Strict no phones rule at secondary school

And a child with a panic button may well not take on board other ways to keep safe and look after themselves.

I am close enough, as are various family and friends linked to the account. It's certainly more likely to be beneficial than not.

I GENUINELY don't see how being able to track a child is safer. I can see how being able to text is. But if your child presses the panic button because they feel in danger, what are you going to do? And in the time the child is getting out their phone and pressing the panic button, they could have gone into a shop and asked the person behind the counter for help.

I don't think it's good to teach kids, especially girls that they should be tracked, and that this becomes normalised for future relationships

That is an excellent point.

But that's only helpful if you are close enough (or can alert someone who is close enough) to go and help. It's no good seeing they are taking a different route home with no context or ability to do anything. You don't know if they are taking a different route because they are going via Tim's Gran's house or whether they are worried about being followed. What would you actually (practically) do and would it be quick enough? or is the tracking just giving you (and possibly your child) false peace of mind?

DDs school has a strict no phones rule. This means if staff are aware of a phone they will confiscate it even if its switched off. Lots of the kids do take their phones and keep them turned off in the bottom of their bags, but even if they are seen outside the school say on the way in they will be confiscated. They have in the past done locker searches. School believe this rule has decreased bullying

DD is a rule follower and chooses not to take her phone. She has a set time we have agreed for her to be home by which allows a degree of flexibility if she wants to go to the shops, hang out with friends for awhile etc. I'm opposed to tracking as I don't think it's good to teach kids, especially girls that they should be tracked, and that this becomes normalised for future relationships. So far this hasn't thrown up any issues but she is the sort of kids who generally sticks to rules

Because I can see exactly where my child is and they can alert me via a panic button if they feel in danger. Because if I can see that they are not taking a normal route home, I can be alert to a potential problem. No, obviously not useful in terms of being hit by a car, but that would bever have been my intention in terms of tracking them. It certainly is a safer option overall.

But the reality now is that we DO have phones. I live in London where phone theft at knife point is ridiculous common. You may think that would be all the more reason not to carry phones, but actually these theives do not believe in this day and age a school child is not carrying a phone, therefore making them vulnerable to being stabbed!

My children know that they are to hand over their phone if ever approched. The value of the phone is not comparable to the value of their lives. Not having a a phone leaves them vulnerable.

And tracking their children makes it less dangerous because ...? Are they less likely to be attacked or run over by a car?

Do you live in London? Because where I am, it's bloody dangerous. Not a 'Little house on the prairie' vibe. Its dangerous and parents are rightly so going to be worried and want to track their children!

PE kits in lockers and only retrieved for PE lessons..

Text books stay in classrooms (they are online if they need to refer to them for homework).

Yes. Although they only have textbooks at KS5.

This is really interesting. Out of curiosity, if kids are starting and leaving at and from different locations each day, where do they store things like PE kits and textbooks? Are they expected to carry these things with them all day?

That's it. In a nutshell.

I think if some parents knew what use is made of Smartphones in schools they'd be horrified.

So at my DC's school ...

At the start of the day everyone goes to their first lesson. This isn't necessarily in class groups and is a different room every day. So where do they hand their phones in? Do they have to go to their class room first before going to their first lesson? Which means everyone has to arrive earlier as it could be 5 minutes walk between the two. Plus more congestion in corridors.

Not to mention that there is literally nothing in most classrooms except desks, chairs and shelves for books. Nothing lockable at all. And there's no space (or money) to introduce something.

At the end of the day you have the whole thing in reverse.

I have skirted over the fact that some students have lessons on a different campus a shuttle bus ride away and may not even be in the same physical location at the end of the day.
Plus that adding in two extra sets of going places is particularly difficult for disabled and SEN students.

A school that's small enough for everyone to hand their phones in a Reception really isn't the same as most big secondaries. I'm sure the idea works brilliantly there.

I know this is very much a minority issue, but just to say my DCs use phones and bluetooth technology to monitor their Type I diabetes. Basically you hold your phone over a device attached to you (usually your arm) and that gives you a reading which informs you what insulin dosage to dial up on your pump (or whether you need sweets!).

This is relatively new tech, and my DCs are way past school age but it's going to become increasingly common. Possibly other conditions might use similar tech? So schools are possibly going to have to think a bit more laterally than blanket bans…

Completely agree. I made all these points and more a few pages ago but ignored. Apparently smartphones are a Human Right and no vulnerable 11 year old can possibly travel to school without them but also they will definitely keep them in their bag untouched all day. Smartphones are crucial to preventing assault and abduction - which are strangely still increasing despite everyone carrying one.

My kids school (in London, many pupils coming on tube & bus) manages to have a total ban on having them at all and the sky hasn't fallen in.

If I hear a phone go off I say "whoever owns that phone, please put it onto silent" they do. If a child puts their hand up and says "can I put my phone on silent please, I forgot" of course I let them.
It's the wilfully using them and ye gods the arguments (always, always "I need to contact my Mum!) and the time wasted that are the problem.

That is usual school policy. Seems to work.

It's possible. I suppose there's the issue of liability.

"Obv not good enough and no one is willing to try it."

If the kids are all leaving at the end of the day from their form room, then it might work. But they don't-at a big school they could be a quarter of a mile away!

Parental attitudes and total ignorance of how the technology works is the main problem.

The main issue with having them in schools is the areas you cannot police i.E- toilets.

Kids are texting to arrange meet ups to vape, have sex, commit vandalism, bully and fight in the loos. We have got to the pony now where we only have one working toilet block because they’ve been flushing vapes down the loo and blocking them.

And this is a lovely school in a very nice, rural area with most of our students from apparently good homes.

The upskirting is sickening but so subtle that we almost don’t know about it unless a girl is brave enough to tell us it has happened.

But yeah, tracking your kid home on the bus is far more important than preventing sexual assaults and putting a stop to phone related abuse.

Get a GPS tracking watch. It works just as well and it doesn’t have SnapChat.

Yes that’s fine, so i don’t understand why that doesn’t seem to be the case at PP’s school with all the porn going round and phones in pockets. Hence why I suggested locked cupboard.

Yes absolutely it was a smaller school but it still worked. Phones were actually handed into reception and there was no problem. The fact that other schools are bigger is why I have suggested in each class/form room, not reception. Just a suggestion. Obv not good enough and no one is willing to try it. So other people can come up with something better.