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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Mobile phones in secondary school

99 replies

PeppermintPasty · 20/11/2014 15:02

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.

OP posts:

TalkinPeace · 20/11/2014 21:58

Students should not be allowed to use phones in the school yard

Try multi acre campus - and kids are allowed off site at lunchtimes
And catchment is 11 miles across

Hulababy · 20/11/2014 22:01

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

Only a breach if pupils are photographing, videoing or voice recording non consenting teachers and pupils.
Most pupils are only interested in taking photos or videos of themselves and their friends, not of others. This is NOT a breach of privacy.

wannabestressfree · 20/11/2014 22:01

As someone who works at a secondary a blanket ban isn't enforceable and leads to confrontation. If I see them in a lesson I ask them to put them away and if that's ignored they are confiscated. They are allowed to collect at the end of the day unless it's a regular thing in which their parents have to collect.
I do think it's laughable but it's the times we live in. I have seen a child have his gcse paper removed from him though as a parent decided to call mid exam- what idiot does that?

HedgehogsDontBite · 20/11/2014 22:02

My DD's phone is also a disability aid. She was allowed to use it whenever she needed to, including in lessons. She even got special dispensation to take it into the exam room, although it had to be left on the empty desk next to her.

MrsMook · 20/11/2014 22:02

My classroom has a red/ green reversible poster where phone use is baned, or permitted for educational purposes. It works quite well. If a phone is seen in inappropriate circumstances I give a warning, second time I confiscate. If they give it without argument, they get it back at the end of the lesson. If they resist, they get a detention and the phone is kept for the rest of the day. It rarely comes to that.

TBH, it works with less disruption than schools with stricter policies. I found where phones had to be taken to the office, there was far more time wasted in arguing.

Original poster

PeppermintPasty · 20/11/2014 22:11

I do confess that I had completely overlooked after school clubs. Oops

Mind you, I also had this vision that the dc were using them freely and feverishly at every available opportunity, including during their lessons.

And I totally take the point about the leap from primary to secondary.

OP posts:

Picturesinthefirelight · 20/11/2014 22:18

They are not allowed at dds school but its fairly unique circumstances.

It's a very small boarding school between 15 -30 pupils per year group

Boarders are bussed there & back bybthe school most day students like dd are dropped by car due to its in accessibility.

Day students are allowed to take a phone in but have to hand it into the office & have a valid reason for needing the phone (as dds dad teaches there she has no reason)

In such a small school it's easier to slow students to use the office phone in an emergency.

Dd first had a mobile when she was 9 after a grandparents mix up with pick up arrangements during a dance show. When she did aprofessional panto run it was very useful as rehearsals/shows often ran over.

Picturesinthefirelight · 20/11/2014 22:20

When I used to do am dram & get several buses etc it was ok as there were loads of phone boxes everywhere. I phoned my mum when I got to the main bus station so she knew when I was due back

Now they have all disapeared.

hannybans · 12/09/2017 12:15

I really don't get this either. My DD's school is 10 minute's walk away and I don't see why she needs a phone. I went to school in central London and had a train journey every day and managed without a phone. I especially don't understand why parents allow their DDs to have phones with internet given the risks and lack of supervision. I am prepared to be given excellent arguments in favour of phones and prepared to be wrong on this but I genuinely don't get it!

JonSnowsWife · 12/09/2017 12:26

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?

There's hundreds of people in my DDs secondary school. I can only imagine the poor receptionists face if Tom/Sarah/James/Lucy/Matt all came to the office for random things.

I wasn't going to let my DD take hers either but it's mainly because she finishes at a different time than her primary school brother, it puts my mind at rest. You might feel different in a few years time.

DDs school have said they permit phones but they must not be seen in class. Most pupils keep them in the inside pocket of their blazer or in their bag.

theconstantinoplegardener · 12/09/2017 12:34

Zombie thread!

Justgivemesomepeace · 12/09/2017 12:37

My dd's school have banned the use of them on school grounds, however teachers may ask them to use them in lessons for various stuff. Seems sensible to me as long as it's not abused. She doesn't have far to come home but it's useful if I get stuck in traffic and I need her to pick ds up from school, or she forgets to tell me she's going somewhere after school. Or it's my day off and she's forgotten pe kit or homework and begs me to run it up to school.......

FeralBeryl · 12/09/2017 12:47

Those of you with children whose schools allow them - is there much of a problem with theft/breakages? Just curious, I remember how school bags were used as goalposts or footballs in some cases and the thought of an iPhone sitting in there gives me the palps!

