School rules about phones.

They all know more than they're letting on - it's part of the definition of teenager That's what makes them fun.

Keep the loos locked!!!!

seeker I'm pretty sure I know the school of which you speak.

I think "out of sight" will be plenty to appease staff - bags will NOT be searched looking for phones unless something has gone seriously wrong.

As for the trust issue - there have been serious breaches of that trust by several pupils in various year groups, endangering both pupils' safety, and staff careers potentially. As part of the bullying policy, action had to be seen to be taken. Most of the little darlings were not involved, and I can see that they feel agrieved, but no other policy would be actually workable, IYSWIM

I don't honestly think most pupils will notice any difference (as I say, just keep phones out of sight like they normally would be).

The trust is still in place in that pupils have full access to all the buildings including computer rooms before and after school, and lunchtimes, without supervision. Don't get that in many places.

Seeker I stand corrected

Ive read your OP carefully now and to address your two main concerns:

1. trust issue - always goes both ways so I would imagine the school is addressing current issues by this new rule.

1. I would imagine the school will be able to organise the students visits to lockers at the end of the day, dont they have to get coats, sports bags etc anyway?

As you feel so strongly about this issue I would advise that you either contact the school or get your daughter to bring the issue up at school council or other student voice opportunity.

It's more kids videoing their teachers and putting them in facebook and YouTube than cyber bullying I reckon
I too would not be a secondaryy sch teacher for all the tea in china...

I don't get why ops dd can't get herself home from secondary sch though
my kids will have to as me and dh have to work

Yes Seeker but the phones in bags thing is obviously not working or they would not be changing the rules. Why not support the school? Just a thought...

"back covering exercise"

I disagree.

"who cares what the kids do to each other before 9 and after 4"

Where does the school's responsibility stop and parental responsibility begin?

New technology - supplied by parents - put schools in a difficult position. They act 'in loco parentis' and schools have to protect students from themselves. As ravenAK says, many students are able to get around internet security but at least your school is doing something to safeguard them during the school day. With smartphones they can go anywhere they choose, how many teenagers always make wise choices when surfing online?

Smartphones are here to stay and, of course, students can use them in many different and appropriate ways. To record images on cameras, to download emails, to research topics, all can be relevant within lessons.
However they can also be a massive distraction, intrusive to privacy and yes they are used for cyberbullying. Facebook especially is a big problem within my school.
A ban on phones in school does go some way to addressing these problems. I would be interested to hear any alternative solutions you could think of.

Personally I think any teacher who SEES a pupil with a mobile phone during school hours should be allowed to take it and sell it on ebay for personal gain.

Maggotts, I've been covertly filmed & uploaded to youtube! Not my finest teaching hour, I'll admit. The student concerned was disciplined because he'd broken school rules by using a phone in a lesson, & I made a mental note not to do that weird thing with my hands that I apparently do ALL THE TIME when I'm cross...

To be quite honest, there's far more embarrassing footage of me doing the rounds legitimately - a colleague filmed me making a complete bugger's muddle of a pre-planned peer assessment, & gleefully showed it at a training day as a 'how not to'. Thanks for that!

The safeguarding issue that pinkgrapefruitjuice raises re: use of 'smart' phones is something I would be genuinely concerned by, but tbh my experience is that cyber-bullying is far less prominent than it was, say, 5 years ago - it's no longer such a novel way to bait someone, & there's much more redress in that it's a recognised form of bullying. I'm not suggesting for a minute that it's not going on - but there seems to be much more awareness, among students, of how to deal with online bullies.

Phones aren't necessarily the problem anyway - LA firewalls tend to be pretty ineffective. Any of my tutor group, on any given day, could've told you the latest (ie. not yet noted & blocked) proxy URLs to use to access banned sites from school computors.

So even if you caused every smuggled mobile in a school to spontaneously combust - you wouldn't come anywhere close to putting a stop to inappropriate internet usage.

Far better to have sensible rules about the use of mobiles: ie. not taken out of bag in a lesson, unless your teacher has made a specific exception, & no using networking sites in a malicious manner. The vast majority of kids can see the sense in both of these, & will accept confiscation &/or other sanctions as the natural consequence of taking the piss.

