To feel relieved the school has now completely banned phones

What about if they need their phone for their bus pass? I know some companies don't give a paper weekly pass now, it's all on your phone.

I wouldn't be happy at all to send my DD to a school that bans phones completely. DDs school have just implemented the rule this year that phones are to be switched off and in bags when in the school premises which is fine, but she has to text me when she arrives outside school and leaves school, I would not be happy if she could no longer do this.

Sending a text to your parent to say 'swimming has been cancelled, can I get a lift with you or should I get the train' does not make anyone anxious.

There is concern around smartphones and social media etc. There is no evidence that normal communication with family members causes anxiety.

And this There shouldn’t be any phones anywhere near schools is wacky.

Agree OP. I didn't have a phone until my mid teens and I have never once used a payphone. Will do them good to develop some resilience and problem solving skills. 99.9% of the time the solution will be wait for the next bus or find a safe adult to ask.
We live in a very safe country, that is safer than it ever has been. They honestly dont need phones 24/7.

My secondary school had a coin-operated pay phone on the premises so you could phone home if you needed to!

Yabu because it’s a false sense of hope. Kids will still use phones to do illicit and unkind things in their rooms, at weekends etc. And kids will just find ways to hide a phone in their schoolbag/ use it in the school loos/ put up with having detention if they get caught.

My DD’s school has today made it policy NO child, all the way to y13, can have phones out in corridors or class. All phones switched off and kept in bags. And y12/y13 can only use them in the sixth form common room.

Im happy she’ll have a phone for her journey to and from school.

There wasn’t in mine, or anywhere near my school.

Exactly. Phones just make them anxious and think they can’t do anything for themselves or problem solve,chatgbt or mummy has to sort it all. There shouldn’t be any phones anywhere near schools.

But children had access to payphones in the past. In the 90s in my northern comp there was a payphone inside the school as well as boxes at train stations and near main bus stops.

You were expected in the 90s if your bus /train was late to call school. Your problem solving was using a phone.

If your commute to school has only ever been walking or being driven in a parent’s car I can see why you would think phones weren’t needed, but they definitely are for those who use buses/trains/underground/trams to get to school.

We adults removed the infrastructure of payphones because we stopped using them because we all had mobiles.

Yes but pre-mobile phones the kids could ring home from the phone box by the school, or the bus stop, or the station…

On the other thread people are actually suggesting that they can just ask random adults if they can use their phones. What could possibly be risky about that?!

And you can parent your kid that way by removing their phone.

But we had interconnected arrangements.

We needed to know when things changed e.g. last minute revision session, cancelled club.

Ok, but see I think having phones where they can contact mummy/daddy at the drop of a hat in fact stops teenagers from problem solving. They just ring their parents whenever anything happens (see other posts about 'changes of plans' or transport issues). Pre mobile phones, teenagers had to try and problem solve - figure out for themselves that they needed to get a different bus/walk/go to a friends house and ring home from there.
So I would actually say that needing to go to the office to send a message home might actually make your DS look for other solutions first before contacting you - or stopping to think about whether it can actually wait til after school. Which is then a more grown up thing than, as you say, needing his mummy or daddy every time something happens.

I just don’t think anyone has the right to tell me what my kids needs or doesn’t need ‘outside’ of school.

Absolutely this.

I've expressed this on the other thread - don't agree with an outright ban as it affects out of school communication. Brick phones as a minimum should be permitted.

Parents need to complain about this if they oppose an outright ban.

I’m less bothered about this aspect of it, although it is reassuring to have them tracked seeing as it’s an option.

But my DD has needed to contact me because of the bus breakdown/not turning up/being stuck in traffic or last minute change of plan several times

I wouldn’t be happy about my child having no way to contact me before and after school (we had payphones in the 90s!).
I wouldn’t like to do my journey to work with no mobile just because if I broke down or something I would literally have no option apart from walking to the nearest bus stop and hoping a bus will pass soon - we are fairly rural and there are no phone boxes on my whole route to work.
Why send off an 11 year old to school with no way to get hold of them? Especially if they’re using public transport.
It would make me think twice about sending my child there too.

No issues at all with mobiles being off and out of site during the school day btw

@Eastie77Returns- I’m assuming your dcs live walking distance to the school. so this will work fine for them.

The issue is for people like us who have to send their dcs to school on public transport. While we didn’t have mobiles in the 90s, we did have phone boxes and yes, we did call the school from a phone box to say the school bus hadn’t arrived/ the trains were all cancelled etc. There was a pay phone at school in the early 90s, one inside near reception and then a box outside my school.

Thankfully my DCs two schools haven’t banned them from the building, I assume because such a high percentage don’t live walking distance from the school. DS’s school collect all phones in during form time then they finish the last period of the day 5 mins early to all go collect them back. (They trialed it with just year 7 last year and now rolling out to everyone). DDs school has a “no visible phones” policy. Must be switched off and away during the school day. They are debating getting the yonder pouches, will depend on how well the girls behave!

There’s a whole other massive thread on this topic if you look. Hundreds of thoughts on both sides.

For me, I just don’t think anyone has the right to tell me what my kids needs or doesn’t need ‘outside’ of school. Inside of school sure - phones should be off and in bags and if anyone sees one in a classroom it should get taken away. But outside of school it’s my responsibility to decide what my child needs. For both petty and serious reasons my kids will always have a phone with them.

I think you’ll end up finding that a lot of the new children will just be having them off in their bags.

Especially when it’s a silly some students can and some can’t rule.

Two of mine have gone back this week. Only one is banning phones the other is pouches for years 7-11.

All my child’s friends in the banned school all had their phones just popped them in their bags on airplane/dnd mode before they stepped onto the school grounds.

And back in the day out side the school office was a payphone, precisely to prevent kids bugging staff asking them to make calls for them.

Not only have schools tried to turn the clock back to the 1980s they've gone about 2 decades earlier, to the 1960s when nobody had a house phone either.

Ludicrous

My DC school is not banning it and it's one of the best performing schools in the county.

I feel like the ban is anti technology in a way. Similar to the attitude that if you use AI, you are cheating. Phones are a part of life now. What is needed is a social media ban for under 18. I don't understand how they are deem old enough to be independent and not have a child profile anymore at 13. I believe it's the law UK since it's 16 in Germany. This allows the child to have an adult profile from 13 with Google, Apple, Tiktok etc. Kids still have access to them after school. DC primary bans it, but there were already Year 6 whatsapp groups, and already mean bullying on it.

I hate the ban. Our teenage DS doesn't use his phone that much - not interested in social media, unless you count fewer than a dozen contacts (mainly family) on WhatsApp.

He's now lost the ability to contact us before or after school, or at breaktimes, to let us know of any changes to plans/delays, things needed for school the next day etc. - as his punishment for being the same age as poorly-behaved teens who refuse to stay off their phones whilst at school and persist in using them inappropriately.

The 'best' bit is that the latter group still use them in lessons just like they did before, but are now just a lot more discreet about it - so only he and the other sensible, conscientious, rule-abiding young people have been punished for their actions and they've got away with it fine well.

He's now a very mature 14, but if he needs to get a brief message to us, he has to go to reception and ask them to call us - just like a little kiddie who needs their mummy or daddy. School: where teenagers are actively prevented from growing, developing and preparing for the adult world.

Mum of 3 and never tracked any, don’t feel the need.

I don’t think you can compare getting to and from school a generation ago, more children went to closer schools, journeys are longer, roads are busier.

It’s pretty sad you needed a school rule to enforce a rule in your own home though.

I think whether a complete ban is practical depends on the area and how DC travel to school