Does your child's school restrict mobile phone usage?

Our school hasn’t banned them either, but a few families I know use a phone lock box during the school day to reinforce the rule—it’s surprisingly effective when schools won’t enforce it themselves.

The phone is just a piece of tech- not a functioning phone with social media apps- if it’s being used to support a medical condition. It’s the parents responsibility- not the school staff- to ensure the phone is stripped of other apps or functionality of a smartphone if all other pupils are banned from using them during a school day.

I don’t assume schools think they’re above any law, they are having to introduce rules that work for their premises across all age groups, but in the same way they can’t stop a child having a vape or smoke once they’re out of the gates, the children will be straight back on their phones.

Yes you're quite right @TwigTheWonderKid, T1 diabetes is normally covered under the 2010 Equality Act.

I should point out that my own DCs are grown up, this isn't a personal issue, but I am always interested when schools think their rules and policies override the law. They don't. So not making an exception for phones used as part of a medical monitoring system would fall foul of disability discrimination legislation and would, potentially, be illegal.

Then they should be taking that up with the schools' governors if the SLT are not prepared to make the necessary accommodations as I believe diabetes is considered a disability and as such is covered under the Equality Act.

Indeed so, as you and a number of sensible PPs have pointed out. I was really wondering about those, not just on this thread, but elsewhere and in real life who say that their school(s) don't make any exceptions, ever, for anything.

Then I would imagine that the school would make an exception.

Oh there's more detail in my earlier post @TwigTheWonderKid but essentially insulin pumps and attached (to the body) blood sugar monitoring devices use bluetooth technology to send alarms to a smartphone for the purposes of adjusting insulin dosage for T1 diabetics.

It's pretty cool tech tbh, but it does require the DC to have their phone with them, and on, at all times.

At ours they have to keep them in their bags, if they’re caught with them the phone is confiscated and can only be collected by a parent 3-4pm.

This is a new policy since September and school have said the kids are much more sociable during breaks and lunch, there is more concentration within class as nobody’s trying to sneak a peak at Snapchat, and overall there are much fewer complaints to school about online bullying. Win win.

I can’t answer that as I was never aware of anyone who had medical issues that needed them to be able to access a phone during school hours. I would hope that the school would have made an exception if it was a real medical necessity.

For what kind of medical reasons would a child need their phone @thing47 ?

@Growlybear83 how would your school have dealt with a DC needing to use their phone throughout the day for medical reasons?

Not trying to be goady – my DCs are some way past school age – just genuinely interested.

I've had children in our secondary over the last 14 years. Until last year there was an outright ban on phones with an escalating series of consequences rigorously enforced. Now they can be taken to and from school but must be off throughout the school day with the same consequences and level of enforcement. It works well. It's not difficult.

When my daughter was at school there was a complete ban on mobile phone usage on the school site at any time. If anyone was found to be using their phone, it was confiscated and only returned to a parent at the end of the half term concerned, so a child could have been without their phone for up to six weeks. The school had a very wide catchment area, and we lived at the very edge, which meant a 45 minute drive for me to go in to collect my daughter's phone the only time it got confiscated. There weren't many repeat offenders! 😆😆

Mobile phones & electronic devices should not be visible anywhere on the College site between the hours of 8.00 am and 3.30 pm (school day is 08.20-15.00) unless pupils are given permission by a member of staff or invited to use them as part of a lesson.

· Mobile phones and electronic devices must only be used in a classroom/teaching environment with the explicit permission and supervision of a teacher.

· If a mobile phone or electronic device is seen or heard it will be confiscated by a member of staff and a parent/carer will have to collect it from Visitor Reception. We will email as soon as possible to alert you of this.

· Refusal to hand over a mobile phone or electronic device to a member of staff will result in a pupil being sent to the Learning Hub.

· If a pupil needs to communicate with a parent/carer during the day, then they should go to Pupil Reception to request permission to do so (not during lessons).

Toilets are becoming no go zones due to vaping and phone use.

The two things that are ‘sold’ to our children. It shouldn’t be up to schools to find a fix or manage these things. Depressing stuff.

