No phone for secondary school

‘Teachers’ have little or no influence on school policy on many issues, unfortunately. Don’t blame the teachers.

As a long term year 6 teacher, it’s actually getting worse and worse. Problems with WhatsApp groups, filming Tik Toks at the gate before they come in, even cases of online grooming.

The problem isn’t schools; it’s parenting. If you let your underage child have social media accounts, don’t check what they are sharing online, set limits, allow children to scroll for hours you’re essentially neglecting them.

The current Y6 cohort i teach are probably one of the worst, most difficult classes to teach because they don’t understand what is appropriate for a classroom environment, have no attention span, constant use of bad language and the WhatsApp group frequently has messages in the early hours of the morning.

But we have to deal with it all in school because it’s a safeguarding issue. It takes up a ridiculous amount of time.

I’m all for tech - timetables and homework are age appropriate for school - but social media/late night groups - it’s killing the teachers.

Times are a bit different now to when my kids were at school but mine only got a phone when they were on public transport on their own and needed to be able to contact me. If I had young kids now, i'd say 10 at the very youngest for a phone and then it would be my cast off!! My 20 year old is still using my last cast off as he's too tight to buy his own 😂

YABU They make life easier which is why we all use them. They can listen to music on their way to school, check bus timetables or other routes home, keep up to date with their friends, contact you in an emergency etc. I got a phone a year before secondary school which was over 20 years ago now so definitely not a lockdown thing or a new thing at all.

This is a relief to hear. I've been following this debate and the evidence for some time now and we're hoping to hold off having an experience blocker (sorry, 'smart phone') for as long as possible.

I presumed having a family home computer in a communal area would be sufficient for all school homework, planning, and internet use. If school suggest differently (stating that 'smart phones' are necessary) I plan to push back strongly on this and will be armed with plenty of evidence of the harms to be able to do so. I hope it'll work!

Why any teacher or school would allow them is insane. All schools should be like your current school, the teachers surely have enough to deal with without the hassle of smart phones which are clearly a huge distraction for all.

My eldest was in year 7 for the first lockdown, and we ended up giving him an old smartphone as he needed to photograph all his homework for his teachers, and it was getting really inconvenient us having to do it whilst we were meant to be working. Until then he had a Nokia brick, as I worked in a school and all the problems we had with the Year 6s involved smartphones and WhatsApp messages. His school has a Bring Your Own Device policy and they are expected to have homework apps, quiz apps, and language apps to work from or share with a classmate who has a smartphone.

In my school, phones are not permitted at all. We have calculators in classrooms so they are not needed for that. Phones are handed in a secure bag in morning registration, kept locked in the admin office for the day and collected at home time.

They were permitted in my last school and the drama they caused was unbelievable, from children recording each other in classrooms, recording the teachers, cheating in lessons, making TikToks in lessons/bathrooms. They were so distracting to pupils and staff and I would never work in another school where students can have them in class.

One of the best things for equipping children for success at school and in many jobs is a good attention span. I think that the single most disruptive thing to that developing attention span for most children that age is a smartphone. Then there are all the adverse effects of social media too.

It's so unfortunate that so much is made less convenient for children who don't have a smartphone (train tickets, homework apps, etc.), because it makes it a difficult choice not to give them to children.

I would actually support smartphones being banned for under 16s similarly to alcohol and tobacco. I realise this wouldn't prevent some children still getting them, but it would shift the general mindset so they could be seen as something addictive and potentially harmful to the developing brain.

My child needs a weekly bus ticket which is purchased on the bus app. The driver refuses to take cash as he doesn’t have the right change to give. It’s also handy for the children to track the bus on its GPS to tell if the bus is coming as often it’s a no show and they need to catch a different one.

I agree it’s a good idea to keep the children off social media though. My child is y9 and she’s not interested in all that. It’s not universal. I think it depends on the child if they’re interested in all that. She finds TikTok really stupid / inane…a bit like what I think of Love Island.

If the school mentioned is doing that then they’re breaching DofE guidance on mobile phone use. Kids absolutely do not need a phone to access school.

