What is your secondary school doing about mobile phone policy?

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Our school are suggesting trackers as phones aren’t allowed on site or the commute either. This also includes brick phones. Crackers. How do I support the logic of this to my child?

I wouldn’t support that at all.

It smacks of a lazy managent introducing a pointless blanket ban to make it appear that they’re acting to prevent harm.

In reality, they’re incompetent and/or unwilling to deal adequately with the actual perpetrators. Seen it all before with senior staff unwilling to tackle bullying and hoping the accuser goes away quietly.

That's ridiculous. They can't ban phones on the commute.

DD's school has said that the policy will be mobile phones to be switched off and out of sight whilst in school. Previously they have been allowed to use them in some lessons for things like taking photos of the board, research etc, but that won't be allowed anymore obviously.

They have! If any child is seen using a phone on the commute, they will be sanctioned as it contravenes behaviour policy. They are allowed to do this.

Agree

Ours is phones are not allowed at school. But wink wink from headteacher the teachers will not be searching bags. So in other words you can bring phones but they must be switched off and hidden in bags all day. If they ring or caught turned on, they get confiscated until end of day.

My son's school is phones off and out of site whilst at school. They are looking into the use of them in some lessons, to take photos etc. Anyone caught with their phone will get a warning then it's removal until the end of they day where they will have to collect it from the office. If they have to have it removed a second time a parent has to go to the school and collect it.
Not allowing phones on a commute seems harsh and I wouldn't be happy.

Our school got Yondr pouches so the children keep their phones but have to show their locked pouch to staff at the gate in the morning. Or if they don't take a phone they have an exemption card.

@Keepoffmyartichokesthis seems a great blend of harnessing usefulness, combined with appropriate sanctions for misuse.

That’s terrible, they need them on the way to school and back Incase anything happens and they need to contact someone! Ours have had the pouches for a few weeks, they lock them in every morning and carry them about and unlock them with a special machine at 3pm

Ours has always allowed phones on site, but off in bags. Pupils are only allowed to take them out of their bags after school, once they are off site. Kids that get buses that come into the school car park are allowed to get them out as the bus arrives, to be ready to scan they bus passes.

A basic brick phone will enable a child to contact home. There is no need for it to be a smart phone.

I read somewhere that the school bus pass issue is being discussed with transport companies nation wide. Possibly could mean a return to the cardboard version I had as a child in the 1980s.

Utterly pointless lip service!

I wonder how many kids (like the majority in DS’s school) use an old dud phone for the pouch? 🤔 🤷🏻‍♀️

There is if you want to track them when the journey is almost an hour each way!

We live rurally and I like to check where the bus is. In the 4 years at secondary school, the bus has broken down quite a few times in the middle of nowhere and it’s quicker for me to drive and fetch him than wait a couple of hours for a replacement bus and driver, especially in the depths of winter.

DS has zero sense of direction, just like his dad and doesn’t have a clue where he is when the bus breaks down. This was apparent when he caught the wrong bus one day by accident and was heading off to the Mizen, about 2 hours away from our home in the opposite direction. 😳

But the more you helicopter, the less likely your child is going to learn to cope for himself. If the bus breaks down there will be other people on the bus he can ask where they are. He can then text you that information. There has to be at least the driver left on board.

But why does your child need a phone during the day? No one on this thread has said the phones are kept overnight do why do parents encourage their kids to break rules to no advantage other than making them look like rules dont apply to them?

DD’s school have been ahead of the curve on this one. Only brick phones allowed (not able to take photos). If a smart phone is found it’s confiscated for the rest of the term. Digital cameras for school trips. Most kids have their school brick and a smart phone that never goes to school. She has an AirTag in her bag.

This sounds a very sensible approach. It gives parents full control and responsibility for their child's smart phone use. I forsee the sale of digital cameras being a boom in the hext few years.

Ours is only brick phones but must be turned off and packed away during school hours. If seen, confiscated and handed back at the end of the day.

Smart phones - absolute ban. Any child seen with one during school hours will have it confiscated and the parent will be called to collect it personally from the headteacher 😂

Ours have pouches. I think it’s great. I don’t want or need my child having access to a phone during the school day. But she does go to her job or to sports practice after school until 9pm. We live rurally and I need to be able to communicate with her outside of school hours, so the pouches are a great compromise. Yes, some children are attempting to get around them (putting fake phones in the pouch, etc), but if caught, they supposedly risk suspension, which I think seems appropriate. Them’s the rules and children and parents need to follow them unless there is a documented medical need for access to a phone during the day.

Our school is taking them off them on arrival and putting them in a locker. I’ve had to sign a form giving her permission to have it so she can use her digital bus pass and I can contact/track her on commute if I need to.

I think there is a need for smartphones. However, our school is even saying no to brick phones, so a kid can’t even call a parent to help.

Why do they need a smart phone? Genuinely do not understand. Unless they have a health condition like diabetes there is zero reason for a child to use a phone during the school day. I accept that for travel home bus passes on phone have become more common but let's be honest that is a relatively new concept. There were other forms of bus pass used in years gone by which COULD be reverted to. Mine in the 1970s/early 80s was cardboard with a photo from the booth. There are ways round these issues but some people seem fixated on smartphones being the only way of doing anything.

Ours use the pouches, and as far as I can tell the kids mostly follow the rules. DD doesn’t have access to an old phone to substitute it, and she’d be in lots of trouble at school and home if she did. I’m happy enough with what school are doing.

Interesting point. DD school has sent an email today advising each pupil will be issued with one of these pouches today, for use from September.