To be annoyed by total phone ban

Ds2 primary is the same thousand students collect and return daily

Can't imagine a primary that big!!
One of my DGC primaries has 72 pupils!

I'm 40 odd. Very very very glad I didn't have one until I left school. Think it's a tragedy for kids.

But my DGCs' schools don't allow phones out of bags.

So none of those issues at breaks

Why is the sledgehammer approach needed?

He can ask someone in the pastoral team for advice and support if he has an issue.
Which sadly, is not always provided

Could engage with the school perhaps via PTA to try and find a solution. Giving examples of how to make it workable. Maybe fund investment? Some good examples on this thread.

One DC’s school has phones handed in policy. Seems to wok. DC doesn’t need a phone to get to school (10 minutes walk away so any issues run home, go back to school, or pop into one of the shops that knows us and has my number) and we don’t let them take their phone as not trusted to not Pokémon along the way and get distracted from road safety!). If they had to take public transport I’d get them a dumb phone or a watch they could phone our numbers.

older DC’s school has policy of away in bags but I can tell they use it by times they view messages to family WhatsApp group. I wish they didn’t take their phone to school.

another local school has no phones at all policy but the teachers go to the railway station and check for delays etc and are available if children need to phone home.

Pray tell us oh wise one, how you got to and from secondary school and what you did if there was a problem meaning you were stranded.

A non-internet connected mobile phone. That makes voice calls. Interesting. Say you call a friend in New York, how exactly do you think that call signal reaches that person? Do you really think it's a piece of string with two tin cans?

I think what you mean is a mobile device that limits functionality to voice calls only.

And yup, I'm aware. I'd just prefer my child to have access to Duolingo on their phone. And Satchel. And Sparx. I also want them to call me or text me if they are late out of training.

And I think that choice is mine to make- not the schools. So if my child switches off their phone. Or drops it into a locked box- that's fine.

But you do you.

I did.

But I much prefer the ease of technology today, thank you very much.

I remember shared party lines and using an operator. Don't want to go back there either.

The argument isn't that it was better in the old days- just that being able to be in contact 24/7 isn't necessary and that children have managed long journeys home with delays without needing to communicate with their parents ; we are all used to instant responses all get stressed now if our partners /friends don't respond to texts - even when there is nothing actually urgent -it probably accounts for more stress than they mitigate...

That said the ban seems unnecessary- is there any PTA way of approaching school

Yondr pouches lasted about an hour at my son's school before the kids worked out how to open them ..total waste of money. School just bans phones being out during the day and actually enforces it.

*So yesterday my child's phone was found in a bag search and removed. There were awful transport issues and it took them several hours to get home. In the meanwhile we had no way to contact each other.

I can't get the phone back due to work and my husband being away for work. It just stresses me out that he won't be able to get in touch if there's a problem. Expressing my feelings here as there is no point complaining to the school. They don't listen to parental feedback.*

So you have let your child bring a phone in and that rules Don't apply to them.

The not being able to get the phone back is a consequence of not following the rules and is completely you and your child's fault and you will have to wait to get it back.

Fewer of us survived in the pre-mobile world. Child deaths in the 10 - 15 age range have dropped significantly since mobile phones became widespread.

Let's face it banning phones through the day for kids is right in terms of concentration in school but it's not going to stop social media addiction. What's the first thing most kids will do when they get home? Pick up their phone and scroll.

😂I don't know if my DGC have ever seen a payphone!

You don't have one, I take it?

This is from an editorial in the Independent.

protecting children from harm cannot ever be the sole responsibility of regulators and the platforms. Parents and teachers are the other primary players in this continuing struggle – and, in reality, the only ones with the presence and power to limit harm. The tech companies can, and do, provide tools to help filter online activity but the decision to give a child a smartphone or tablet and to control their use of it would still lie in the hands of parents, other guardians and schools.
The time will come, if it has not already, when we realise that laws, regulators and codes can only ever do so much. Controlling harmful content at the “supply” end will always be a cat-and-mouse game, with the young user continually devising new ways to evade age verification and explore beyond “approved” content – it is generally what children do. Encryption allows them to do so undetected and encryption cannot be “uninvented”.
Only the physical denial of access through making sure that online activity is restricted to older children – and even then, as supervised as possible – can minimise juvenile exposure to harmful material and unscrupulous people. There is surely a strong case for schools to be smartphone-free zones, driving the bullying and the hate out as far as possible, and for teaching staff to enjoy the necessary spells to confiscate devices.
But even in those circumstances, and even if there was perfect control of online content, the sheer amount of time the young spend on the internet can be as bad for their physical as it is for their mental health. It is up to parents and teachers to be much bolder in constraining the virtual lives of those teenagers and younger children in their care. With the very best will in the world, they cannot expect to be able to subcontract all of that work to ministers, Ofcom and the industry.
Parenthood has never been easy – and it is going to get more difficult.

Safeguarding was also sub-standard for donkeys years.

Which to be fair, I'm glad about, when one of my DGDs was assaulted in school and school didn't ring her parents.

But mostly, the kids there do follow the phone rules and keep them in their bags

coukd you push the school to use those magnetic pouches festivals use? They get locked in the morning and unlocked when they leave. It’s a pain, but I can’t imagine less of a pain then metal detectors.

in the meantime could he have an Apple tag, he can’t contact you but it might help you just keep an eye

Considering how prevalent safeguarding is now, i'm surprised a total ban on phones is allowed.

Exactly!

My Nan lived to be 93 and hated this kind of argument. She loved how much better life was now and how much easier technology made life.

A lot of bus and train tickets are on apps now so this rule is ridiculous.
YANBU OP

We managed without phones for donkeys years.
This just indicates how reliance on technology infantilise children.

My sons school has 2300 kids, imagine the logistics lol

YANBU
Phones switched off during the day and punishment if they're seen with them out I support. But they need access to phones for journey to and from school in case of problems.
I wish schools would put as much effort into reducing the spread of illnesses at school as they are into these mobile phone bans that just create other logistical problems for our kids anyway.

How will there always be a way to contact him? If the parent can't get hold of them on their phone when on the way to/from school then how can the school?

Also don't understand the issue about finding other ways to occupy themselves at breaks? Did your school not ban phone use in school? That's what they do at DD's school - phones have to be kept in bags and turned off.

I wouldn't be happy about not being able to contact my DD.

Exactly this. Mobiles are part and parcel of every day use so children need to be taught how to use them. Restrictions of course need to be in place and schools must have a very robust policy about phone use in school with heavy sanctions for this being broken.
I have 3 kids in 3 secondary schools and all are allowed phones in bags switched off. The sanctions if you get caught with your phone off are very harsh and mean that bar the odd loo text kids generally don’t bother much as it isn’t worth it.

No, they are not trying to ban the internet. They are restricting minors' unsupervised access to the internet, which is not actually the same thing?