Mobile phone ban in schools

[GiveMearoomwithaview]

Just reading the letter before they return in September.

No phones allowed in school at all, all kids funnelled through two entrances where they will be “wanded” to check for phones. These will be removed for the day for the first offence. Kept for a week for the second. Kept for the term for the third offence.

Now look, I have no issue with the phone ban. We never had phones - but we did have phone boxes. You could reverse call your ma if you decided to go to town with your mates after school or if you needed to let her know something. There are literally no working phone boxes anymore, the infrastructure has gone? She has to get a bus to school 6 miles away and back.

The letter explicitly says they will be removed even if turned off and in the bottom of the bag

I can’t imagine how tedious it’s going to be for staff to be wanding hundreds of children every morning! Rule at ours is switched off in bags, thankfully.

I much prefer the idea of the pouch the phones go in that lock at the start of the day and unlock at the end. No access during the school day, but as soon as the child leaves the premises their property is theirs.

The ban is on smartphones only by law - could they have a dumb phone for reaching home if needed?

Dd school is using some black out app… not rolling it out until end of September though so I suspect the kids will be taking full advantage of photos etc

They should have a facility to hand phones in at start of the day. A lot of kids have their tickets and travel passes on their phone. Totally support them not having access to them during the school day.

how old are your kids OP? It seems brutal not to physically have them in high school for use after school, say for travel, after school clubs etc.

11 going into YR7. I’ve had 3 other kids through the school though.

I completely support them not having them through the day - but not even travelling with them? DD doesn’t even carry a bank card; it’s all on her phone

Our school has had the a mobile phone ban for the last 5 years since she starts y7. Phone is handed in when they enter form class for registration and it’s handed back when final bell rings. All phones are stored in a box per class and kept in reception. In an emergency- they can go to the office and have access to phone to call home in front of receptionist. Works really well.