Esther Ghey, school phone ban

So I’ve just googled this, and it says they were introduced September last year, but I know 90% sure that they had them in at least 2023 because I knew a kid that went there. She doesn’t go to that school anymore, she moved to a different one in September 2024, which is how I know she definitely had one before when Google is telling me they started with the pouches.
Obviously my wires are crossed somewhere!!

They didn’t use them at the time of Brianna’s death.

I'm not sure anyone should position themselves as being quite so morally virtuous.

The pouches came in at that school after Brianna’s death

£25 a pop for Yondr pouches at our school (private). How will that work in state schools?

The TRA tone police have found this thread I see. You may silence us but you won't silence our opinions or the truth. #Unrepentent, #sorrynotsorry

Just to add - I work in a large comprehensive- 99.9% of kids will put the phone away when asked or hand it over when asked. Brianna’s mum talks about several calls a day from school about her child’s phone use. That is not normal in my experience. There were much bigger issues going on in that child’s life. Similarly I am sure most parents have told their kid to put the phone away without them punching holes in the wall.

DD’s school bans phones. However, they are all expected to take in devices such as Chromebook, laptop, iPad etc every day - and they can do pretty much everything on those that they can do on a phone, so it seems a bit pointless to me.

So the phone wasn't being handed in?

I think the pouches are a good idea, and more realistic solution- the genie is already out of the bottle.

Our LA has introduced a ban on phones. Kids can take them to school but can only use them at break and lunchtimes outwith the school grounds.
Don't know why they didn't do it years ago.

@spirit20 sorry hadn't meant to quote your post.

The school Brianna attended use Yondr pouches so it’s really unlikely that everyone else was on their phones all the time.

Once children make their own way to and from school they often need a smart phone.

Mine needs it for the bus- no ticket - app only.
After school needs it for the bus, and then for the sports club they attend- app that has a barcode that changes depending on where they need to scan and then informs them of where they are/what they are doing.
Cafe at sports centre -everything ordered on the app.
Homework is completed via apps- and home computers are a thing of the past.

I have teenagers, they have never taken their phone upstairs. Yes this has been difficult to enforce and police at times - lots of 'but everyone else is allowed ' but I parent my kids.

Ds school have a phones off and out of sight during the whole day. That seems to be well followed as they are consistent.

My issue with taking an extreme approach in schools is it may make children less likely to approach a teacher and say “miss I was sent this and it made me feel uncomfy” and have those conversations and those lines of communication do need to be kept open.

My DC school has 100% no phone policy, very strictly imposed. I was very stressed about it at first - and its still a bit stressful as the school is about 40 minutes away from home by public transport - but I can see why its beneficial.

Most of the schools in our area have no phones policy already.

I’d like to see devices a bit like the old PDAs that would be issued at the beginning of the school year to each child.They would have the syllabus, all the textbooks, videos, etc necessary for that year’s subjects already on them. No need for the expense and worry of smartphones.

Brick phones should be allowed for school, kept in bags.

Smartphones should remain the parents’ decision, with the onus on tech companies to restrict availability of content and far more effirt to provide information on harm reduction.

Mental health should be massively funded and supported everywhere, as the societal changes are rapid and huge, and it’s hard to know what the future will bring with regard to tech.

I agree with a ban but sadly this would not have saved her child. It’s like banning sweets and unhealthy food in school. Makes no difference unless it’s replicated in the home.
I personally feel having parented teens who are now adults, nobody under 16 should have anything other than a brick phone. If I could go back and do it again I would not have let my kids have access to a smart phone until later. The evidence is there about how damaging screen time is and couple that with the shit on the internet, I honestly think in a few years we will be horrified we let kids access devices. Bit like how kids used to smoke 120 years ago!
I saw a newborn baby in a pram the other day with an I pad attached right in its face. It nearly made me cry.

Agreed! Well said. Not harsh at all. Probably understated, imo.

That is extremely harsh and an unnecessary comment @ImmortalSnowman. As well as an overreach as presumably you don’t know her personally. Esther has lost her child in a horrific manner and you’re judging her?

I would also support a ban because, to paraphrase someone else, children/teens are curiously susceptible to the impact of the words of others. Especially autistic kids. Including being susceptible to the words spoken by strangers on social media.

Can I ask how your child/ren is? How old were they when you gave them a phone.......and why did you gave them a phone?

i speak as someone who has never had a smartphone myself. I get on just fine without.

This. It’s not hard.

I'm going to go against the grain here. I have used mobile phones in schools and colleges.

There are times when it is appropriate, online quizzes, photography class. Some will randomly put students in to a team, so there is no 'I don't want to work with him/her'. I had a childcare class that I gave the task of making puppets and then filming a short film using the puppets to explain something to a small child e.g. a trip to the hospital.

Also diabetic children often use an app monitor their glucose.

Do you have a pre-teen or a teen yourself?

Phones are more than just a resource, though...they have become, almost, an all consuming fetish which many cannot seem to live without. You see people all of the time walking along the road looking at their phone. People feel insecure if they are not attached and on-line. Very unhealthy, and living in a wi-fi soup is not good either.

Yes and this is the whole problem with the trans narrative and culture which is that 'because Im trans, you have to let me do what I want or I'll hurt myself and/or others'

When we should be saying as a society that a huge number of children who are ND, usually ASD, have a disconnect within themselves which is leading them to think they are in the wrong body or are a different sex to the one they actrually are. Its a symptom, not the condition itself. The treatment is better psychological intervention for children with ASD or those with the traits (if not diagnosed) to understand themselves and accept themselves and their bodies.