To wonder what the ban on smartphones across 17 schools in South London will acheive.

Even without the list of bad phone use, the distraction caused by constant alerts is a good enough reason to ban them in lessons.

I'm pretty strict with my (sixth form) students in a setting where they are allowed unlimited access - no phones on desks, and if I have to remind them more than once it goes on my desk.

My youngest (yr 8) was saying how they ought be able to have phones out at break and lunch at school.
My yr 12 replied instantly - how would you have ever made friends?
She is absolutely correct. All heads down, scrolling, no conversation, no games, no laughter. The lost social interaction has got to be the number one reason for banning, never mind the potential crimes committed.

They do get used in class educationally, but the benefits of no phones would outweigh the losses. If we were well stocked with tablets we could use those (ha ha).

@PrincessTeaSet that poster said her children use public transport.
So they may need to phone as their payment method.
To phone a parent/taxi when the public transport doesn't turn up or stops for a random reason.
To go online and find out why the public transport hasn't turned up......

I work in a high, not even in the classroom and have witnessed almost all of this behaviour.

Luckily we have recently cracked down on phone use in school and they are now confiscated if seen. It's not totally ideal as they are given back at the end of the day so confiscation at the end of last lesson is very problematic.

Why do they need a phone to walk home from school?

Schools are making evidence based decisions. Behaviour and focus improve significantly when phones are banned completely.

Perhaps also fewer grammatical mistakes;)

It’s not surprising though, is it, when so many adults don’t seem able to walk along the street or walk their dog or push a child in a pram, without gazing at their phone.

Young people really can’t bear to e parted from them and everyone has either forgotten, or has never known what it’s like to live in a world where you’re not connected constantly to technology.

I hope a ban would achieve more focus in lessons and ultimately fewer instances of poor behaviour. Maybe it’s a vain hope, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t try to do something about the chaos that schools are rapidly turning into.

😂

If you’re finding it difficult to work out for yourself then I suggest you volunteer in a secondary and you’ll soon find out.

I'm hoping by the time my DC is secondary age more parents will band together and agree to not give kids smartphones.

Simple phone for texts/calls
All they need

My kids both take their phones to school. (2 different schools). One has a no phones policy, the other provides a pouch which is locked during school time.

There were issues when kids initially got their phones in year 6 (recommended by school as they transition to walking home without parents - London) and kids wrote silly things on WhatsApp or made tiktoks even though they are too young to have the app. Plenty of lessons and talks in school when these things happened and as a result, we've had no issues at all with phone use at secondary school.

My kids travel a long distance to school so need it for when buses/trains don't go to plan. They look at them during the 'sit down' part of their commute and for about an hour in the evenings (child 2 hasn't looked at all tonight as they've gone from homework to sport to shower to bed). I don't begrudge screen time when they rise at 6.15, get home at 6 after a sports match, then do homework and sometimes more sport training before shower and bed. If kids are kept busy then the phone use is limited, functional (eg: meeting up) and regulates to use that of normal for an adult.

I'm baffled as to all of the poor school behaviours listed in the quote. I guess that's a sign of the times in some schools. It's not a phone problem, it's a behaviour problem.

I used to teach before everyone had a phone, and I cannot imagine how teachers manage now when all the kids have them. Should never have been allowed in schools at all.

My dc are currently moaning about the planned ban in their school. The school will have phone pouches so every child locks the phone in the pouch at the start of the day, carries the locked pouch with them and unlocks at the end of the day. They need phones for the commute (45 mins or so on public transport across London) but this should help them focus in lessons and reduce screen time in lunch breaks. So I'm in favour of it.

I do wonder if they will all start getting Apple Watches instead.

I do work in a secondary school, and it's a resounding yes to all of those depressingly. It is rare that I have a full hour lesson where I don't see at least one student glancing at theirs (and that's just the ones I catch). Our school has rules about mobile phones, but they're not well implemented (to the point it's like fighting against the tide) and although we're meant to confiscate, we just tell children to put them away unless they are actively doing something very wrong that we can clearly see (making a phone call, filming fights etc). At that point we ask to confiscate, at which point they say "no" and laugh at you...

I think we're actually at the point where there needs to be a formal ban in place for all schools. The evidence shows they're so bloody detrimental to education on the whole!

@LizzieSiddal that's how strict school needs to be.

Yes, 100% they do all of this even in schools with generally good standards of behaviour. Phones in schools are incredibly disruptive and not good for learning social skills.

Some French schools have banned them after teachers noticed break times had become weirdly quiet as each child just stared at their own phone rather than interacting.

Smart phones and social media are highly addictive.
You would not expect a drug addict to just learn to manage their addiction.

They have ear buds 😂 not only can they use them they can watch their own favourite program whilst in a boring physics lesson 😂.

They can hide it on their lap, in a book, tucked behind a lap top...

I imagine it would achieve more focussed learners and therefore less spelling mistakes.

According to any Mumsnet discussion on phones, most secondary schools seem to have made them essential in class. Whenever anyone is hesitant to get their 10/11 year old a phone, the thread is always full of people saying they'll have to have one for secondary school.

(Whether this is true or not, I don't know, but there do seem to be two very conflicting narratives going on about phones and schools.)

My DDs school banned them. If a phone was seen by a member of staff it was confiscated for the rest of the term.
The kids didn’t dare take them out of their lockers and all parents were told if they didn’t agree with this rule, they should take their dc out of the school to one which aligned with their wishes.

"they are not meant to use their phones" but how in gods name are teachers supposed to check before a lesson they don't have them. And when whilst teaching also check they are not using them?

What is the issue with actually banning them.
They have no place in the classroom.. We will look back on this in years to come and say it was like smoking in class.