AIBU to ask for advice on how to overturn a school decision - quickly

Our school has a strict no phones policy (phones are in pouches at school). Totally fine.

There is not a chance the school can police phones on the way home or that they would be chasing a child down the street. The kids at our school are free to use their phones the second they get out the school gates, onto the bus etc. What about kids meeting in town after school to see friends? Would they be banned from using their phone 2 hours after school?

Sorry but never heard anything like this. School care what happens within the gates, not whats happening out of school hours.

She'd probably be scrolling making herself vulnerable to being attacked or mugged.

Thing is everyone says we managed without mobiles.

Yes I did. But on the Mike and a half journey home there was at least 5 phone boxes on my routes and others I could have accessed.

Plus when was at school if I knocked on a strangers door in trouble they would have more than likely have answered - nowadays they more than likely won’t.

Society has changed and so has the geographical environment.

i agree about no smart phones. Buy a brick phone turned off should be accepted. All the local schools around here have gone with that.

It might help in the more secluded areas she apparently has to walk through.

How far out are the teachers going to see if they have their phone, is this actually happening or is it just what they are saying will happen, I highly doubt teachers are going to sit on the kids door steps to see if they have their phone with then, what if they need their phone (would probably need a smart phone) to get phone or bus tickets up to journey to and from school? I feel this is all a bit extreme!

Nope. You seem to repeatedly misread / misunderstand / miss the point of my posts though. Where did I say OP.

Read rather than read into is my tip for you.

Now that's a plan!

Why do you think the parent can't "imagine" the world without a child having a mobile phone when the entire OP is about their actual experience of the child not having a phone?

Have you misread the OP?

I know you don’t want to inform the police but if you make a statement you have actual evidence of the case you’re trying to make re phones.

I also don’t think any teacher would chase a kid in the street and grab a mobile from their hands - legally that’s mugging.

the approach I would take is getting a police report and crime number, reporting it to school and asking what they can do to help prevent this happening again on the way home as they have made it clear they will intervene on what’s happening out of school whilst pupils are in uniform.

See what they come back with before planning your next move.

One other option is to refuse to send her on for safeguarding concerns - this happened down the road from school - but again you need evidence from police report.

Oooh, we can make use of the crate of hockey sticks from when we last had a hockey field (some time around 2007). Maybe some of the Upper 6th could bring their mopeds and we can start a combined phone snatching and Rollerball league with us and the CofE secondary down the road?

100% agree. So much is put onto schools it's a distraction from their teaching time.

That's the position schools have been in until now and it hasn't worked. School staff do not have the time to assess phones and whether they have the ability to take pictures or not. It isn't their core function. They are there to educate children and in the process of that keep them safe. As an employer they have a duty of care to also keep their staff safe. This the ban on phones. The other way hasnt worked kids simply put their phones up their sleeves or tucked in their skirts go to the toilets and create a tictok. This way it is simple - no devices it works.

Don't worry. No teacher is ever going to do that!

She doesnt need a phone. If its so unsafe forever to walk home, then I would start picking her up.

This

But you can’t do any of that on a brick phone. There’s no need to ban them. I don’t see the issue with them being switched off while in school.

And if parents worry about them still texting or calling people on it while in school - you are the parent. Make sure only your numbers are stored in it and check the phone regularly, as you should be doing with any phone they have access to.

Why anyone would send an expensive smart phone into school anyway is beyond me. My children have them, but not to take to school. Even they thought that was a stupid idea. They take £10 phones with pay as you go sims so it doesn’t matter if it gets lost or broken.

Because of safeguarding for the child and the teachers, children have been taking photos or recording teachers in school and posting it around or using AI to change it. Same with child on child abuse often involves phones, recording fights or a child bullying another.

You have a young child there is a gulf between 4 and 11 or 12.

I can’t see any schools local to me saying no phones whatsoever. They all just say switched off and not seen during school day. This all seems way over the top.

Teachers will ‘chase them down the street and snatch it out of their hand’ ??? Really ?

YES my child will need a phone out of their school day for their safety. It’s fucking ludicrous that anyone would think otherwise I want my child to be able to contact me and have that if they ever needed me to or from school or even in the middle of the bloody day!! I do not want my children walking the streets at secondary school age without it and quite frankly my child is 4 so I have a while till I need to argue with a secondary school. Might I add as an adult I can ask my management if I can quickly answer thr phone to Drs or call my mum or my child’s childcare etc so why are we inflicting rules on children where when they are grown they can access their phone through out the day in a workplace if required.

No teacher will have been told to chase a child outside school. Imagine what their union would say.

Nope. I am saying phones aren't needed on school and if a parents anxiety means they can't imagine a world without a child having a mobile phone with them then find another solution. My solution is to travel with them, there are other options parents can choose too.

The kids here walk home from school looking at screens.
Even when crossing a busy crossroads with no pelican crossings on it.
They're a menace because they walk so slowly.

You can’t keep the phone in the bag some schools have scanners.

You're saying if someone is concerned about a child's safety to the extent that they think it would be improved by the ability to make a phone call, then the solution is to travel with them?