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Original poster

Do ALL children take mobiles to secondary school?

39 replies

roisin · 21/07/2008 11:00

At our school we have a policy of no mobiles, but know full well that most students have them in their bags. (Hopefully switched off and hopefully they don't get them out during the school day ). They are the root cause of all sorts of problems and I'm not a fan at all.

DS1 doesn't even have a phone yet, but we've agreed he can have dh's til Christmas then will get his own at Christmas when he knows what he wants.

He will have a 15 min bus journey each way, and would probably happily spend some of this time texting his mates, or phoning us to let us know he's going to be late/in detention or whatever.

So would I be ultra mean mummy to say "No, school policy of no phones means no phones and you're not taking one to school!"

Do any of you have children in secondary who do not take their phones in to school on a regular basis?

OP posts:
swedishmum · 21/07/2008 16:43

Mine have themn - though there have been a few thefts at local boys' school. They have cheap payg phones. We live in a remote area 10 miles from school and last winter the school bus didn't show up a few times so I view them as essential for safety. Don't think they have more than £5 a month on each if that much.

FluffyMummy123 · 21/07/2008 15:58

Message withdrawn

southeastastra · 21/07/2008 15:58

ds(14) never has

RTKangaMummy · 21/07/2008 15:58

DS HAS A MOBILE that he taked s to school but it must be swtiched off in his pocket

he walks to and from school

christywhisty · 21/07/2008 15:54

Ds and his friends do, he gets a train to school. It was a lifeline recently when it took 2 and half hours to do an 8 minute journey. There are strict rules at school about the use of them and they are enforced.

nkf · 21/07/2008 12:07

They all take phones to school.

Original poster
roisin · 21/07/2008 12:01

Switched off in bags cause few problems (except the possibility of being nicked). The problems are caused when they are out of bags - texting/calling each other in lessons, using phones for teasing/bullying, taking photos of students in the changing room or fighting or pictures of staff, etc. etc.

O2 sounds good WW, might go for that. I do like the idea of him being able to easily phone to let us know if he's staying to a club or going to a mate's house or something. But it's not essential.

OP posts:
ihatebikerides · 21/07/2008 11:28

Roisin, what sort of problems do they cause if switched off in bags? Am curious because am pretty sure 90% of DS's school must do this. The official line is that they should hand them in to student services first thing, and collect at the end of the day, but that would mean 1200 pupils in a queue at 8.30 - not very practical.

WendyWeber · 21/07/2008 11:26

Oh no, it's better than that, you get 300 texts for £10, 500 for £15 - see here.

I heart O2, DH & both boys are on it too & on contract calls to other O2 phones are free

Anyway provided you think he can manage not to lose it (zipped inside blazer pocket is a much better place than unzipped trouser pocket ), I'd let him take it, roisin - for your benefit more than his!

serenity · 21/07/2008 11:26

DS1 doesn't start secondary until next september, but depending on which school he gets in, he might have a longish journey (35 minute walk) I will let him have a phone in those circumstances, but what he's getting is my old phone but with a new PAYG sim. I won't be getting him a new phone until I'm sure that he's going to be responsible with it, and even then it's not going to be a flash one (might as well put a sign saying 'mug me' on his head!)

WendyWeber · 21/07/2008 11:19

His is PAYG but with O2, for each top-up he gets a chunk of free texts included - I think it's £15 a month now to get 300 free texts on top.

WendyWeber · 21/07/2008 11:17

DS2 didn't have one for ages because he lost it (actually this happened twice) & it was a PITA, esp if he was late home when I knew he had no detentions but I had no way of finding out why (obv this would generally not have been in Y7 though; mostly Y9 & 10 )

Freckle · 21/07/2008 11:06

My two who are at secondary have a phone each and take them to school, even though school is only a 10 min walk away. It is very useful if they suddenly decide they want to go to a friend's or stay for an after-school activity. Otherwise they'd either have to come home first to find me or, worse, wait until I got home to ask, as I'm often not home before they are.

My strategy is to give them PAYG phones and only keep a small amount of credit on there so that they know they can contact me but not spend pounds texting their mates.

MrsWobble · 21/07/2008 11:05

our circumstances are similar to yours i think - an equivalent bus journey. i feel much happier sending them with phones because then if they're going to be late home we know and don't worry. i did make it a requirement to get cheap non-cool phones that no-one in their right mind would mug anyone for though.