Mobile phones in secondary school

[PeppermintPasty]

My ds is still only seven, so this issue is a while off for me personally, but I've been meaning to post for ages. I have pondered this out loud with friends who have older children and they just shrug or say something feeble like 'all their friends have them'. I am preparing myself to be the only parent who will not allow her children to have phones in school. Is that BU?

I am genuinely puzzled/amazed even, that schools seem to allow all secondary school children to have mobiles in school. I mean at all.

At the risk of sounding like an old duffer, what's wrong with going to the office and using the school phone if you need to?

I think I am being really thick, and missing some major crucial point about phones in school. What is that major crucial point?

I love technology, so it's not that I'm phobic or something. I just don't get it. Why don't schools ban them? Or if it relates to kids needing to contact parents etc for pick ups, why can't they have them when school finishes?

I am prepared to be told I have missed the point, and then some.

Ivy is right, phones are way down our list of daily battles. Do you know secondary kids won't wear coats..at all, even when it's pissing down? God, I've nearly given up telling him to take his coat

Oh the coats. Or lack thereof. Don't get me started

At my daughter's school they get a warning if their phone is turned on or if it's seen. They get a detention if they're using it. Definitely needed though - there are no pay phones near school. A friend's daughter missed the bus home the other day and her phone saved the day.

But I do think it's utterly bonkers that 13 year olds have brand new iPhones.

I think policing having phones in school become impossible so a policy of not seen (or heard) in lessons was more pragmatic.
My 6th form use them to take pictures of the homework or notes if they've missed a lesson etc. Also, sometimes get kids to use the calculator on them which saves getting the box of calculators out for them. I'm at a reasonably good school and have to say most of the kids are fairly good about not using their phones at the wrong time.

My DS goes to a rural school and takes the bus. He has a phone to text me eg if it leaves without him (which is more than possible!) He has it off all day long and I don't think he's given his number out to anyone other than family!

Honestly, I don't have a problem with them and think schools that ban them create more problems than they solve.

I wish I worked in one of these schools were phones were always in the bags/locker.
I stop students photographing each other, playing games, going on Facebook, texting others in the next class. Daily. I confiscate, at times they has turned into a battle with threats being made toward me.

They're not allowed at my (almost) 12 year old DD's school, and if seen they are confiscated and have to be collected by the parent. However she travels home on public bus from school, so in my opinion needs one in case of emergency, therefore, she puts hers in a zip up internal pocket of her bag, switched off in the morning and turns it on having left school in the afternoon.

How else are they supposed to look at porn? The school IT systems will have filters.

.

Heartening to hear of schools that have a policy re phones that works.
My experience is that older teens ignore it - three different secondaries in two different parts of the country didn't bother to enforce any sort of "switch off" rule and teachers let pupils use their phones to "look up" facts etc. And of course they were texting, playing games etc.

Mobiles are pretty much an essential part of life - there simply aren't phone boxes around any more for those emergency calls. Like other posters I was travelling solo from the age of 7 and always had a spare 2p in my purse to call home. That wouldn't work now, so a phone is a sensible piece of kit for everyone to keep in touch.

Have also had the pleasure of running induction courses at work for school leavers who seem horrified that they aren't allowed to use their phones during the working day. Hmm - the clue is there: "working".

Luckily you have 4 years to come to terms with the fact that:

1.Currently your Dc probably spends very little time travelling around on their own? By 11 and secondary, they will be walking or travelling by bus, ortube or train alone. This makes a parent feel very different about a device which is primarily a means of communication

1. In the olden days schools had pay phones, there was a phone box on almost every corner and parents could issue phone cards to make that all important call home.
2. Schools are now far too busy filling out paperwork and meeting targets to allow students onto the office to make calls home all the time. And they probably think 'why should we? Let the cheapskate parents get a cheap, basic, PAYG mobile'

Luckily to sweeten the pill you will also accept that:
Many schools do not use phones to be used in school time at all. In DS's school they are confiscated if they are turned on during the school day, including break.
You can choose how sophisticated you go. A phone is just a means of communication. You don't have to get a smart phone or an expensive contract.
With a phone kids can organise themselves quite well: arrange to meet in the park, or whatever.

Wait until you have an 11 year old starting secondary and start thinking about it then.

