Are there any parents out there who support smartphones in schools?

What an unbelievably naïve view!

Gosh, it sounds like that needs tightening up - I’m surprised it hasn’t been raised as a safeguarding issue requiring immediate action, especially if there have been incidents.

I got the bus home every day. At no point did I need to use the pay phone to call my parents. We were fine. If there was a problem we figured it out.

The defence of phones on here is ridiculous.

As I'd said upthread, of course I think there's a place for children with specific issues like autism or conditions like diabetes who have a need for a phone, to have one. But this is not the majority and what's being spoken about the day to day ups and downs being best managed by the young people themselves or the school, in order to foster self reliance.

Yes in the past there was little room for kids emotions and they were expected to just pipe down - not good at all. But the pendulum swinging the other way to 'I'm here to help you every time you feel bad' - not good either, not healthy for children as they develop and begin to separate from parents, to not have to learn to manage their day to day challenges independently.

I wouldn't want him to do that without a phone so that he can message me to let me know if he will be going to the park and the ability for me to track his location with gps.

You don't need a phone with access to web and social media for this.
I'm looking into basic phones with these useful functionalities.

I can't speak for the other poster, but from the early days of BF if I ever asked for help (really struggled at first) i was constantly asked by the midwives/ nurses etc how long I'd fed for, when, how frequently etc. No way I could remember this without recording it. I had no idea before this that I was supposed to know!

It actually built up a really useful record.

when I was breastfeeding my son so I could remember how long, which boob etc.

@LadyJos forgive me for sounding dense, but why would you need an app for breastfeeding? I just fed DD on demand - both sides, for as long as it took.

Neither @Jollyjoy or myself said anything about neurodiverse pupils !
Although even then surely as a parent of a neurodiverse pupil it’s possibly even more important to teach coping strategies, they’re going to have to go out into the world at some point? I have a daughter with learning and physical disabilities myself before you ask .

It’s really sad how many people think the past is something to miss - when anxious children just had to ‘get on with it’ and people learned to repress anxieties, mask their autistic challenges and force their emotions down to conform to what they needed to do to get through high school. Plenty of people didn’t ’survive’ and even more didn’t thrive.

If a quick message to me after a rough experience helps my child stay in school and stay honest with me when she needs some extra support, I am grateful for that technology. She does not sit on it when she isn’t allowed, she doesn’t have social media, she doesn’t contact random strangers - none of this would be possible for her anyway due to her rigid thinking and inability to be flexible about pretty much anything. every few days she has a rough time and messages me for a virtual hug and I am so happy that’s an option for her.

I agree !

Yes to this !

Straight through reception, they could be going to the library, PE etc. Also through the fire doors ….

Exactly. Feel so sorry for kids these days. They just get the constant message that they need to be tracked, they need to be able to contact mum, they need help and support. How can they come to believe they are strong enough to cope with life when this is all they know?

The naiveté on this thread is something.

It is, and these are parents handing their child communications devices saying "if it harmed you it wouldn't be allowed".

Our high school is a community campus and the high school is across 3 buildings. Children can also leave for lunch and many of them are doing apprenticeships etc. so leave the school at various points. There are always children coming and going - and adults too. There's 0 security whatsoever.

The naiveté on this thread is something.

Your DC do not keep them in their bags and forget about them. They are a constant draw. Kids sloping off to the toilet to check their phone. Kids stating "I was just texting my mum....". It's totally unnecessary. They should put them in lockers at the beginning of the day and get them back at the end. In fact this is what my DC school does and it has never been a problem.

For those parents saying their anxious child needs to contact them - no they don't. They need to learn appropriate coping mechanisms. You are compounding a problem and increasing reliance on you and their mobile phone.

Besides the point of the thread, I realise, but how are students leaving the premises unnoticed? The very average state schools in our area are really secure.

I think phones should be off and away from the time they arrive at school to the time they leave.

I'm 100% in favour of them being switched off from the minute they go into school until they leave, but my year 6 child really wants the freedom to travel to school by himself and then go to the park with friends after school. I wouldn't want him to do that without a phone so that he can message me to let me know if he will be going to the park and the ability for me to track his location with gps.

His friends all like to play Pokemon Go together in the park, which I really encourage. Yes it's a screen game, but you can progress more quickly by walking multiple km per day - it tracks this via gps and you get bigger rewards for walking longer distances. It was a huge motivator for us to get out during covid and I'd much rather him play that than a game where he's sat down indoors to play.

But it was a world that was set up for people not having mobile phones. Payphones were everywhere. "Take an emergency 10p for the payphone" was the equivalent of making sure your child has their phone charged.

I'm genuinely quite shocked that the OP thinks her daughter should have a phone so that she can text her mates in class.

Agree with this. I'm not a massive fan of phones and limit DS's screentime, keep an eye on what he's looking at etc. But as well as the school requiring them to use phones in lessons at times, his phone is very useful for the 5 mile journey to and from school.

I'm a big believer in encouraging independence and problem solving and DS is pretty good at coming up with alternative plans when things go wrong. But he has phoned me twice since starting secondary school 18 months ago when no public buses were getting through due to an accident blocking the road. Plus as pp says, his bus pass is digital so has to be stored on a phone.

I did a very similar journey back in the 90s and yes, I coped fine without a phone. But my bus pass was a paper one and there were pay phones, which I absolutely used when I encountered major problems with the buses!

They are probably more likely to get run over as they are staring at the phone. Or get mugged for their phone.

Yep. Children are more likely to be involved in RTAs or get mugged for a smartphone, than get kidnapped on the way home.