3 day suspension for having phone out in school

If the rule is no phones then that's the rule. There has to be some punishment that means something otherwise what's the point.

Thems the rules...take your chances

Sounds like phones are a serious collective problem compared with fighting.

Perhaps they will be self-employed and not just blindly following instructions from other people. Judging by those around me those are the ones with plenty of cash to spare.

the rules don’t say the child can’t use the phone outside school (so they can still use bus apps etc, make after school arrangements etc) . Everything else is within the power of the school to change - they dont have to use apps for homework or expect children to use phones in lessons. Plenty of schools have implemented no phone use in school hours policies and seem to be managing just fine.

You paid with cash everywhere and used public phone boxes. Neither of which are always easily accessible now. Families also managed without central heating and indoor toilets but I don’t see anyone not embracing those. We are not preparing them to be adults if we completely ban phones, that is not the world we live in anymore. A three day suspension is ridiculous and illustrates what is important to the school when assaults and bullying are probably given the same or lesser punishment.

Do you worry about your children following instructions when they enter the workplace? It’s a rule, nothing will happen if you follow it. Just do as you’re told.

If you had any idea how much time is wasted every single school day by staff trying to manage student phone usage, you’d be 100% behind a 3 day suspension as punishment.

Ours is until the end of term and you would be shocked how many parents come into reception shouting about it and demanding the phone back. The world’s gone mad.

I am actually a strong advocate for no phones. But three days does seem extreme with no other background story. Tbf though if you do the crime, do the time.

As an aside, we have a local school, no phones at all. Two others that allow phones.

It’s actually a pleasure seeing the kids from the no phones school walking to school laughing and chatting with each other. Phone schools and the kids are walking along side by side staring at screens it’s so sad!

Easy rule to follow.
if you don’t like it, there are plenty of other schools to go to. This is a school making a stand. No doubt the rules have been ignored up til now.
Your choice. Comply or move on.

Some of this is so eye-opening. DS is due to start secondary in September and all the schools we looked round made a big deal about the fact that they had a no-phones policy (implemented in various ways) and children were never expected to use phones in lessons. It was literally one of their selling points, but I never realised these schools were unusual as they all basically had the same policies.

3 days suspension! I think that's ridiculous. I very much agree with no phones during the school day, but 3 days suspension is overkill. I'm guessing a lot of kids have just found a foolproof way of getting a few days at home.

They have different pouches for this so are allowed access.
DCs school nurse also has it sent to her as well

They could just do the sanctions without the pouches.

in my DCs school they’ve put dumb phones in, used Apple Watches (now banned), they’ve unpicked the stitching and seen in Velcro. Bought the magnets to unlock them.

for the kids, it was just a challenge. No one used their phones because of the sanctions

It's a pretty simple rule to follow. Don't like the punishment, don't break the rules. Don't like the rules, look for a different school. I'm all for no phones in schools and would back the school 100%. Phones have no place in schools, and if kids can't go through a school day without one, then it's a massive problem that requires radical solutions.

Wrt scholbags, we definiyely had joints, lighters and things that could be used as weapons if so inclined (which we weren't), but mine was a small, private girls' school and there wasn't ever any trouble.

Phones: DC's (normal inner city state secondary) school has a no phones rule but they're allowed in their bags off/silent and confiscated for 24 hours if seen or heard. Teachers tell me they never have any problems.

So a sensitive thing- like a knife or a gun.....
Come on bag searches are to keep children safe- not every school has metal scanners......

100% reasonable. My school has children who CANNOT be filmed. One had to leave a foster placement they’d been settled safely with for 4 years because the biological family tracked them down via being in the background of another child’s video, filmed in school and posted to social media. They threatened the lives of the carer and her family. No phones out in school isn’t an arbitrary rule, it can be life saving.

I think it's ridiculous - dd's school is lose it for 5 days and i thought that was extreme..
Sad thing is has probably become necessary
Actually solution is kids follow the put it away rule then no issue. But so many days of education will be lost to this.

Well I suppose it might depend on the first offence. If it's shooting up a school with a machine gun and multiple deaths I'd hope they would get life. If they got probation or a short sentence because it was a first offence that would be ridiculous.

My DD’s school have Yondr pouches. I am all on board with it. I agree that most children do not need phones at school. To answer a couple of questions raised.

lunches are paid for in advance, however, if they want to use their phone to pay for things in the shop/cafe then there is a handheld device behind the counter that the staff use to unlock the pouch and then the student has to lock it again afterwards

my DD’s friend has a medical issue and they have a yondr pouch with Velcro so essentially it is away and takes away the temptation of going on it, but also easily accessible if they need it to contact someone

we were charged £30 for the pouch

i actually can’t remember what the consequences are if they are caught but it definitely isn’t a suspension which just seems counterproductive to ensuring the students are getting the most out of their learning

as for your later posts @TooBored1 i think the school seem to have a strange way of engaging their students and this just feels like the tip of the iceberg for how strict they are and I don’t agree with their other practices or the 3 day suspension punishment

There’s a consultation on this at my DD’s school. Apparently the government has said they have to introduce restrictions on mobile phone use and there are four different approaches, of which one is the locker thing. The school wants to have mobile phones not to be seen or heard and in pupils’ bags during lessons. If they are seen, then after two warnings the phone can be confiscated for five days. But nothing about suspensions though. That does seem very harsh!

The suggestion was "something sensitive they don't want a teacher to see" giving the idea that it was a privacy thing - not trying to hide a knife or a vape.

While it seems a harsh punishment for the very small actual affect of having their phone out, it's not harsh in the sense that it's a rule that will only be broken by a child who deliberately tries to break it. It's not like a child can accidently find their phone, pick it up and move it into their bag in the morning, and then, at school, accidently find it in their bag and accidently take it out. Like if a child doesn't want to be punished, they can decide to leave their phone at home and then they 100% won't break the rule. If that child needs their phone because, say, they have a complicated journey on unreliable public buses, they can turn their phone off and put it in the bottom of their bag before entering the grounds. Again, if that's their routine, the teacher's only know to punish the child if the phone rings, which means the child has deliberately left the phone on, or deliberately got it out in the school day, which they would only do if they were happy with the consequences of doing so.

You're going to pull your child out of the school because they are taking a hard stance against having phones in school during classes?

That's the decision you reached instead of making sure your child follows the rules and ensure they put their phone in the pouch during school hours?

Also consequences need to fit the crime. We don’t imprison for life for a first crime. All sorts of factors are taken into account and punishment should be reasonable. 3 days is on the heavy side.