Can my daughter be searched by a teacher?

[London19]

My daughter has attended the same secondary school from the start and is now in year 11 and at the time of applying it was one of the best schools in our area but by last year it had been placed into special measures by ofsted.

The head was then sacked and a new part time head was bought in and lots of teachers left and new ones started this September.

So far, all fine... there are lots of new rules, and one of them is a complete ban on mobile phones on in the school, which I agree with.

The only problem I have is apparently our children can be subjected to a search and and if they find a mobile on them then it will be confiscated for 6 weeks and if a parent were to go to the school to retrieve it before the 6 week time they have threatened to exclude the pupil.

My daughter walks to and from school on her own and she sends me a quick text just before going into school to say she is there safely and a quick text once out to say she is on her way home or she has forgotten her keys etc, my daughter is a complete worrier and is petrified a teacher is going to demand to search her and find her turned off phone in her bag.

They offer to take the phones in a box at the beginning of the day but hold no responsibility if the phones get damaged or lost in their care.. plus it's a huge queue at the end of the day to retrieve the phones so everyone just keeps their phone off on their bags.

I can't find anything regarding implementing this sort of rule when looking online and I'm wondering can my 15 year old daughter be searched by an adult and then have something that is in my name taken away for the random time of 6 weeks?

At ds1's school, phones are to be handed in at the beginning of the day, and collected at the end. Most of the children have stickers with name and class on them, they happily queue up to hand in and collect. It hasn't caused a problem. My ds will happily do this, and has asd, so problems with queuing.
I really don't see why your daughter can follow this simple rule.

can't follow this simple rule

Schools have the power to confiscate, not remove altogether.

if this level of reassurance is really necessary, buy the kid a £10 talk and text device. Doesn't need the endless nursing of the chunky brick, she won't get mugged for it and she can't use social media on it.

and perhaps land the helicopter.

The definition of theft is the dishonest appropriation of another's property with the intention if permanently depriving them of it.

Confiscation for a fixed period is therefore not theft.

The school has merely asked for the phones to be handed in and collected at the end of the day.

OP and her DD simply have to weigh up whether the convenience of checking in (school and home) outweighs the inconvenience of collecting at the end of the day.

Good well made point specialsubject

If there is a payphone in the school to call you if she's forgotten her key there should be no need to carry her phone?

I have no idea how on earth we all managed in the 90's!

Well, for a chunk of it I had a phone! Late 90s, admittedly, but girls at my school had phones from about 1998, and for about the three years before that, pagers. Which were super stupid, I grant you.

There was also always a huge queue for the payphone in the art block.

The school can't exclude a pupil for parental behaviour (if the parent goes to retrieve the phone like you mentioned).

I believe confiscation is a defence against legal proceedings against teachers/schools. SO the onus is on the school to demonstate it acted reasonably and proportionally in that case.So if for example a child has a long complicated journey home alone, it would probably be unreasonable to keep a phone overnight.If the phone does not belong to the child it would not be rerasonable to confiscate it.

I'm not surprised she is a worrier if she is texting you to say she got to school every single morning. I really don't think that is healthy. School will phone you if she doesn't arrive.

Susan I finished secondry school in 1996. Got my first brick motorola in 1998 lol. Pagers....ugh!