To be unhappy my child's phone was confiscated?

[Phoneproblems]

I have no issues with the phone itself being confiscated but apparently it is only to be returned on Friday - surely this cannot be right?

Do they have such a thing as foster care in the UK?

Do you have access to Google?

Foster care used to end when a child turned 16, and there was very, very little help and support afterwards. That has now changed, and it's voluntary if a child wants to leave home before they turn 18 with some additional support thereafter, but you seem a tad naive, again, to believe that foster care is universally an environment a young person would want to remain within.

Oh and yes, Karyatide further up the thread, is right about children and young people and homelessness. I was homeless for a while at 16, after having to share a one bedroom flat with my dad for a couple of years. My sister was in an even worse situation, that I don't want to discuss in detail. This stuff definitely happens.

Then my Google point remains. This data is all available if you look for it.

Approximately 150,000 young carers in Australia are under 18* with some taking on care responsibilities from as young as five or six years old.

I googled. I'm sure you can too.

@SalemBlackCat I'm afraid you are being incredibly naive about your own country. A quick Google shows all the same issues of child homelessness, child carers and disability resulting in school exclusion. Add in the shocking treatment of Aboriginal people and no government is coming out of this smelling of roses at the moment.

Incidentally, I'm a dual national, British and Australian. And I wouldn't live in Australia unless I won the lottery first. Because I have a disabled child.

Take that as you will.

If school says no phones seen or heard then that's the rule.
It's simple.

Where there are situations where prompt contact with a child may be needed (e.g. we have a few young carers) then we have procedures which work (we also make allowances on attendance etc too).

If a situation is so urgent it requires calling a child in a lesson then it must be an emergency, in which case call the emergency services who are vastly better equipped to deal with a situation than a child in class

dorris
It depends on the school. I've worked in a school where students were allowed to use them for learning and at break/lunch. Most students were fine, but I spent more time having to deal with "but they were using it to learn" when they were clearly swapping between apps. More issues linked to social media use etc too. Lunch and breaks were lots of students staring at screens, less footy played etc. Also we had issues with a few students calling home to tell their parents they'd been told off but it was unfair so within 45 mins there'd be messages from reception saying Mrs Blogs wants to speak to you about Sophie and how she won't ve coming back at lunch (you know the type from stroppy mn threads).

Much as I liked the option of using them in class, personally, I prefer a no phones school (switched off and away until the end of the day)

Our school policy is the parents have to come to pick the phone up. Most parents won't/can't come rushing in so the kids are without it for a few days. It works well as a deterrent. The consequence needs to be more than confiscation until the end of the day. That's no different to if they had obeyed the rules in the first place. Without a strict consequence for using phones in school a school could never enforce a no phones rule.

I agree ^^
It does make me laugh when you get but I'm busy or it's not convenient, yeah. That is sort of the point.

The certainty of the consequence is the best deterrent. Once students know what will happen, they tend to manage just fine without checking phones.

(I actually think allowing them but on silent etc is worse because it must be awful for teen concentration thinking your phone is there and you may have a notification. Checking can be compulsive. Having no option is maybe better for temptation)

My daughter had ASD day epilepsy. When she is old enough she will need a phone for safety. I wouldn’t mind if they confiscated it during the day but would be fuming if she was to leave the school premises without it.

Isn’t ask for it back and if the school wouldn’t I would just give them a different one to use until the original came home and report the phone as stolen to the contract company to get a new sim issued next day delivery. You can pick up second hand smart phones for £30.

Ffs, to all those people whose children MUST have a phone on them because 'Reasons,' just get them to obey the fucking rules and there'll be no problem.

Isn’t ask for it back and if the school wouldn’t I would just give them a different one to use until the original came home and report the phone as stolen to the contract company to get a new sim issued next day delivery. You can pick up second hand smart phones for £30.
Wow. Lie about a crime being committed and then hand a new phone to a child who can't follow rules
And we wonder why some students thibk rules don't apply to them.

Parents like you are the reason kids don't respect their teachers as much anymore

I'd have no problem with the school's response. The whole group of children involved will certainly make sure they follow the rules next time.

DS's school has the phone must be collected by parents rule. It's a brilliant deterrent.

My sister is a foster carer and in the past she's had a foster child who shouldn't have been photographed under any circumstances. I'm sure what your DC and friends were doing was totally innocent OP, but the problem school has is that it can't control how images or videos are used. They could be shared on social media and that might put a child at risk.

Most schools have a home school contract that you sign when they join the school (its usually in all the registration paraphernalia that you are sent). In it you will probably find that there is something about their phone rule and confiscation of it until the end of the week. I’m afraid that you will probably have to suck it up I. Afraid.

My DCs school is banning phones entirely from September. The reason I first got my DD a phone, was that they regularly cancelled after school clubs, but the DCs only found out when they went to them, and by then the school bus home had left.
The office made it clear that they were a nuisance asking to call their parents (and public's transport is very limited). The head regarded it as a problem with communication with the child and parent, rather than anything to do with the teacher who cancelled the club...
I hope they intend to start planning ahead, and telling the kids earlier that they're cancelling stuff, or get some sleeping bags for the kids who'll be staying the night!

Say "well done" to the school for having good rules.

The OP is deliberately ignoring the fact that certain categories of children in the school should never be photographed nor put on to social media etc for safeguarding (not porn!) reasons

My DCs school is banning phones entirely from September

Out of interest, is that just smartphones or all phones?

ReservoirDogs
Ah that's a crucial mistake though, you see what you have to realise working in school is that whilst 95% of parents and students manage to follow rules, 5% are very unique and special. Normal rules and expectations don't apply to them. In fact, they should ve allowed to do what they like safe in the knowledge home will support them and undermine the school.

If you go into school and ask for it back on the proviso that you’ll confiscate it, I expect the school will oblige.
However, I now see why the punishment is so harsh: taking photographs in schools is a big problem nowadays.

Yes! They are an unnecessary distraction for all pupils/students/teachers and have no place in a school/college environment. Ask any teacher/lecturer. Be a responsible parent and confiscate the phone for an extra week - see the problem of it being used during lessons disappear - ex lecturer

DDs secondary school, no phones whatsoever. They do random bag checks a few times a term, any phones found are confiscated for 2 weeks. The kids know the rules, DD has taken her phone a couple of times, when she is going somewhere else straight after school, but knows that if she is caught that she won’t get it back for a fortnight. It is strict, but does away with a lot of problems caused by phones - cyber bullying is reduced, kids are not targets for phone thieves etc.

What a thoroughly good idea!