I'd taken at home to ensure my child understood what would happen if it happened again and explain my personal situation about it being extremely difficult to collect it. The school would most likely meet me half way, having understood the efforts I'd made and having been reassured that as a parent I took it seriously. They'd most likely thank me for my support, ds would get his phone back the following day, and we all move on.

Secondary school teacher here. The rule at my school is it is collected the nxt day. The kids know it as do the parents. If it's confiscated on a Friday, the earliest it can be retrieved is Mon. Phones are a menace in school much of the time

@kisstheblarney it's not whataboutery. Stupid knee jerk rules where phones are confiscated for days are the reason why schools are in such a mess. Getting your phone out in class is stupid and pushing it but there's a world of difference between that and sending bullying or inappropriate stuff- the consequences here are way out of proportion and not natural at all. How do schools escalate from minor teenage nonsense to serious infractions ? Also who is responsible if the phone is lost or stolen... bet it lands on the headteacher's desk along with everything else

@AnonnyMouseDave out of interest why do you not have a choice? Was there only one option on the form?

I’ve worked in a few schools and I’ve never heard of this before.

I would absolutely be complaining.

I am all for confiscating phones, but they should be allowed to be collected at the end of the day by the student.

Most students have their bus passes on their phones so how will they get home.

And their parents work so aren’t available to come and collect it on any day whilst the school office is still open.

It relies on a parent having to ask to leave work early to simply pick up a phone, which in many places is very difficult to do.

@ShitChristamasPresents I don't consider you miserable one bit, and the point about not being mugged is a valid one.

This was done to death a few weeks ago.

Yes, other schools have a similar policy.

Yes, I agree with it. The school is looking for your support to reinforce the rules. Children of parents who work with the school on sharing responsibility for following behaviour policy and enforcing educational standards tend to do better. Teens learn best from natural consequences. A natural consequence of being on your phone during lessons is losing said phone until it's convenient for you to collect it.

And don't forget they could sue if a dinosaur 🦕 were chasing them down the street and they couldn't ring for help!

The whataboutery is unreal!

Tell the kids to obey the rules, then the phone won't be lost by the school! It's a natural consequence if it is anyway!

@kisstheblarney just back to this now... in England there is very draconian guidance to say they can confiscate phones, but I'm in Scotland and the guidance leaves a lot to the discretion of the schools, with the suggestion that in bags and switched off is the default.
In both countries it would be very interesting to see what would happen if phones were lost, damaged or stolen whilst kept in school overnight especially as phones are not just for calls and texts but access to travel, money etc through apps. I think any case brought in Scotland would be in clear breach of children's rights.
An agreed policy means nothing if the children themselves haven't been given any input to the process.

I agree

Teach your child to follow the rules about using her phone or get her a non smart brick to keep in her bag. Problem solved.

My DDs school did this and I fully support it.

I wish every school did it. DSs school doesn't and no surprise, it's a crap school with behaviour problems.

You are being inconvenienced so that you tell DD "get your phone confiscated again and there'll be trouble at home for you as well"

You should back the school.

I know I’m a miserable old goat but my dc is older than 12 and has no phone. They walk to and from school. If they need to speak to me they use the school office phone. If they need to speak to me in an emergency they know how to ask a stranger/go into a shop etc. The benefits of them not having a phone yet FAR outweigh the minuscule risk that they might not be able to call me in an emergency (in a real emergency I’d rather they call the police!). They are also in a minority of their peers not to have been mugged for their phone walking home….!

@Phineyj Yes that was our experience, mine had the most expensive, recent phones.
Dad provided them not me, I think any old iPhone will do the job at that age. They don't appreciate or respect expensive tech imho. My DD would just leave hers lying around in shops, airplanes, on hammocks on holiday. Very annoying and stressful.
I feel for school staff having to mange that, as the drama if they go missing/get damaged etc would be ridiculous.

If this is a policy which is available to parents before their child started school, then OK to me.

I worked at an independent school for a while where virtually everyone in years 7-9 had top of the range iPhones. They were collected in at morning registration and placed in padded bags and then each form teacher had to put the bags in a box and take it to the admin office. At the end of the day the poor overworked office manager had to run round with the heavy boxes getting them to all the relevant classes (which weren't necessarily form groups). If there was a trip or something she had to be aware of that too.

It was a ginormous hassle!

@AnonnyMouseDave

You can't home educate as well at secondary, primary yes, very easy to achieve academic advancement. Socially a bit more difficult.

Secondary would be very difficult, what about science? how do you do the experiments? Media studies, without a fancy media suite? Photography, without all the tech. foreign languages, woodworking/textiles...not to mention core subjects

You would need serious investment and skills to teach so many things.

That's why they need to follow the rules, millions of children never get a chance at an education. Very frustrating that so many children care more about a phone than making the most out of the best/free opportunity.

@AnonnyMouseDave then if you've got no choice you'll need to adhere to the rules.