Strict no phones rule at secondary school

This was the rule at my eldest daughters school and she took it and kept it on silent in her inside blazer pocket

A strict no phones rule at secondary means that the phones are completely out of sight on school grounds. Ideally turned off, but more usually on silent
This is how it's been at every phone-free school I've worked at.

If a phone is switched off and in the bag nobody knows it's on site. The pupil is responsible for the phone and making sure it isn't lost or damaged. Nobody sees or hears the phone on the school site.

Kids should be allowed to take their phones to school. It should stay switched off and in their bags unless they are allowed to have them out at lunch time/break time etc. But they should have their phone with them in case they find themselves in a situation on the way to school or on the way back home where they need to call for help. Yes I know it wasn't that long ago that no one had a mobile phone and had to make do without one, but now society operates on an assumption that all teens have a phone and therefore we have done away with phone boxes on every street, less community police officers about etc etc.

This sounds like a ridiculous school.

Are you sure you want your child to spend his teen years there?

I'm sure they would if it was a smart watch but you can get ones that only do one or two numbers. I've seen them used in difficult custody cases so child can call a parent.

They do confiscate them just as for phones at our school.

What about one of those watches that can make calls? Can't confiscate a watch.

@NoCoincidence "No one is sitting watching the tracking constantly, you just use it if there's a reason to."

What would that reason be?

A strict no phones rule at secondary means that the phones are completely out of sight on school grounds. Ideally turned off, but more usually on silent.

@wildfirewonder
Once they are out of your sight, you don't know where they are, you know where their tracker is. I'm assuming you haven't implanted it.

I'm sure that was a black mirror episode

I was just watching one of the Bourne films where the agent cut out their tracker!

@redskytwonight
But back in the day there were more public phone boxes and schools also had payphones. So if you spontaneously decided to stay for an after school club (or had just forgotten to tell your mum) or if you'd waited over an hour for a bus and had no idea if one was ever going to turn up .. you had another means to contact your parents.

We didn't have a landline phone in the house. My mum had no idea where I was if I was late in from school or when out anywhere. Imagine that now

Christ, don't give them ideas.

Wow, this thread has been an eye-opener for me. Poor kids today. No wonder there's a mental health crisis and and anxiety is through the roof.

As I said, my view is it engenders a false sense of security and reduces real trust between parent and child

Once they are out of your sight, you don't know where they are, you know where their tracker is. I'm assuming you haven't implanted it.

Is it any wonder schools are such awful places to be for pupils and staff lately when parents have attitudes like this.

It's not a secret that children carry phones for use on journeys between home and school. If it's in a bag and not being used, it's not disturbing learning and it's not creating behavioural issues which need investigating.

The confiscation policy will be enforced if the child is found to be using the phone on school premises, which is entirely reasonable.

Surely he can just turn his phone off before entering the school and turn it back on when he leaves?
I personally don’t think he needs tracking when in high school.

DS3’s secondary must be unusual then as they are allowed phones and can use them at break times.

Thry have recently had a consultation regarding this though as they have noticed students are taking the mick more which is disappointing as it’s the few ruining it for everyone else as usual.

DS will have his phone out if they ban them or not, as he needs it for medical reasons, so won’t affect him.

You asked for advice on a good tracker. I would recommend the Tractive XL dog tracker, although it does require a subscription. I used this with my son fro 2-3 years when he was travelling 13 miles on public transport to school. Battery lasts a week between charges so it can be chucked at the bottom of the bag and forgotten about Mon-Fri. Connects to PC ot tablet or phone and gives very clear indication of location. Also silent and discreet so no chance of it being confiscated.

Tell him to use what three words if he doesn't want to give you tracking privileges. Or he could also send his location via WhatsApp (there's a setting there that allows it) or he could even open the maps on his own phone and get his locations from that.

the world has changed, and not necessarily for the better

You're absolutely right, it has changed. These days, girls and boys have to worry about being bullied and then seeing their bullying (or sexual assault) being filmed, photographed and shared across multiple social media sites and sent to multiple strangers as well as to other people who know them.

They're also used for County Lines, for grooming children into sexual activity, harassment and blackmail. Having phones handed in during the day reduces the opportunities, it doesn't completely prevent them, but at least the kids have the ability to spend 6.5 hours a day in which they are not everywhere.

A smart watch is likely to also be unacceptable in such a school - they're outright banned in exams, for example, and are still a distraction/can accept messages - and the limitation of any tracking device is that he is likely to leave his coat or bag on the field at lunchtime, take a little bit longer to walk home and you've convinced yourself that the unmoving signal means he's dead in a ditch for the ten minutes it takes for him to walk in the front door.

@saraclara is there any evidence that it doesn’t keep children safer? If there’s no evidence either way because they are no studies it’s a pretty meaningless article.

I doubt many parents are sat tracking their children’s every move, it’s a pretty useful feature when your child wants a lift home or they’re lost. It’s turned on by all of us so not about trust, if they would like to track me on my weekly lidl trip the kids are welcome to do that 😆

Are you sure the school don’t allow phones on silent for use in the journey to and from school? My son’s school are very strict on phones - if anyone is caught using a phone it is confiscated till the end of the day and they get negative “points”, and if anyone’s phone makes a noise in class it is the same. But it’s understood and accepted that all the kids have phones for before and after school. Also, they have on occasion been asked to use their phones for exercises in class.

I think you need to check the details of this OP. I would be very very surprised if kids weren’t allowed to have a phone at all. Much more likely they’re not allowed to use it during the school day.