To be annoyed by total phone ban

Nope.

But not on the way home, and wide spread abuse is still happening, in fact some might say worsened by technology

And how do you stop children taking someone else's phone because its newer and shinier than theirs?

The school is trying to stop disruption by phone use in school. They have clearly found that telling students to keep phones on silent and out of sight has not worked so they now have a phone ban. It would be helpful all round if you supported them. You are presumably not a teacher, and may not be aware of the havoc phones can cause in schools, with students insisting they must phone home, answering text messages in class etc, disrupting other students' education, not to mention the opportunities for online bullying on school premises.
I also do not understand why not having his phone caused DS to take several hours to get home. How can not having it have caused that?

I get the pros and cons of a mobile phone ban.
tbh there’s times I’ve saved my kids asses by them contacting me - whether it’s lack of money, travel, and my oldest is autistic so she does have reliance on me. I can track her location too, so if she does go missing I will know where she is
However a total ban is just too much. Rules about usage should be enforced but they should have some access too

Absolutely look at the number of abuse cases coming to light decades after the event.
People 40s plus going to court over abuse that happened when they were children. Abuse that happened in schools, churches, and children's homed.

Yes safeguarding was built on trust. We now know not to trust people because of the 'respectable' positions.

But not practical in a UK school where you move between classes.

Why is it not practical? It works well in DS's school. Every teacher has a basket in their room, phone goes in on the way in, out on the way out. They've never had an issue with phones going missing because it would be discovered immediately and not at the end of the day.

https://edexec.co.uk/news-phone-bans-boost-school-gcse-scores/

Bans are good for results

The more I read about these things at secondary schools the more it sounds like a prison led by dictators on a power trip rather than individuals caring for the next generation.

Don't agree with a total ban no. Not in this day and age. Children need to be able to check transport apps etc,let parents know if they decide to stay behind to do homework club etc.

Our school has it right. Phones off at 8.27 am and kept in the pupil's bag. If it's even seen, doesn't even have to be on,it's taken away, detention and parent has to come and collect it at the end of the day.

Yanbu.

That said your kid shouldn't have got caught with it. I don't see how school would know if it was turned off and in the bottom of his school bag until after school.
I would buy a cheap phone and just tell him he has to keep it off and in his bag

How practical is that when schools can have over 1000 pupils

There were payphones then 🙄

He hasn't even started, he may love it

Our school had a similar ban but you could apply for an exemption if you lived far away/ had a difficult commute

My son is staring a secondary school n September and we were not able to get into any of the schools near us - so ended up with 4th choice about 40 minutes away on the bus/ long walk. The school has no money/ no phones policy - not even in a bag (I only found out after we got a place, had no idea this was even the thing). If found, you get detention and phone confiscated for a whole term. This is mainly to do with the shit area the school is located in, where kids were robbed of their phones on knife point on several occasions (we are in East London). So the solution was to make sure no one has a phone on them so not going to get attacked.

I fucking hate it, hate this school, been trying to sort out an alternative but there are simply too many kids where I live so you have to be literally on the school's doorstep to get in - and this school is new, huge and not very good so we ended up there. I will be transferring my kid into any school nearby as soon as there is a place - in the meantime, I will have to take time off work to get him to school/ pick him up. No way I'm allowing my 11 year old trudging around East London by himself with no way of contacting me and with no money for emergencies. Shit school, shit policy.

You can Pay by card

Blimey, poor kids, you'd think in such an dense urban area, there'd be somewhere closer to home

If they are allowed their phones and iPads etc at home then it doesn’t make a difference if they have it for the journey. If a Yonder pouch is used the phone cannot be used during school hours!

I’d take it further and ask to see what risk assessments have been done for journey to and from school.
Payment - if the ticket is digital how can they pay. If it costs extra for paper tickets that’s not reasonable.
It’s leaving children very vulnerable if there is any disruption. They can’t look up alternative route, contact parents.
The it was ok in my day. I remember bus deregulation day. The bus simply didn’t come after school so we all stood and waited. All the mothers on the street were frantic by time we eventually arrived.

I agree

even in london for secondary school commuting 1 hour on public transport or walking is not unusual.

You must be so proud

My daughter hides hers in her bra.

I wish more schools this tbh.