The 'no phones' policy in DS's school works. The confiscation is enforced for the slightest infraction, so they don't do it. No hassle.

they let the kids have phones in my sons secondry school. not allowed to be used in school time. I think its good they are allowed them incase there are problems getting home. or if they need to go somewhere. i would br worried sick if he was not home roughly on time and theres been no contact.

There are so few phone boxes now that a phone just becomes very useful. Couple that with the fact that most families now do not have a parent at home all the time and the need for communication increases.

My DDs have phones - not smart phones, Nokia mini bricks. The phones are there for calling in an emergency and occasionally - but outside school - texting their friends to set up meeting up with them.

The school has sensible rules. Phones must be switched off at all times - phone goes off = confiscated for the rest of the day, if it happens 3 times = confiscated and a parent must collect. Phones may be used during break and lunch. My DDs have their phones in a hard case to ensure they do not switch on by accident, we have had no trouble so far.

There are so many differences between primary and secondary. I think that you arent seeing the impact that the number of students has.

• In my DCs' school students dont have lockers or desks. There is quite simply nowhere to keep a phone other than in their bag or blazer.

• Phones could be kept in the school office I suppose but then 1000 students would have to queue up to drop off their phones each morning and get them back each afternoon.

Oh I totally accept I'm not seeing all the issues.

Which is why I asked you lot

I think that it is quite difficult to see that older children are just different from younger ones. The leap from primary to secondary is huge. Parents are no longer directly communicated with in the way they are at primary. Parents just have to plead for crumbs of communication!

I had a colleague who was always surprised that my DCs were allowed to walk to school alone. She had pre-schoolers and I think imagined that my DCs were stretched toddlers rather than the 9/10/13 year olds that they in fact were.

Why should schools ban them?

At DD's school many children live a distance from school, often using public or school buses and many walking or heading home via the city centre. A mobile phone is useful for communication if meeting up with parents or a bus has been missed, etc.

It would be a logistically nightmare for a secondary school (most of which are around 1000 pupils or ore) to have to hand phones in, record which belongs to each child, then hand them out each day. Not many schools would want to go down that route. I had to do that when I worked in a prison and even for that much smaller number of staff it was a pain.

IMO it is far better for schools to have a high quality e-safety and "use of social media" type programmes as part of computing AND other lessons, including PHSE - infact it is now part of EVERY subject nt he NC - than have an outright ban. They should also include use of cameras, phones, social media, etc in their bullying policies and be proactive over this.

FWIW I know two of DD's close friends were "not allowed" a mobile phone when they first started secondary, as their parents decided it wasn't necessary and they didn't want them being online unsupervised. I also know of one other who wasn't allowed a smartphone mainly due to the last point.

It is now a year later - they are in y8 now. ALL have smartphones.

When kids are up to an hour away from home
at sports fixtures with indeterminate end times
or other events
you'll be VERY glad you let them have a phone

DCs school uses twitter to send urgent news
as do the bus companies

I was astonishingly grateful that DD1 had her mobile with her last Friday, when the minibus back from Climbing Club was stuck in traffic for two whole hours.

In pre-phone days, I've have been sitting in a cold car park, wondering what the hell was going on.

I guess perhaps the staff could have phoned every parent, but frankly just getting the kids to text home was a lot more satisfactory. Mind you, DD1's best friend's battery was dead, so we had some quite complicated chinese text-whispers going on between DD1, me and best friend's mum

Not banned at all at DD's school. They are not allowed them to be out and turned on in lessons, officially, though some teachers so allow them t use them for research and to photograph worksheets, homework written on the board, etc. And they are allowed to use them at break and lunch time.

They have a very good e-safety programme to go with this too.

Also bear in mind that in a school with 1000 - 2000 pupils
a lot of stuff has to go on trust
phones must be on silent and can be confiscated if seen by an unhappy teacher
but all the kids are allowed to link up to the wifi and arrange meetings on snapchat and FB etc in breaks

Most schools have a "don't see don't lose it" policy. That if the kids have theor phone in their bag it isn't a problem but that we don't expect/allow them to use them in class. This means that they can use them on the way to/from school. In the meantime the kids are under the care of the school and if they need to contact a parent they can do so via the office.

It gets trickier with BYOD (bring your own device) for internet use - as many kids don't have a phone AND a tablet/laptop. Ultimately in this situation the appropriate use of a phone as a internet access device in the classroom is for the teacher to manage.

Students should not be allowed to use phones in the school yard - this is a breach of privacy of non-consenting students and staff.