In my DD school Phones are not to be used during school hours, they must be in your bag and if seen are confiscated. However kids use them constantly and the school insists on using homework and timetable apps and if sick or need to contact parents the school asks kids to call us on their mobile phones which to me contradicts the whole no phones in school policy. It’s a mess and I wish it was stricter about phone use. Toilets are becoming no go zones due to vaping and phone use.

😀@onetwothreeee very true, not much point being the only person who is allowed to have a phone as there's no one to send messages to!

Obviously making exceptions in these circumstances is, as you rightly say, just common sense. I was merely wondering at PPs who have said their school allows 'no exceptions' as clearly they have to make some exceptions…

Incidentally, neither of my two DCs who have T1 diabetes ever had an EHCP or any kind of formal plan regarding their condition, or the management thereof.

Phones have to be off in the bottom of your bag. If they are even in your trouser pocket they are confiscated. They are very strict with it, no phones at break or lunch, CCTV and teachers roaming but also on all gates when students are coming in or leaving.

The original policy was phone taken for 48 hours and had to be collected by a parent! This made sure that children abided by the rules, this is now 24 hours and the children can collect it at the end of the next school day. Children can argue that their bus ticket app is on their phone but school would argue you know the rules and if getting home is dependent on your phone you shouldn't have had it out during the school day. It works.

We have my dd use a smartwatch that monitors her o2 levels. It isn’t strictly necessary, but she has had a couple of silent asthma attacks and they are really scary.

We could have gotten her a medical device that did that, but a smartwatch doesn’t make her stand out. When you have an illness it can be very stigmatizing and othering. Many teens don’t want any attention drawn, even hiding symptoms to their own detriment. Instead of the weird kid with an o2 monitor, she is the kid with the nice watch. It helps.

Yes,
My childrens school had a child with diabetes and her blood sugar was monitored by her app.

Yes, her phone was allowed to be on her person, due to the medical need but she wouldnt be allowed to "use her phone".
(and given that all of her friends phones would be in the phone lockers, it's not like she needs to interact with her school friends as none of them are online)

So yes, when a childs life literally depends on the app on their phone being in close proximity to a medical sensor attached to their body, the school have the common sense to make an exception.

I'd imagine such thing would be included on their EHCP so the school would have to follow it.

Other than, say, diabetes, how are phones helping with health care routines?

I am not in the UK but in the US and my 12 year old’s school has quite a strict no phone policy. Phones are handed in at the start of the day and placed in a storage locker and he collects them at 3:30. The school also has a no smartphone rule. It means at break time they do have to talk to each other and chat.

It would be interesting to see what these schools with very strict policies would do if faced with a DC who uses their phone as part of their health care regime, as recommended by their consultant and healthcare team… They would surely have to make an exception.

My DCs went to different secondary schools. They were allowed to take phones to school but they had to be turned off and in their bag once on the premises and not to be touched until outside the gates or they could go to the office and get permission to make a call or send a text if necessary. This meant that they could contact me easily if they needed to. They both had a 20 minute walk to and from school and phone boxes are non existent around here. DS suffers from anxiety so the ability to listen to music or a podcast in his walk was therapeutic for him. He was also allowed to listen to music when in the SEN “calm” room using his own device.

There is a school nearby which has a very draconian policy, page 5 of this policy - https://www.stmcomprehensive.org/download?file=https%3A%2F%2Fstmcomp.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fdocument%2FBehaviour-Policy.pdf%3Ft%3D1688378167

No electronic devices AT ALL. They do bag checks and even a phone which is turned off, “dumb” (ie a Nokia brick capable of calls and tests only) warrants punishment. This means the pupils cannot contact anyone if there are problems to or from school. A while ago there was an issue where, after school, there was a huge accident so buses weren’t running. There were children unable to call parents. There were children asking strangers on the street to call someone for them because they didn’t know how they were going to get home. My friend went out in the car searching for her daughter because she wasn’t home and had no way of contacting her.

I agree with no phone use IN school but these days it is not appropriate to leave vulnerable youngsters with no way to call home.

When I was at school there were four phone boxes on my route home and I had a phone card or could reverse the charges if necessary. It’s the 21st century and phone policies need to reflect that.

All the late kids would have to take them to dorm room too haha. Not sure about assembly day as they go direct to the hall