To think that if my DD didn't ignore the 'no phone' rule at school then I quite often wouldn't know where she was or what time she'd be due home?

[MyballsareSandy]

She text just gone 3 to say there was a rounders match at another school and she would be back about 6pm. She hadn't been told this before today and there is nothing on the website. It happens a lot. I believe her when she says she hadn't previously been told as she's a very organised sort of child. She's year 8.

Schools try different ways to counter cyber bullying, and this is one of them. Other schools allow phones, but they have to be handed into the office or locked in the class safe.

my ds is in yr 7 and very rarely has his phone in him. If he isn't back by 5:30 then I call around but i don't really worry. What, realistically is going to happen?

It happens for lots of sports, footie, netball, basketball. Sport is supposed to be one of their specialisms but they are incredibly disorganised.

Ours just have to turn them off in lessons

Same thing happens at my childrens school. Also I have never been asked to sign any form when they went off site to attend a match at another school.

Other thing that regularly happens is that an extra-curricular club will be cancelled at last minute i.e. 3pm when school has just finished.

Thank goodness they keep mobile phones in their school bags.

I can well believe it, I deal with a school with horrendous communication problems.
DS's school has a good phone policy, they can take them but have to put them on the desk in front of them during lessons. That way there's no messing about with them. If they're seen messing then they lose them for the rest of the day.
It started as a no phone policy but it was ignored so much they compromised!

It could be the truth, perhaps your DD is arranging the match in school for that night and it's more of an informal game between friends that a teacher agrees to supervise?

I do think YABU if this is the situation as it sounds more of an informal situation, rather than a pre organised match, which is not the responsibility of school.

If it is disorganisation on the school's part then YANBU but this does sound unlikely. It's either an informal game or she's in detention. I can't see a teacher putting themselves in a position where they haven't organised after school activities sufficiently, leaving parents unsure.

Goodness... I wonder how on Earth children coped before mobile phones existed!

I had one of the phone card things which I could use a the pay phone in the school.

There must of been some parental form you filled in, even if it was the same time as other forms.

That aside the school should inform you of any away match, with your DD relying on her phone and breaking school rules.

I used to do that exact thing, except we didn't have mobiles in those days. I used to tell my bro to tell mum I would be late cos of a hockey match or similar and go out with my mates for a few hours

As a teacher I thank goddess every day that my school 'bans' phones. They all have them, of course, they just keep them hidden! If they're seen they're removed and a parent has to come in to reclaim them.

I'd do that, OP. If it is true that this match was only arranged today, then you can go ahead and complain.

It does sound very unlikely though. Maybe a ploy because the girls don't like being parted from their phones?

We don't get notification of every match etc and some are given short notice for. No permission slips for them either but do need them for pretty much every other time they leave the classroom, so possibly I did a general one once.
Phone policy is off in school time but ok in school. School doesn't have pay phones so don't know where else they'd phone from ( assuming they don't want a long queue outside the office! )

I would email the PE teacher. Just in case. How long has this been happening for?

It's gone on since mid year 7. I'll bring it up at next meeting.

DD's school is in special measures but can manage to summon up a letter and permission slip for after school sports fixtures. Only one training session was arranged at short notice and the teacher phoned all the relevant parents.

If this happened as regularly as you say I would have spoken to the school a long time ago.

DD's school phone policy is shite, they don't recommend DC have them but they don't stop them taking them and in many cases they ask you sign to say they can use them to contact you if it is a snow day or an after school event is cancelled.

I do think we get a bit too reliant on mobile phones. A few of my friends seem to think they are some kind of force field that will stop anything bad happening to their children and they can never be without them.

I would check with the school. We cancel sports fixtures with little notice (a text is sent to all parents who have registered a mobile with us, and the other kids are asked to contract their own parents to make arrangements or come to the office and get the office staff to call).

We NEVER arrange sports fixtures with little notice - so something is off, either she isn't telling the truth or she is disorganised and forgets.

Don't see why she can't use her mobile after school to call you though.

My DS's school often has last minute matches. Sometimes there is an issue with another school's facilities so they have to bring a match forward on short notice, other times they are make up matches and done last minute depending on when both squads are free. He is on a few different teams and often gets called in as an emergency replacement for other sports as well, since the PE department know him well and know he's usually up for it and will give it a go.

He usually rings me on his phone, which his school say he can have for breaks but not on in lessons, but on the odd occasion he hasn't had his phone on him, he uses the school phone.

So yes, it can and does happen and if DS's school tried to bring in a blanket ban on mobiles being brought in at all, I suspect they'd have to fight it through the PE department before facing annoyed parents.

My DSs' school just has one data entry, medical and general permission form signed at the beginning of the year. That's to include any sporting fixtures. Only other school trips need additional permission forms. I guess the risk assessments must be in order?

OP, perhaps you should bring up what is says on the risk assessment with the PE dept?

It happens at our school a lot too, kids get a team place last minute, last minute rehearsals for drama/music etc. The difference is that the kids are allowed phones (must be off in lessons) but if they can't ring home the use the office phone. So I doubt she is off with friends as other posters imply!

As a teacher whose lessons are regularly interrupted by kids using mobile phones, I am going to side with the school here. Nobody NEEDS a mobile phone. There are regular phones at school that could be used in exceptional situations. Your daughter would only have had to ask at the office and she or someone else could've called you with the new arrangements.
I just wish my school would ban the bleeding things too!

I seem to have managed to survive school without a mobile phone; despite going to school 2 bus rides away and doing numerous after school clubs. Having said that I'm sure I will get one for my boys when they reach secondary school age!

YABU. I must say, if the children had to borrow the office phone every time something like this happened, I strongly suspect the school would find a better way to keep parents informed in advance.

I used to use a phonecard a lot when I was at school (early to late 90's), to let parents know about after school activities etc. So this was long before everybody mobile phones, but the idea of communication was there!

Even when I started uni in 1998, only about 1 in 6 students had mobiles - everyone else used phone boxes.

No person in my school ever had a mobile phone in school and do you know we all managed really well.

Unexpected delays the school would let us use the land line to call our home and leave a message, if mum was at work then we called there and gave a message

This was before mobile phones had been invented

But my dd1 did the same, she didn't have a mobile and neither did her mates as they were new and expensive back then.