London Oratory complete mobile phone ban even on long commutes

Totally agree with @KilkennyCats

@Goldie1990 for the love of god please do not apply to this school. You’ll be one of those parents with a path beaten to the head’s door complaining about everything. I sincerely hope another more deserving Catholic boy gets the place instead.

It doesn’t make your boy any less or more deserving, that's right.

However, you have a bee in your bonnet and are prepared to cause completely avoidable disruption for teachers and SLT at a school your child doesn’t even attend. This comes with opportunity cost and the time, energy resources that would be spent on dealing with your 'challenge' could be much better utilised and should be spent educating and supporting the children who actually attend the school.

Parents absolutely have the right to challenge policies where there are legitimate concerns, but there’s a difference between that and pursuing an ideological crusade over a policy you c a simply avoid by choosing a different school. It just sounds like an unhealthy fixation. These kind of complaints and challenges aren’t harmless. I've met parents like you who thrive on conflict with teachers , with little regard or empathy for the impact on others. Disagree with the policy if you wish, but why should an entire school community bear the cost of your personal crusade?

That poster seems to be inventing stuff about you thriving on conflict with teachers. Strange.

The parents who attend open days, ask questions and bother to read school policies in advance really do not tend to be the problem parents!

You can debate the policy and if you become a parent, you are also free to put yourself forward as a parent governor (subject to being elected).

Leaving this thread now, I'm sure AI is generating half these posts and it's just boring nit picking. Good luck with your son's school applications.

@Goldie1990 It is unclear to me what you want out of this thread.

A discussion? You have had it. You have explained your reasons. Those who disagree have explained theirs. Not sure there is much to add. I get the impression you want everyone to agree with you; that's not going to happen.

Clarifications on the guidance? You have received those, too. It's been explained to you that the guidance states that schools should consider the impact on commuting, not that they must allow mobiles for kids commuting.

Help requesting a SEN exemption? This topic has been addressed, too. I remain of the opinion that, if you want to consider the school, you should start discussing with them now how they would handle a request to be exempted from the policy based on SEN. I think it's a long shot but, if it's important to you, try.

Behaviour on this thread has been bad from multiple parties, but my main question remains: it's unclear what you want from the thread.

An hours commute at 11 years old? Wow. I'm surprised more people don't think this is odd. With no phone?
This is wrong on many levels.

@ElizaToolittle Some parents agree, some disagree, many simply think that there are way more important issues to worry about and that, if everything else kinda works for them, this is neither here nor there.

FWIW one of the reasons I don't like these schools which are lottery-based, like the Oratory in Fulham or Kingsdale in SE London, is that your circle of friends risks being too spread out, and socialising can suffer. But I also understand parents who think that's a small price to pay, if the more local schools don't work for them, for whatever reason

Thank you for raising it OP and for the valid points you made. It is unfortunate that a tiny minority of schools are taking this path, with their reasons for doing so remaining opaque.

@Twistingoliver The reasons are far from opaque. You may not agree with them, or you may think that the pros outweigh the cons, but the reasons are clear. Those who support this kind of blanket ban take the view that:

• phones are addictive
• in inner London, kids don't really need them (it may be different in rural areas)
• kids won't be tempted to use phones in the bathroom
• kids won't be glued to their screens the moment they exit the school
• kids won't become phone zombies towards oncoming traffic
• this reduces the risk of kids using phones inappropriately outside the school gates (bullying, sharing inappropriate content, etc

I fully get it that not everyone agrees.
But saying you don't find these reasons convincing enough is not the same as saying they are opaque. Let's not confuse the two.

Make it stop. This is painful. Please go away OP. You’ve said your piece. We all get it.

She’s literally just said she’s got what she needed from this thread, but also we can unfollow if we’re not interested anymore 🤷‍♀️

My DS’s London school also has this rule. No phones on commute or in school.

However given the pandemic (DS was yr 7 in 2020), the school no longer carried out searches of blazers/bags that they apparently used to do. I argued with the school about the phone as DS had about a one hour commute on the tube but to no avail although head of year as much as said he would not be in trouble if they didn’t see the phone….

In the end I sent him with small Nokia (brick) phone to be turned off and kept in school bag. Nothing ever happened and as we became more familiar with the school, it wasn’t quite as strict as they initially stated; they just did not want to openly see any phones during school day. A boy in DS’s year was allowed to openly bring a phone to school and hand into reception each day; did not know reason; maybe health related.

He’s now Yr13 and phones are allowed.

The schools I teach in and that my DC attend have long operated a 'mustn't be seen or heard' approach to phones. The students definitely get them out and use them on the journey home but in-school use is rarely an issue.

Many moons ago, as part of a MN product test, we got an ownfone. The size of a credit card and preprogrammed with up to 12 numbers, it would work well as an emergency device. There's no screen and no number buttons so isn't something that can be used other than to contact the preprogrammed numbers. These days, it's possible to include a 999 and SOS button but without them, it may be a reasonable compromise for families whose children need to travel across London and for whom there is a need to be able to make contact with parents. A compromise to be discussed with the school though, obviously.