To be annoyed by total phone ban

I would be tempted to comply, but make it inconvenient for the school as well as you. Any significant issue, he asks the office to contact you, walking back to school if necessary to do so. Any significant issue, you phone the office and ask to pass a message to him. If they won’t, or the office is shut after school, then you ask what other solutions they can put in place, given he’s not allowed a phone. Keep it polite, and assume their good intent, and that they don’t want him lost in the city with no way to contact you, either.

My view is coloured by having two DC who both commute by tube/train, and it’s fairly frequent that they text to say ‘Will be very late, no tube so diverting via two buses’, and they use Citymapper to work out which two buses.

Yes, most schools allow that, I have to say! This school is an exception I think.

It isn't a lazy argument, don't be so bitchy and dismissive. It is a fact, not a viewpoint.
Of course the world changes, but not to the extent that children are in mortal danger if they don't have access to a mobile.
What a generation of needy kids you will be raising

DDs school has gone the other way and embraces phones. They use them in lessons for various bits of work but they do have to be on silent and in bags when they’re not using them. Free to use them at break and lunchtime. I don’t think they have any more behavioural or bullying problems than any other school.

I 100 agree phones have no place in education establishments however I can't understand why they can't be used to and from school!

Yes, most schools are fine with it being switched off and in a bag.
I do wonder if something else happened? Did it go off?

Is DS's school quite small by any chance?

It's not really practical for your average secondary school to collect all the phones in, in the morning (morning registration is often just in the first lesson so would eat into lesson time), store them somewhere securely during the day so they can be matched with owners and redistribute them later (bearing in mind that the final lesson of the day might be with a different group of people to the first lesson, so you can't just save by class).

My DC's school has a phone ban, but they are allowed to be stored in lockers and only confiscated if seen. What's the rationale for your school's total ban OP? Are there ways of working round it - e.g. would they accept brick phone?

What cloud-cuckoo utopia were you living in? There has always been a dearth of phoneboxes, and talking to strangers was not encouraged, even 'back then'.
And ask to use a phone in a shop? Well if that happened then, why can't it happen now?

This is such a lazy argument. The world was different when we were kids. It's the same for every generation of adults.

Life changes. Things change. Just because you experienced something as a child it doesn't mean it works now.

School need to invest in lock boxes for each class/ pupil and all phones are checked in when they arrive and checked out when they leave. Damn right these children don't need a phone during the day but then do for school travel

So it's London, not a rural location? Just make sure that you have good planning and various strategies in place.
I'm sure he can travel with friends.

Are there pay phones still? I can't remember the last time I saw one, it could be a decade since I've seen a pay phone.

I wouldn't be happy if my child was walking/cycling/using public non school buses to get to school and had their phone removed. Hand in at front office or home room teacher if off in bag isn't good enough, but some kids need them for traveling to and from school, its a safety device.

Exactly. The majority of bus and rail passes are on phones these days so how can a child get to and from school without them.

Some of us lived in a pre-mobile phone world. We survived

I wasn't sure about a total phone ban, but my goodness it's improved behaviour in school. The bullying has been reduced and it's forced the students to otherwise occupy themselves at break and lunchtime.
You will need to teach your son strategies. There will always be a way for you to contact him through school, and vice versa. He can ask someone in the pastoral team for advice and support if he has an issue.

Here it saves money to have your bus tickets on an app. I can buy ds in bulk and get a saving. He would need his phone to get to and from school.

I think total phone bans are ridiculous. Dds school had one and when she didn't turn up at home one night (just a few weeks into starting) I called the school and the receptionist asked me 'well have you called her phone?' I pointed out they had a ban on them. After that I sent her with it, switched off and in her bag.

Not sure I would be happy with metal detectors and bag searches though tbh. Is this normal in alot of schools? Ds goes to a big school in town and they dont do anything like that. They are really strict on phone use though.

I think phones are such a big part of life, it's ridiculous and there's so many reasons kids would need them on the way home. I would be speaking to school and pointing out the huge issues with this.

Presumably you knew this policy when he started in school? Or is this a new policy?

Either way these are the rules. Your DS knows the rules and yet he still had a phone in his bag. Tough on him.
If you have an old phone you can throw a free sim in (giff gaff for example) and he can be contacted that way.

Phones are so bad for developing young minds and interfere with learning and mental good health. I think the inconvenience is worth it. Ideally I'd ban under 16s from using mobiles (yes phone boxes would need to make a comeback).

What payphones?

If only there were payphones in the street.

@Tippexy there are zero pay phones on my area. Our school allows phoned in blazers / bags of off and not seen. Confiscated and parent collects if seen. Seems to work

Has he been taught how to use a pay phone to do a reverse charge call?