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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be annoyed by total phone ban

710 replies

TeleGardenGnome · 09/05/2024 07:25

My child's school which is a busy city location has a total phone ban. So you aren't allowed to take any type of phone to school at all even if it stays hidden in a bag and is on silent and never used. They do bag searches and use metal detectors to find students breaking the rules.

If your child's phone is found they get a detention and you can only get it back by visiting the school in person.

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.

OP posts:
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EasternStandard · 09/05/2024 07:38

That does seem difficult. Dc use buses and its useful for them to use Citimapper, I use it too

We’ve had a couple of diversions and it helps them get home

SpeedyDrama · 09/05/2024 07:38

QuillBill · 09/05/2024 07:35

Whoops...I understand why schools want to ban phones, I'm a teacher myself, but it's just not practical. People always say "well we didn't have phones and all day and we got home fine" but they were phone boxes. You could stop somebody and asked to use the phone you could go to shop asked to use the phone or sorts of things you could do any of those things really now.

It was a complete pain back in the day! I went to a secondary in the middle of nowhere, nearest public bus was a mile away and a very dodgy walk through back fields. Finding a public phone was laughable. Mobiles were only just starting to be a thing at the time, but they were and are a godsend for safety.

Pomegranatecarnage · 09/05/2024 07:37

Our mobile phone ban starts soon and, as a teacher, I cannot wait. However, YANBU. As long as they’re switched off I think they should be allowed in bags.

whiteboardking · 09/05/2024 07:37

Which is why total phone bans are not ideal. Phones are also how society functions. I'd be very annoyed as sometimes I actually really do need to message my DC after school eg to tell them to go somewhere / go to Tesco on way home to get something / to remind them to do something or just let them know I won't be home til 6 etc They text me if not coming straight home.

Tygertiger · 09/05/2024 07:37

Ask if he can hand it in the morning and collect after school?

I can see why they’re not allowed them in their bags. In practice this just means they sneak them back in their blazer pockets and go to the toilets to use them. But having to give them in at the start of the day seems a good compromise.

MissyB1 · 09/05/2024 07:36

Why can’t the school just collect them in at morning registration and the kids get them back at home time? That’s what ds school does.

QuillBill · 09/05/2024 07:35

Whoops...I understand why schools want to ban phones, I'm a teacher myself, but it's just not practical. People always say "well we didn't have phones and all day and we got home fine" but they were phone boxes. You could stop somebody and asked to use the phone you could go to shop asked to use the phone or sorts of things you could do any of those things really now.

Beezknees · 09/05/2024 07:34

YANBU.

I think having them turned off and put away for the school day is reasonable, but I would not have been happy being unable to contact DS on the way to/from school when he was only 11 and just started walking by himself.

QuillBill · 09/05/2024 07:34

This happened at my nephews school. When he started they were allowed to take phones that were completely off. Then they were banned completely.

Then one night the school bus had a new driver and it went a different route and got stuck under a bridge. By the time the police got there the school office was closed and there was a double decker bus full of children with no way of contacting them.

I

lateatwork · 09/05/2024 07:31

Have 2 phones.

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