School confiscating phone

I agree. You don't say what the exact rules are but I think phones should be handed back at the end of the day, repeat offenders it gets escalated.
I am also a single mother and my daughter takes the tube to school and comes home after dark. It was good to be able to see that she got to school on time and when she was heading home. Also she could call me from the station if there were issues with the tube, or if games had been cancelled (in a neighbouring borough requiring collection) - there are many reasons that a child might need a phone. And yes I know countless generations did ok without one, but we have the technology now! I grew up without seatbelts and car seats and so many things that no one would consider doing without.

Regarding the vapes, if it's anything like our school, the habitual vapers are missing their education due to vaping in the toilets during lessons...

Our Head found hundreds of vapes stuffed behind toilet cisterns.

He really shouldn't have to waste his time on this!

Is she walking home through the trackless wastes of Alaska? Or downtown Detroit? No? She'll be fine.

@AnonnyMouseDave she needs to tell her daughter to obey rules and not have her phone confiscated putting herself in danger....

When will parents teach their children responsibility for their own actions?

So you prefer 3 (or possibly more) attempts at punishing the child, each one escalating, and possibly lasting hours / days, rather than the phone being confiscated and then collected by a parent?

Admiral aim, but surely he should focus on ensuring that kids get the best education possible?

You need to tell the school that your daughter needs her phone for reasons of safety and that they are putting her in danger by refusing to give it back at the end of the day.

@Whinge if the child doesn't do their punishment (ie lines) then they move up to the next level of punishment (detention). Don't turn up to detention then up to next level (isolation) and so on.

At my sons school a fight was said to be filmed, then pupils were heavily pressured into handing in videos of the fight to be used in the suspension review. It was expected in their zero tolerance phone school it was recorded and they really pushed kids. Kids were kept in at break. No film, as far as I know, surfaced. I’m sure if there was one it would’ve circulated around on social media given the circumstances.
Just mixed messages

As a parent I have no issue with schools with systems like this. It’s the ones with mixed messages, ‘no phones but are often asked to get them out in lessons’ kind.
My daughters school had a system. Phones were allowed in ‘green’ areas in breaks. Clear, no issue with punishment if she was in a red area with it out.
My friends sons school had a similar one to yours, lock boxes. Again. Clear systems, fine. No issue.
My sons had a super strict zero tolerance, seen and loose it for a fortnight to be picked up by a parent. Told not to even bring them on site. No lock boxes. Some teachers though wanted videos used, photos taken or sound recording in music etc. Some scatty kids would then leave it turned on in their bag after the lesson and get a scam call later in the day, phone lost. It just set kids up to fail having to balance the policy and the learning.

The only person to blame here is your Daughter.

@stomachameleon wow! At DD's school any child found with a vape gets an instant suspension. The Headmaater is on a mission to stop young people vaping.

Our students hand them in when they come through the door. Their phones and vapes go into a pouch and we have a rule that anything voluntarily handed in is returned at the end of the day.
If they are seen and removed then a parent has to collect.
We have had so many problems with phones that it isn't worth the aggro allowing them in for example
Theft
Filming of fights
Filming of sen children
Filming of lac children.
Filming of staff which then goes into inst and tik tok.
Constant ringing/ texting/ what's apping

Anyway we have more aggro removing the vaps than the phones tbh.

If your DD broke the phone use rules then the school isn't being unreasonable to confiscate overnight overnight if that is the punishment published in the school rules

My DS had his phone confiscated in Y8 and he was so annoyed about it that he never broke the rules again ( now in Y13)

DD's previous school didn't allow phones on the premises at all and random searches were carried out. This was a pain for the kids who took
a bus to school as the only way to buy a bus pass was via a phone app. These kids had to pay a local shop £1 per day to store their phones for them! The school refused to make any kind of arrangement to save the parents this extra expense on top of an already expensive bus pass.

Current school have a lock box in each form room - the phone goes in at the start of the day and comes out at the end. Works well.

Then your dd needs to keep her phone switched off in her bag if she's so vulnerable. No problem.

She should not use it to upskirt or to video other children or staff.

She should not use it to go on YouTube in a maths lesson.

She should not go on her phone during lunch to arrange with a group of other students to jump someone on the way home she had a disagreement with earlier that day.

Some schools make you sign an agreement when your child goes there, mobile phone use will be on the list of rules you’ve agreed with. Kicking off just makes you look like someone who thinks rules doing specifically apply to your child.

If you don’t agree with a schools policy then send your child somewhere else. You’ll be hard pressed to find a school that does allow mobile use.

The simple fact is that if children have their phones switched off in their bags they aren’t going to get them confiscated. If your child can’t control themselves if you speak to school they will sometimes hold them during the day for them or lock them up.

Op what was it confiscated for? Why aren't you mentioning that? Teachers are probably sick and tired of phones being an issue. She did not follow the rules so the consequences are for YOU and her to deal with. You should be fuming at her not the school.

Who decided that rule in first paragraph, you are talking like this is an absolute given?

I'm not so sure it is,

It's probably been said but these are expensive devices in many cases. Expensive personal items have no place in school whatever their purpose. It's too risky. You would presumably not let your child waft around with a laptop or jewellery worth £100s.

Several of our students and at least one member of staff have been mugged for their phones.

The school can keep the phone overnight but only if they are prepared to be held responsible if anything happened to that child on their way home from school and they weren't able to call for assistance.

I know plenty of kids walked home from school before phones - I was one of them. However, a child having a phone now means they can call if there's a problem or be located on a tracker if needed. It makes them a bit safer, just like seatbelts etc which also weren't always available.

Obviously anything happening is very unlikely for most children. I wouldn't want to be the headteacher though defending themselves in the event of something having gone wrong.

My DD has ASD. She needs her phone to call for help if needed and we track her to know where she is - she knows this and it gives her security knowing we can go to her if necessary. We have needed to do this several times. Any teacher confiscating her phone would be risking causing a safeguarding issue. It's never come up and hopefully never will. I think it's a bit of a rocky path though for any school to take when punishments cross over into out of school times and locations.

a good old fashioned 500 lines of "I will not use my phone in school". These are punishments that take away a child's free time. This affects them.

And if the child refuses? Then what?

I don't really understand all the drama of "they are extremely vulnerable without a phone"
There weren't phones in my day, I never needed to use a payphone, I just caught the bus. If something bad had happened, I would have asked an adult women to help.
I don't think it's that scary to be without a phone. Are people not being a tad dramatic?

@BambooFridge I was thinking they would be punished as well as not instead of
Anyway time to start work

A lot of replies here along the lines of 'my little Johnny had his taken but he's a good boy and never causes issues so seems harsh'. I get the perspective of tackle the kids who cause the repeated issues but the problem is if you bend the rule for one you then have no leg to stand on with the kids who do repeatedly offend because my god do they know if someone else was treated with exception and they will absolutely exploit it and use their parents to try back them up in situations like this. It is an absolute waste of time for staff who are stressed to the max and leaving in droves because they can't get on with their actual job for constantly being tied up with crap like this.

@KrisAkabusi so children can't make one mistake ever?
The punishment here doesn't fit the crime.
It should start off with a punishment that actually affects the child - detention or (as I said above) a good old fashioned 500 lines of "I will not use my phone in school". These are punishments that take away a child's free time. This affects them.
A parent having to leave work or pay for a taxi could affect the whole family because they now can't afford food for the rest of the week.
I'm sorry but that shouldn't be the punishment.
HOWEVER.....the punishment should get more if the child keeps re-offending.