Strict no phones rule at secondary school

CurlewKate , it’s not too hard really. I teach my kids not to blindly follow rules. Think about what the rule is trying to achieve and make sure they stick to that part of it.

do you teach your kids that they have to blindly follow every rule/instruction then? Not a great message.

Blindly following rules is not necessarily a positive lesson for kids. The rule clearly exists so that pupils aren't on their phones during school hours and getting distracted. If the phone is on their person but not turned on then imo the spirit of the rule has been followed rather than the letter of it.

I’m quite happy to give that message to my kids if the rule itself is stupid and compromises child safety. The school isn’t always right, as no one is. The schools need to accept is this as a part consequence of schools being oversubscribed, meaning more kids are being allocated schools further from home.

@Comedycook Yes, I know. And I think it's a daft rule-although I can see what the school is trying to do. My question is- what sort of message does it send to a child to say "This rule does not apply to you."?

The rule is no phones in school. The op seems happy to go along with that as most parents are....but the rule means that after school, the child has no access to a phone. That's the issue

The people who are thinking of ways to circumvent the ban-how are you going to get round telling your child "the rules don't apply to us."?

As other have said phone is left in bag and not touched during school hours and you set up downtime for those hours so he doesn't have to remember to turn it off or it starts beeping in class.

@EarthlyNightshade

I can see how it might help in the mountain biking situation-but the number of children needing to be collected from wilderness locations is surely pretty limited.

I expected my children to send me a text telling me when they were on the way home. Part of learning how to navigate the world, and to show courtesy to the person cooking their dinner.

My DCs both mountain bike with friends in the local hills. I've found the trackers incredibly handy several times when they have come off their bikes and needed assistance so I know where I can park up and find them.

Also, more superficially, it's handy when I want to put the dinner on and I can see how far away they are.

@Peter12345678 "The only reason you tract them is for your benefit - think about that"

I think you might be addressing the wrong poster.

I’m simply referring to the ‘strict no phones on site’ rule that OP is referring to, which is giving me the impression that OP is now worried about sending the phone secretly in the bag. This is exactly why schools can fuck off. Children are allocated schools 30 mins from home, but then don’t expect children to be contactable on journeys in case of emergencies. So yes, schools can fuck off. I don’t think i’m being unreasonable by asking that my 11 year old is contactable when on journeys by themselves, for emergencies. I had a phone for this purpose even in 1999 for the school commute.

Damn right the school can fuck off. If I am only allocated a school 30 mins away from my house, then the school won’t be having a say in my child’s safety before and after school hours. I even had. Basic phone in 1999 for emergencies to and getting from school. The ‘no phones on site’ rule that OP is referring to is ridiculous.

Get him a way to keep the phone in his bag without being seen - slit in the lining , sewn on black pocket near the lining etc.

abd his locker - get one and then have a copy of the key made to keep at home , surely

Obviously tracking is possible. I don't see what difference that makes to kids being tracked by their parents

Would you like to be tracked? What about trust? Freedom?

The only reason you tract them is for your benefit - think about that

Why would you track your child (assuming no sen) Mine are older now but I this thing called trust!

Obviously tracking is possible. I don't see what difference that makes to kids being tracked by their parents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobilephonee_tracking?wprov=sfti1

@CurlewKate when a device connects to the internet or 3G,4G etc. its location is trackable. Most phones these days will also have family set up enabled (and should be, to enable parental controls), often meaning you can all see each others locations, if you are so inclined to look. You can of course turn off such features but it would be an effort and remove access to desirable services.

So is it that you're ok with the Internet service providers knowing where your kids are, any cyber criminals infiltrating their browsing on public Wi-Fi networks, every website they visit which can cache location of the device, the police, social media platforms and viewers of kid's social media content which is often geotagged... but you're not ok with the kids own parents being able to check where they are?

My dds are at a secondary with a strict no phone rule.
If a phone is required for travel to/from school they have a system where it can be deposited in an office in the morning and retrieved after school.
The school has a busy programme of sports and other lunchtime activities. They noticed that engagement had dropped off to nothing while the kids sat around on their phones each day hence the introduction of the rule.
They now have thriving extra curricular activities and feel the whole mood of the school is better and its more of a community again.

@Welcometothehumanrace I don't understand your point. As far as I am aware, you can't track a phone as a "civilian" (ie-not the police or something) without installing an App.

Also I wouldn't be looking just for the sake of it and losing the plot if they are somewhere different to where I expected...but I would look if they were late, lost or had been uncontactable for a while.

@CurlewKate if your kids had phones.. they had trackers? Phones track location unless deliberately turned off at every available avenue, apply family, google family, gps services etc etc (or turning it off) which although possible would render the phone mostly useless. Just because you weren't actively looking at the locations, doesn't mean tracking data wasn't always there. I don't think anyone's suggesting parents actively monitor location, it's only to look up information if you need it. Which would accessible on a standard mobile anyway - so the only way to ensure no location tracking is no electronic device.

I said that. I mean it's age dependent. At 12/13 for example, I'm perfectly entitled to know where my DC are at all times. At 16/17, probably not.

I work in a school like this. It is only if they go off in class they get confiscated or if the students wander around staring at their screens. They are meant to keep them switched off in the bottom of their bags. I'd just get him to do that.

A smart watch or anything which rings would also get confiscated but a GPS tracker which didn't make any noise would be OK.

We do get parents ringing up to check on their kids who have taken a detour as they've been watching them walk to school online! The kids are always in school, they've just taken a different route. From my perspective, I'm glad parents are taking an interest as we have some gang activity in the area our school is in and we suspect some students of being involved with gangs. Especially the ones who are persistent non attenders but who don't stay at home either. Big worry. But I also understand why people think it's ott. Probably depends on your child and where you live

To be clear- I think phones are great. My children had them young. I understand schools trying to ban them, but I don't agree with the policy. It's parental tracking I am objecting to. And I haven't seen a single scenario on here where a call or a text wouldn't have served just as well.
I admire the honesty of the poster who said she was "entitled to know where her kids are." I don't agree-but I admire the honesty.