They need a device and yes, schools do provide this free of charge if children are from low income households. They can also access data at school to download homework and access google classroom or equivalent.

Mobile phones are a big social thing. That’s where they will possibly (likely) miss out. Trips out etc are planned on mobile devices so they won’t hear about those. And may find themselves out of the loop a lot. That’s phone use out of school though and really the ideal is a monitored phone at home. It’s not needed in school.

i wish they had a younger person's version of what's app, that was restricted to communicstion between people who have added each other.

Apart from this on the parental controls can be pretty granular, so that a smart phone doesn't have to be a social media phone. limiting apps and websites is fine for a younger child. And limiting isn't always about saying no. it is also about having a conversation first.

what's app is the exception though, it is so thoroughly embedded that is is kind of necessary and once it is on the phone, then all the group chat things are available and irresistible.

You have to stop and think when people tall about fear of missing out. these platforms are designed by clever people to create dependency and desire, to get you on it loads. (like I am now with AIBU). Of course dc's will feel they are missing out. don't make it right though

Fair enough, but you don't need a smartphone to do this.

What new technology?

I don't know any adults who didn't learn how to use their latest smartphone within about 5 minutes.

Even if they were disadvantaged, the damage phones and social media can do to preteens and teens' brains grossly outweighs this IMO.

If they’re really expecting that then they’re not following DofE guidance.

Surely that's the school's problem to solve.

It's not an obligation for your child to have a phone.

You can print timetables and ask homework to be emailed or printed. Or in some schools they provide tablets.

I work in a secondary school and most children do have a smartphone because they need them for homework etc, but they can also use the same apps on laptops and the schools computers. With the new government rules put in place, (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-crackdown-on-mobile-phones-in-schools) it shouldn't really matter if children have phones, or what ones they have as they can't be seen. If you do want to get your child a phone that’s not a smart phone, I would just get them one they can call from. My children started school in 2015, and that’s all they had for years. Smartphones are more trouble than they’re worth at that age.

I drummed it in to my kids to be aware of their surroundings as this used to worry me.

My kids were allowed to have a phone once they started secondary. I’m glad they did as there were occasions when there were problems coming home due to train issues or something else etc. At twelve/thirteen I’d have been worried if they were over an hour late without any explanation. Their school was in a different town so not a five or ten minute walk away.

A student at a university near me was killed a few years ago after stepping in front of a car whilst looking at her phone -very sad and so unnecessary.

DC is 11 and due to start High School in September. We live rurally and DC will be getting a bus to school supplied by them. This bus is frequently delayed (tractors, fallen trees, sheep in the road haha) and updates put on Facebook/Portal for parent's info. Signal can be hit and miss around here (particularly depending on networks!) that really, being able to contact or find my child is priority. However, DC needs frequent reminding to carry their phone (in preparation) as really, they have no other use for it 🙄 they're not interested in WhatsApp (they occasionally will message us if we're putting other children to bed and want permission, so as not to interrupt. DC's phone is an old phone since our upgrade (not purchased specifically) and is on a £9 monthly plan that we pay - when they start school, they will be expected to 'earn' the cost as its inevitable they will utilise the data whilst waiting for the bus/during transit. We also intend on strict boundaries of home use.

As far as I'm aware so far, their school require phones turned off and kept in their bags during the while school day unless permission is given. Parent's are told if need to contact their child in the day, to contact their head of year and messages will be passed on. Nothing yet has been said about children needing a phone BUT it is assumed children will have one particularly of have to travel further to school.

I was one of the first kids in my secondary school to have a phone (not the ever popular Nokia!) purely because I had to travel by bus and train to school (was a more local school but parent's deemed a school over 10 miles away as more suitable 🙄) so had a point of contact.

Mandatory? No. Useful? Yes. I'd expect that if a requirement by school, that they would have a loan system for those whom haven't the ability to access a phone purely for school related needs? 🤔

I hate smart phones and wish they didn't exist but I do think DC's social life and friendship opportunities are curtailed by not having one. It's awful that this is the case, but that's the way it is.

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