Do ALL children take mobiles to secondary school?

My dd is also about to start secondary... the school she is going to has a huge catchment area and lots of the children travel a long way by themselves so mobiles are useful. The school allows them to bring in their phones but they must be kept in their lockers during the day. I think most schools around here have similar policies - some insist the phones are left in the school office.

We have given dd an old one of ours for now....

The school I am working is involved in an experiment with Vodaphone. 15 year 9s children have been given a smartphone. Its a PDA device, with a camera, pocket word, pocket excel, pocket powerpoint and a wireless network card. Its called handheld learning.

The idea of the experiment is that if they all have the same phone then you will have less issues with jelously, theft etc. I am writing to write a script that when the phone detects the school wireless network that it switches off the phone part of the PDA. Admtially this is proving qutie difficult.

Last term the children did a trial with these mobile phones and it wasn't the disaster I expected. Actually the kids looked after them and put them to good educational use.

At the moment the biggest obsticle is cost. It costs about £400 a phone and unless Vodaphone heavily subsidise the cost of the phones then it will not happen. However as you say the cost of these devices are coming down.

Rather schools banning them, prehaps its better to think about ways of embracing them.

my oldest - just going into Y10 has never taken a phone to school, ds2(going into y9) sometimes takes his, but usually never when needed

There was also an incident where a member of staff confiscated an Ipod off a child

Said child phoned his mum about it. Colleague went to deliver Ipod to Senior member of staff for safe keeping. Senior member of staff told colleague that child had to have it returned as mum had phoned up and played hell. This all happened in the space of 5 minutes!

One of these parents was phoning from the labour ward to tell her daughter she'd just had a little boy!

It's stories like that that irritate the hell out of me, and would make me want to ban them completely if I worked in a school (even though I've already stated I've found it useful for DS1).

I have also had a mother phone her 11 year old in the middle of a lesson

I would like that MB, they have them in Japan.

What really pisses me off, is I have had 2 instances where parents have phoned their kids in the lesson! This makes me insanely angry.

Phones have rung (despite supposedly being switched off)and it is the parents!

I would be furious if my dds' phones were confiscated - fortunately they are are at a school where no-one would consider using them in class - because their school coach does not always turn up/ sometimes breaks down, and they are a mile away from home when they reach the bus stop in a deserted area with no footpath. If children were sensiblke enough to use them at appropriate times only then responsible children wouldn't have to suffer blanket bans.

ys they do, and the more brazen will try to use them in class, while denying the very though once caught.

I'd like to have some form of supressor tat simply prevents any mobile use in school time. But sadly.....

We ban them until the sixth form. They have been involved in bullying, are a risk of theft and the little beggers bugger about with them in the class.

and then lie about it. Ad nauseam.

Cue much wasted lesson time

so we ban them.

School will phone home/ recieve calls if needed and we have pay phones that the kids can also use if they wish

No not all children take mobiles to school. DD3 didn't have a mobile until she was 15 and then decided that she would not take it to scvhool. This was because a lot of mobiles were going misssing at school and the school advised them not to take them or to hide them in their bags.

Our school bans phones, mp3s, ipods etc in the lower school (year 7-9) but allows them from year 10 once they are mature(!) enough to look after their own property and not get things out during class time but still have the option to confiscate if they abuse the priveledge.

The school does allow emergency calls home from their phone.

I was very reluctant to get dd1 a phone when she started in Yr 7; however I relented and got her the cheapest PAYG one. She only uses it to text dp if she's on her way home, or staying for drama club or whatever so we probably only put £10 in it every couple of months. We will do the same for dd2 when she starts in Sept although she won't really need it as they'll come home together, at least to begin with.

At the school I teach in they are supposed to hand them into the office. Tbh they rarely do but so long as they are in bags and switched off it's not a problem. I probably only have to deal with a "phone related incident" about once every six weeks, usually somebody's "accidentally" ringing in class - and this is in an inner-city, supposedly "tough" school.

The 02 deal sounds good: will probably get dd2 an 02 PAYG one - thanks for the rec Wendy.

Our school charge 20p if a child needs to phone home (unless it's a school-related issue). I don't - generally speaking - have a problem with this, except on the one occasion DS1 asked to phone home because an after-school activity had been cancelled he just asked to phone home, rather than explain the reason for the call. He was told it would cost 20p and he had no cash on him (he doesn't usually take any money) so he walked away, and then sat outside school for an hour for me to collect him. (of course, this was one of the days he hadn't got his mobile with him).

In our school, confiscated phones are held in the school office and can be picked up by parents at the end of the week. We don't send letters.

Our school's policy is that phones have to be switched off in lockers during the school day. At the end of school, they have to be outside the building before making a call.

If they need to phone home during the day, they can call from the school office.

Parents tend to want their children to have phones, especially if they have to make their own way home or are doing after school activities. I don't think it is reasonable to have a blanket ban.

Oooh, I like that idea ecoworrier, they are just confiscated and returned at our school.

As a teacher I am totally sick of all the hassle they cause in school. On at pupils all the time about them, they are so sneaky with them, texting under desks etc...

I know they need them, but I wish we had one of those things they have in Japan, that automatically turns them off. Sometimes I feel my job is about hassles over mobile phones rather than teaching

It's a losing battle - they're just going to get cheaper. Is it just me is old enough to remember a similar kerfuffle when pocket calculators in the early '80s?

The thing is to enforce that you don't have extraneous stuff out in lessons - or your parent will be collecting your 'phone/mascara/Nuts at the end of the day/week/term.

I think your solution is most sensible Roisin (& the usual arrangement for year 7s where I teach) - an old mobile to be used for contacting home or playing with on journeys, fine.

Most children at secondary school seem to have them, although I'd agree they're not really essential.

The official policy is that phones/MP3 players are not to be used or even seen during tutor time, during lessons or in corridors to/from lessons. They can however be used before and after school and at breaks and lunchtimes.

This seems a fair policy and generally works. Any contravention means the offending article is confiscated and PARENTS must collect it from reception - parents aren't usually very happy with this, so it acts as another deterrent!

DS1's secondary allows the children to have phones on them, but switched off during lessons. Don't know how strict the school is on this policy tbh, but know that DS's is switched off (and often at home )

It has proved useful at times - when he's remembered it - when his plans have changed, because he has a 30 minute bus journey each way.

DD (12)has a mobile she takes to school - she has to walk 2 miles there and back - it gives both her and me a bit of peace of mind knowing she (usually) has it with her.