Apart from anything else, given the tendency of technology to become cheaper over time, we're never going to win the war, however many skirmishes we might claim petty victories in.

It's probably cyber bullying that's the problem here, seeker.Unfortunately, girls seem to excel at it

You would be shocked (maybe) how many kids have iPhones. Of course I confiscated one during a lesson, and I was sure that what I had seen was his ipod which I think went in the other pocket.
You also can not be sure your daughter doesn't get hers out during the day and text her friends etc. I am sure some are.
My DD and DS both have phones, and need them to contact me (DS from school or on way home, DD from the stables mainly). However I would support the in lockers policy (at least if the lockers were big enough to store more than PE kit). Your daughter doesn't need her phone during the school day.

This is about safeguarding. Schools can monitor online activity and block unsuitable sites on the school network but not on phones.

Many more students are being given smartphones by parents which have unlimited internet access. Schools have to do something to protect students from facebook bullying and unsuitable internet access while in lessons and on the school site.

Its not about trust, its about safety and its the future.

ravenAK

It is, however, very unlikely that you will covertly film what is going on in your class and post it online.

I can't see why any school would wish to hold onto confiscated items longer than it takes a parent to come in for them, mattellie.

Although I suppose if both sides wanted to get arsey, your 'ahah! You can only confiscate my child's phone for the day!' could quite readily become a headteacher's 'ah but we can also put your child into afterschool detention/isolate/exclude him for this blatant breach of school rules...'

I don't think it's a difficult balance really, marriednotdead. My phone's in my bag all day. I don't play with it when I'm teaching, but I do check for texts etc (& circumvent school's firewall as I access FB) at break or lunch. If I forget to switch it onto silent & my bag chirrups, my classes can be relied on to 'tssk' at me!

& ime the vast majority of students do likewise. As Seeker says, it is entirely silly for her dd not to be able to have a phone in school - they are part of everyday life.

All that's required is a general understanding that it's not appropriate to take your phone out of your bag during a lesson, & if you do, you can expect to have it taken off you.

My personal bugbear is parents who text their dc at school - I took a phone from a year 11 girl a couple of weeks ago, & it proceeded to beep at 5 minute intervals for the rest of the lesson, as her mum sent endless texts about, well, bugger all really. I really don't know what she thought her dd was likely to be doing at 10am, the week before her GCSEs...you'd think the possibility that the poor girl might be trying to concentrate on her revision lessons might've at least crossed her mum's mind...

Tis a difficult balance...

We return confiscated items at the end fo the day on the first occasion, but after that they have to be picked up by a parent. If the parent comes on the same day, they get it back on the same day. Otherwise - not.

Interesting mattellie, I hadn't realised that. If they are returning phones, even at the end of term, then surely it can't be deemed as theft?
It is made very clear from the outset that this is school policy.

It most certainly isn?t rubbish, been there, done that. It?s easy enough to check out if you really want to?

School rules don?t trump the law of the land, you know.

?If a phone is confiscated, it will only be returned to the parent at the end of TERM.?

I?d just like to point out that this is, in fact, against the law.

Even if you happen to think it?s a good policy, confiscating items without any intention of returning them is theft in the eyes of the law and if a parent turns up at school at the end of the day demanding that the phone be returned, the school has not legal right to refuse. Confiscation is only legal if it lasts for the day, not longer."

that's such rubbish - of course it's not illegal a school can confiscate for the day, week, fortnight or term. If you don't like don't let them take a phone in the first place

?If a phone is confiscated, it will only be returned to the parent at the end of TERM.?

I?d just like to point out that this is, in fact, against the law.

Even if you happen to think it?s a good policy, confiscating items without any intention of returning them is theft in the eyes of the law and if a parent turns up at school at the end of the day demanding that the phone be returned, the school has not legal right to refuse. Confiscation is only legal if it lasts for the day, not longer.

My children have mobile phones because they both have chronic medical conditions which could, conceivably, become very serious during their 20 minute walk home (from different schools). However, I?m perfectly happy for the school to confiscate them during the day if they are used inappropriately.