ComfortablyGlum · 12/09/2017 12:50

My sons go to two different high schools in the same town. One school allows the kids to use mobiles and DS1 often texts me to top up his lunch account or to remind me his PE kit is needed for the next day etc. DS2's school has a complete ban. If a pupil is spotted with one (even turned off) its confiscated and an an automatic detention is given. They are not meant to bring them into school at all but many of the children travel by bus, so phones are turned off and tucked away in bags.

Out of the two, I prefer DS1's schools approach - I see no difference in behaviour of the boys in either school so not sure a blanket ban is required. Both schools are rated outstanding and have excellent results with generally happy kids, so in the great scheme of things, it's not much of an issue! Just be prepared for you and your child's to support the rules of whatever school you choose!

Justgivemesomepeace · 12/09/2017 12:54

Most of my dd's friends seem to be going round with phones with broken screens. They don't play football though...

Justgivemesomepeace · 12/09/2017 12:57

Doesn't seem much of an issue with theft. She's in yr 10 and I've not heard of anyone's phone being taken yet. Suppose this will be different though in other schools. I have been surprised about this as it was concern I have but she's not concerned at all. She tells me people don't nick each other's phones. Yeah right dd.....shes been right so far though.

JonSnowsWife · 12/09/2017 12:59

Those of you with children whose schools allow them - is there much of a problem with theft/breakages?

No but then it's got an excellent reputation and prides itself on no bullying /bad behaviour/stealing.

Thus may be outing but somebody in DDs class put her blazer on by mistake after a class and she had done the same with his. Neither child was none the wiser until the kid got sent to DDs class to return her phone and jacket and ask if he could have his own blazer back!

Much more of a problem in the local schools around here. IPhones being nicked the lot.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 12/09/2017 13:00

My son walks a mile each way to and from school and has to use a footbridge to cross a six lane 70mph A road (more like a motorway). A few months into year 7 he got to the footbridge (a couple of hundred yards from our home) to find that it was closed due to a lorry hitting it. Because he had his mobile phone he was able to call me and I was able to drive around an pick him up, if I hadn't had the car I would have been able to talk him through an alternative route home (an extra mile but he would have coped). If he hadn't had a phone he would not have had any way of contacting me and - being autistic - probably would have simply broken down. There are no public phone boxes on his route from school to home so a mobile is essential for him to have some independence.

Justgivemesomepeace · 12/09/2017 13:02

My dds school is a big comp in special measures and not a great area. Rubbish reputation but the kids seem to have this thing that they don't nick off each other.

JonSnowsWife · 12/09/2017 13:02

Yeah right dd.....shes been right so far though.

I thought the same too! Apparently they all leave their phones in their bags at PE, Drama, Food etc, everybody respects other peoples stuff. Was a suprise to me too! The area we live in they'd steal anything off you if you stood still long enough.

alltouchedout · 12/09/2017 13:04

DS1 has a phone. He's just gone into year 7. He knows he has to turn the phone off and put it away before he enters school and not take it back out until he leaves at the end of the day, and that if he breaks the rules and the phone is confiscated by school I will fully support them. But I much prefer him having one than not: he leave for school before 8am and I get home after 7pm most days. I want to be able to contact him outside school hours if I need to.

RonSwansonsMoustache · 12/09/2017 13:05

Zombie!

TheHobbitMum · 12/09/2017 13:36

I've got 3 kids in secondary school (all have phones) and I/them would be lost without them. Coordinating pickup can be stressful enough without the changes that happen all to frequently, extra curricular clubs cancelled/late running or my eldest 2 do extra GCSE lessons on 2 afternoons which can be moved or cancelled. The phones also help with forgetton or missing pe kits, cookery stuff etc All 3 play sports which involve games at other schools around the county so we have no idea what time they'll be home (depends on traffic, if they win or not etc) usually so they can phone us when they are 15mins away from school so we can get there. Timetables & set homework is also on the school intranet which they need access too also

Lots of reasons for kids to have mobiles but if you don't want one that's up to you, they'll be the only one I'm sure

EdwardBear1920 · 12/09/2017 13:45

I also had this vision that the dc were using them freely and feverishly at every available opportunity, including during their lessons.

No, this doesn't seem to happen in my son's school. They'd have the phones removed and he's very careful to make sure that doesn't happen. They are, surprisingly, allowed to use them at breaktime, which has ended up invaluable as DS has SEN and regularly needs to call us to explain what his next move should be.

I do let him have the phone unrestricted at home too. He is generally hooked to it, playing games, but mostly chatting to his friends. At the same age, I had my nose firmly stuck in a book at every opportunity, so arguably he's being much more social than I ever managed!

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