Yondr pouches - why are some parents against them?

[aperolspritzbasicbitch]

I’ve seen a lot of comments (online, never come
across anyone is real life, although it’s not a conversation I’ve had much) from parents that are massively against their child’s school supplying them with Yondr pouches.

For those of you that don’t know, they are fabric pouches with a magnetic closure. Pupils are expected to put their phones in them when they start school, and use the magnets stationed around the exits of the school to undo them at the end of the day.

My child’s school use them, and I have no negative opinions about it at all. They haven’t pulled the idea out of their arse or stumped up the cost for no reason - phones were obviously causing an issue.

I can’t see why any parent would be backing their child up with a refusal. Although, that wouldn’t stand in my child’s school. They would be suspended if they are caught without their phone in the pouch. Spot checks are done during the day.chat

Would that excuse be acceptable if their phone rings in an exam? This is getting them used to remembering to turning them off

Because a key stage of the whole process is switching your phone off.

Surely they don't take them into exams.
Pouch or not.
I thought all you could take into exams was a pen and relevant equivalent (eg calculator).

Ok that's a valid point.
It was just the suggestion of confiscating it until the end of the week.
The day I wouldn't have a problem with.
The whole point (in my opinion) of taking a smart phone into school is because it is needed on the commute (because the bus pass app is on there).
If a student doesn't need one for commuting then they don't need a smart phone. But many do which is why they still have them.
But taking away a child's transport method is over the top.
Confiscation until the end of the day = fine.
Confiscation until the end of the week = not fine.

They’ll learn a lot quicker to remember to turn it off if they lose it for a week rather than just a day at school when they are not meant to use it then anyway!

I think you are over-estimating the ability of teachers to identify which phone is ringing from inside a bag in a hall with hundreds of kids packed in close together.

Yes but how would they get too and from school if their bus ticket is on their phone. Or do their homework if it's on an app (which a lot still is).
Punishment is fine but I don't believe taking what is essentially a piece of household equipment for a week is acceptable.

they don't work
are a faff for (compliant) pupils and school staff
they are expensive

dc school considered them but then decided that using lockers is more appropriate.

But the point I was making was that if Yondrs don't stop phones ringing so would be useless in a theatre or cinema context, where the big issue is the noise phones make which spoils the experience. What you would need there is some kind of signal blocking pouch.

In a school context, where the big issue is that kids can't stop playing with their phones, pouches make a lot of sense and I'm very pleased that our school has introduced them.

But then they must have enough lockers. Most schools don’t nor have the space/money for more lockers

My children’s school moved afternoon registration to the end of the day (previously after lunch) so the kids have to hand the phones in at morning registration and then they get them back at afternoon registration. Much cheaper than the pouches and none of the magnet business. They occasionally do spot checks on bags on random students so mostly all the phones get handed in.

I think we could have put in 800 lockers for £16000 and then they’re there forever - not until they break / get lost / some new tech is developed. It’s so wasteful and silly.

My daughter is hugely compliant and would never try any of the workarounds I hear from my neighbour’s daughter. They just don’t work so you might as well take the thousands of pounds and throw it into the sea.

Is there no app where you can see she was registered in the morning?

It's not cheaper! The school has to secure perhaps 1,000 valuable phones and return them to the correct child. I worked in a school that did that. Nightmare for the staff! Child A has a netball fixture after school so needs their phone earlier; Child B is late and put theirs in the wrong box; Class C has a supply teacher and no-one thinks to tell them they need to fetch the box...!

Where do they keep the phones during the day?

My children’s school has being doing this for over 5 years. And I’ve never heard of any problems like this from my children or on the year group parent whatsapp chats.

And yes, it’s 1050 phones. I just did the maths!

Hurray! Your school found a suitable solution that works for them.

That one didn't.

Stunt phones??
Dear God, I must be older than I thought!!
My son is 41 - so are today’s teens that attached to their phones that they go to the trouble of “stunt phones??”

Dont know whether to laugh or cry😳

@MaggieMop I can't remember if I have said this already on this thread (or whether it was another similar thread) but until bus companies change having school bus passes only available on an app (returning to using paper tickets or a smart card) then many 1000s of teens literally need a smart phone to get to and from school.
Some bus companies have changed it. Some haven't. A school cannot (in my opinion) fully ban smart phones if their students are relying on an app to get them to school.
Many schools also still use apps for homework. They need to stop doing this.
If smart phones are going to be banned in schools then no homework should require an app or in fact using the internet at all (so no "look up this online" or "watch this video online").
Until all that has changed then it's not about parents wanting their children to have a smart phone....they literally need one.

They DON'T need it during the day. That's the point. It should be in a locker, bag, pouch... or whatever.
But some schools are banning smart phones full stop. The only phones they are allowing in schools (not being used obviously) are dumb/brick phones.
Many students also don't do their homework actually at home.
They do it in an after-school club, the library or on the train on their way home.
Not everyone actually has internet at home either. For many families smart phones are their only way of accessing online.
My whole argument is that bus ticket apps and homework apps need to be sorted out first before smart phones are banned.
Once those are sorted out then schools can go ahead and ban smart phones and I wouldn't have any problems with that at all.

It's government policy though so the appropriate person to point this out to is the MP.

For what it's worth the bus companies will probably fold first and homework can be set in other ways. Of course it can.

Some schools have been more effective than others in managing phone use in schools for years. Some schools manage things more effectively than others. When parents see this and then see a school that couldn’t possibly imagine a solution to manage this, they wonder why.