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

My daughter’s school has introduced locked by a magnetic pouches for pupils phones. She’s in sixth form so doesn’t apply to her. They already had a policy whereby if pupils were seen to be using their phones on school grounds it was confiscated - phone always had to be in school bags. My only issue is that schools insist on school apps - when my daughter was younger she’d always say I need my phone to access the school app to do the homework, so it was difficult to control phone use at times. She’d sometimes get teams messages from a teacher at midnight, I think this could also do with a review - do schools really need all the apps?

What’s the group please? I might join to so that I can find out teachers are supposedly managing to keep a class of 30 5 year olds silent, some of it might be transferable to secondary students and make my life easier. Although after word gets out I’ve mugged a few I imagine the behaviour will simmer down in general anyway.

No. Plus the midnight messaging breaks the rules. Refer it to the HT.

Local secondary schools to us have lockable pouches for phones, I can’t see a teacher chasing down a student outside of school hours…
Id give a her a simple Nokia phone without internet/camera and tell her to keep it switched off in her bag and out of sight.
The school aren’t going to reverse the no phones in school as it’s government guidelines however it seems most schools have brought in pouches or equivalent.
If the children don’t put them in them and they are seen, they are confiscated and parents have to collect them at the end of the day.

I almost commented asking if anyone had any tips for the teachers at my children’s school, because the noise, laughter and general sounds of fun and chatter from the classrooms at pick up time and when ever I’ve been in to the school must mean they are doing something wrong.

Deffo get down the gym now though. You are going to need to run to catch up with 15 year olds boys as they use their phones on the high street. They are FAST.

Sounds like an invented bit of parental hysteria, I would think if very unlikely that a school would say that!

Of course they wouldn't 😂😂! Can you imagine that in a teachers' contract?!

When I was a teenager my friend had epilepsy and once collapsed having a fit as we were walking home, she hit her head pretty hard on the pavement and cracked it open and I had to call an ambulance. How would you recommend someone handle that situation without a phone? Flare maybe? Bat signal?

Don’t be ridiculous

What an absolute load of bollocks! No teacher is chasing kids outside of school and snatching their phones. 😂 For anyone actually thick enough to even half believe this, do you seriously think teachers will agree to this? The unions would be all over it and they would be striking! Trust me, no teacher is going to risk a criminal record or being assaulted in the process.
Anyone who thinks the ban is unreasonable really needs to spend a day in a school where students are allowed to bring phones in their bags but are not supposed to use them in lessons. You will see, students refusing to work because they are too engrossed in their phones. In many cases you will see them used for bullying, for example filming other students and posting derogatory photos and videos, making derogatory remarks about what other students may have posted on Snap Chat the night before and belittling them in front of the whole class. Then there might be filming fights, taking videos and photos of teachers without their permission and uploading these to social media. When I was a form tutor I would often be shown videos of students using smart phones to bully others on the journey to and from school. Smart phones have caused the biggest issues in schools in recent years. Bans are long overdue! Get your kid a brick if they need a phone for emergencies!

OP there's no mechanism for parents to overrule the school. You'd have to go through the lea or whatever governing/oversight structure the school has or the courts and have them overrule - not guaranteed and never quick. Probably the best way to get quick movement would be to talk to a solicitor and, if they think you have a good case, get a letter sent demanding change with a threat to take them to court. Then follow that line. Not sure if the courts will look unfavourably on you not going through the complaints process first, you'd need to take the advice of the solicitor.

Unfortunately for you it's pretty expensive to go this route. You say there was an incident that should have police involved but you won't go that route - I think this decision would probably hurt your attempts to get the rule overturned as police involvement almost always raises the stakes, but hard to know without details (understand why you don't want to put details on here - just making you aware, something else to ask solicitor about).

They don't usually leave schools until well after the kids do, so this seems a very unusual school.

I’m a teacher and wholeheartedly agree with the school rules and phone use - but to snatch it out of their hand outside of school property is, assault, theft? Don’t like that one bit. That teacher must be on the edge working in that draconian school.

You won’t change the policy, it’s law now, but you can complain about the handling.

No.

The problem is that dc just put an old phone in the pouch and have their real phone available.

I don’t agree with banning brick phones though, or banning phones for the journey, so don’t know what the answer is.

If you're a teacher, surely you'll know that this could never be school policy? Seriously?

Mumsnet is absolutely full of testimonials regarding bad male intentions and actions. However, suddenly, when it comes to children needing a phone for safety, nah, all men are safe to be around kids and NEVER EVER touch people they shouldn't. No bad drivers. No physical assaults. Rapists no longer exist because I don't like "screens". Grooming gangs do not exist, it's all a far right conspiracy. Ignore the convictions because I disapprove of phones. Small humans don't need a means to call help when a creeper is approaching them because us nice middle-class people say so.

And, yes, screen hatred is largely a middle-class weird obsession.

More worried about the remote dangers of phone use and social media for children than them being physically attacked in the street. Are you actively trying to assist pedophiles by making sure they know children in school uniform can't call the police?

How entitled, to insist ALL children should have no means to call emergency services because of your beliefs. Not all children live in naice little safe villages or quiet leafy middle-class areas.

"Children should be able to problem solve without a phone", I keep reading.

How about YOU problem solve YOUR way out of getting gang raped or run over by a car. How about YOU walk down a dark street with a much bigger man obviously following you, approaching you for sex, catcalling you and don't call for help. Surely, YOU can problem solve YOURSELF out of his grasp if he grabs you.

Some of you lot make me sick.

I remember an incident where, living rurally as a small child, I was out for a walk with my grandparents when we found someone who had fallen off a horse. My grandparents didn't have mobile phones yet and I was only little, so my grandmother had to stay with the horserider while my grandfather and I walked over a mile to the nearest road (not lane). We then spent over half an hour trying to hail a car to pull over, the first few not having mobiles either, so we could use to call 999.

The horserider had broken her spine and had a skull fracture. It was a very good thing we'd been walking there when we had, as it could have taken several more hours for anyone to find her otherwise. My grandparents both bought mobile phones after that, and I was bought a mobile phone as soon as I went to secondary and had a longer journey home. You never know what could happen if your child gets injured- or comes across someone else in need of help, as my family did- and needs assistance in the middle of nowhere with no way to call for help. On roads with no pavements, and in the dark during winter, it's not unreasonable to consider the risks.

Surely this isn’t true. How dramatic 😂 my daughters school have said phones are not to be seen or heard at all during school, including lunch and breaks etc. What the op is saying is frankly bizarre.

You wonder which generation of kids these types of parents are raising. There is a ban. Live with it.

This. But little entitled daisy needs her phone…. It is for this type of parents that the government had to put a ban. They just don’t get it…

What about the phones that are connected to the Libre 3 or CGM diabetic people have on their arm,their phone is their life line,it tells them their insulin needs to be taken as it monitors sugars

If you are so concerned about your child's safety to and from school travel with them whether but car bus train whatever means. A phone doesn't make them safe, you won't overturn the school this is a government initiative. Follow the rules and find another method to protect your child if you do not feel they can travel on their own without a phone.

Completely agree with you OP. Not allowed in school, fine. But once the bell goes they should be able to switch them on to connect parents or use in an emergency.

There are plenty of hand held devices that monitor without a mobile phone.