To feel relieved the school has now completely banned phones

That's how I feel about the ban.

I'm glad mine got through secondary school before it came in. You don't know how important it is to have one until that emergency comes where it is important.

And we have a secondary school walking route goes past work: there's a fair trade in old smart phones and swapping of SIM cards (to hide that they have a smart phone at home) goes on.

We should be teaching them (as parents) to be responsible when they first get them rather than handing them one at 16/18yo and expecting them suddenly to be responsible.

Do you honestly think some teenagers will adhere to this? I don't.

Locked away not off. The point teachers have made is valid.

Where there has been bans of use during the school day, it has reduced bullying.

Of course they won't. The root of the issue is ineffective parenting. Schools are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Going to school without phones in the 90s is not relevant to today's kids. School in the 90s was preparing the kids to becoming adults in the 90s and early 00s. Life is different now and our kids' needs are subsequently different too.

My teens use their phones to access public transport passes, timetables, maps, info. They use them to keep track of homework, and in some cases to do it. They have banking online and via their phones.

I think social media is problematic and support age limits or bans there. I'm also totally supportive of a no phones in class or even during the whole school day but a total ban does them a disservice imo. It's 2026 now and many areas of life pretty much require a smartphone whether you like it or not. They aren't the devil. They're a powerful tool we should be teaching our kids to use responsibly.

I suppose the schools think/hope that it'll gradually change their culture and reduce the problem to just a few pupils who simply won't be told what to do - usually with parents who'll raise hell if someone so much as suggests they might

Well said.
There are tons of these schools and mobile phone threads.

As you say the issue is Social Media, getting rid of phones is like throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Add transdev to the list of only providing a paper ticket for a week maximum substantially adding to the cost of school travel compared to buying on the app (school uses lockers for those with permission - mine has permission due to bus pass)

My kids used their phones to let me know if they would be late home so I didn’t start thinking the worst. They used buses and trains to get to school and back so sometimes there would be a delay. Also when they wanted to go hang out with friends for an hour or so they could easily let me know that was happening.

That being said, I do think it’s a good idea overall, phone culture with teens is awful. But I imagine they’ll carry on owning them and using them outside of school hours, so I’m not sure how much it will help.

My daughter once had a horrific image shoved in her face on a phone screen by some idiot boy, so at least that won’t happen in school anymore.

In the 70s, it was a 2P

If your old enough to recall 2p phone calls in the 70s.
When did house phones become the norm, for ordinary working classes I'm thinking the 60s?
I'm thinking the 50s would have been middle classes.

My secondary had a payphone in the office reception area in the 80s. I'm trying to figure out when that was probably installed, my guess is the 70s when enough kids had phones at home to phone home?

Isn’t the ban in place to protect children from Social Media? And inappropriate look ups? The pros outweigh the cons in my opinion.

But there were phone boxes then .

We live very rural and my boys have long bus journeys to school. Often the bus breaks down but with a phone they can message and let me know. Its not as if I can walk the route to see where they are. School has banned phones but they can have them on thd journey. I'd be surprised if peer pressure doesn't mean they still want a phone for home use.

Just a thought, but from the schools' point of view, perhaps there's merit in at least keeping the phone bullying off the premises?

It's true that some kids will go right on doing it, but this way it would avoid having parents demanding they "do something" about what happened during the school day - unless they somehow think that even what happens outside school time is down to them?

Dgs won’t go for a poo at school in case someone films under the partition

My daughter just started Y7. Her school has lockable pouches. I'm amazed at the culture. I can see how much she's using it and she's averaging 15 minutes a day on WhatsApp. People shouldn't assume that kids will be on them for hours.

I feel safer knowing she has one walking to and from school.

It's not the phone that needs to change it's the culture around use. That's on parents

I never knew that so many children used payphones in the 90s-early 2000s...

As a school aged kid at that time, I don't remember ever seeing a person let alone another child use one.

Somehow I think this is just a quick easy line to discredit the idea that before every child had a connection their parents in their pocket, they actually managed fine on their own..

Completely agree with this - also that not every child is glued to their phone 24/7 - but unfortunately there's a contingent of parents who can't be bothered with the hassle of telling their kids that actually no, they're not going to have access to them all the time, so some continue to be lobotomized by that glowing screen

All schools will be following suit so the parent who has decided to send child to another school because of this policy is being a dick.
Every parent, teacher and child should feel relieved.

Did you never carry a phone card?

I was 16 and used to call home and tell my Dad what train I'd be on so he could meet me.
The coin phone at the city station used to have a massive queue but the card phone would be empty.

The card would also let you pay by the penny rather than the 10p, 20p, 50p

Depends on areas really. My children had a ten mile bus journey on an unreliable public bus. On one occasion the bus didn’t follow the correct route and dropped several children (including mine) three miles in the opposite direction to where I’d have expected her to be if I’d gone out searching. The walk home would have been along a busy A road with no foot path. Also, if they missed the bus there would be a walk from school to the bus station to catch the next which was over an hour later and the last one of the day.

Not so bad in the summer terms but a real worry once the dark nights kick in at 4pm. A phone means they can either be contacted or call for help. The life360 made me far less anxious while I was working as I could check they’d got the bus and got home after several worrying incidents like this.

The school has banned phones now so I’m very glad the youngest had left now.

My DD's school has told us to put an app on the phone that blocks it while on the premises.
I have refused. I have scheduled the downtime to coincide with the school day. (With a pin known only to me).
They have said this isn't good enough. My daughter's choices are; the app, a brick phone, hand it to reception every day or leave it at home.

When school had a webinar about the app with the company who market the app, they didn't answer any questions about data collection, privacy, the DBS status of those working on designing the app. They didn't answer questions about what commission the school were on for using this app (no other apps are allowed to block, just the schools one).

It's a blanket ban to cover the young people who don't follow the usual phone rules..and they are the ones who will find a way round these rules too. But then, that's exactly what is happening all through society these days 🤦🤬

I don't think anyone would argue with that, really. Phones shouldn't be a distraction during school hours. People's concerns stem mainly from children travelling without a phone, which is completely different.

Really? I find this odd. I didn't have a phone card but always had loose change or reversed the charges haha.

What did you do if you decided to go to a friend's house after school or the library instead of coming straight home? Did you just go?! My mum always expected me to let her know if I was going to be home hours later than usual. I certainly wasn't unusual in my social circle. My school actually ended up getting a payphone in the mid 90s for pupils to use.