To wish schools would ban smartphones

[Sotiredofallthisnonsense]

Aibu to think that its the very least schools should be doing so that schools and parents can work together to minimise the harm that smartphones cause - which imo far outweigh any benefits. By allowing smartphones even in the classroom, schools are the largest contributer to the peer pressure to have one. Am I in a minority of parents who wish schools didn't permit smartphones?

DS needed a mobile phone (not necessarily a smart phone) from when he started staying home alone in primary. They used smart phones from year 7 to take photos of the whiteboard and so on in class. If he didn't have one then he'd have been copying out spelling words into breaktime or having to get them from a friend. Pretty much every one had one as many kids travelled to school. There were no problems with him or his friendship group, a phone is just a tool. He was caught reading web serials in class once, but could have just as easily been reading a physical book.

My kids schools do ban them and if they are caught with one, they are confiscated and a parent needs to come into school to collect.

The students were instructed to use their phones a couple of times in lessons in yr8 in DD’s former school. I can’t remember which lesson.

What control can teachers actually have? It can't be their responsibility for us parents to not let our children to take phones into schools?!

I prefer my DD has one she hands it in at the start of school and picks it up at the end of the school day. She walks to school , It has a tracker one so I like to see she's arrived and left school.

How did you get to school without a tracker?!

The issue isn't having one to and from school. But whilst in. School they should not be allowed.
Parents can't police what goes on in. Schools. Really the government needs to ban them at most have them at lunch

Why are parents so needy now? Surely no one tracked our movements when we were kids?

She's 10 years old and wants to walk with her friends in the village. It helps give me peace of mind at this age I will stop when shes older .

Parents allow their children to have them.We ban them in the classroom, but they use them at break and lunch.

^This. If you don't want your children to be using smartphones, don't buy them a smartphone. If you think the harm caused by smartphones far outweighs the benefits, why the hell are you buying one for your child and then blaming schools for the effects?

I use them now and again in lessons, Kahoot and Blooket for revision for example

My child is 10 and walks to school by herself, I'm
just not paranoid that she won’t get there. And we live in a town - where there are more baddies.

@newfence

Schools have control over expected behavior and phones area massive distraction and problem esp with ear bds... They can watch stuff now in. Lesson.

I've seen some places handle it really well... Consistent across the school absolutely no phones out in lessons other wise immediate removal. It works.

It's the places with wishy washy no will that suffer.

I'm bloody glad she has one, if she's running late I have a look. See she's at the library with a friend , it stops me from ringing constantly. She gets more freedom and I get more peace of mind. I will stop when she's 13/14.

So what that's your decision, I feel happier having it on.

Seriously - stop delegating your parenting decisions to schools. If you think something is harmful for your child, why are you giving it to them? I'm a teacher. I also have children. It is my responsibility to decide whether my child has a phone. It is my responsibility to monitor my child's use of their phone.

In my sons Secondary axhool they brought in a new policy regarding phones. Parents get a form to sign asking if child will be bringing their phone to school every day, the the phone has to be handed to the secretary in the morning. They all go in seperate bubble bags and boxes for each class. If your child is listed as brining the phone, if it's not handed up the student is asked where it is, then a phone call home. It works well for our school as so many were being caught looking at it during the classes.

Exactly it's called family link you can block all sorts of apps, monitor screen time and set bedtime. You should also be asking to look at the phone which is what I do until she's at an age to have the privacy.

I don’t know any school that still allows phones to be used on school property.

My school used to allow them at break and lunchtimes but stopped last September and it’s already had a massive positive impact.

Other schools had banned them ages ago and I’m surprised that any are still doing it.

My son's school technically has a no phone rule but in reality the teachers ask the kids to take a photo of the board to save on photocopying or research things sometimes.

The use of apps for learning and management makes phones inevitable imo. Schools aren't pushing the apps that are problematic - in an ideal world I think they'd rather SM didn't exist too.

Teacher in a genuinely comprehensive state school here.

They're the bane of my fucking life. I must confiscate five phones a lesson. Students are addicted. They're regularly the cause of violent, police-worthy incidents.

I wish they'd ban them here. We have one to one devices and every kid has a school -issued iPad. There is no need for them.

It’s nothing to do with being needy. I use to go to school around the corner from where I lived when I was a child sadly not all children get their local schools.
If my son has to get home alone he either has to get 3 buses and a 30 minute walk home or a walk then train then another bus and another walk. It can take 1 hour and half for him to get home on a good day. So yes I like to know where he is or that he can ring me if there is emergency.
On the days I can pick him up I might get stuck on the motorway coming from work so least I can contact him knowing he has a mobile on him.

DS's primary school didn't even call if he was absent, which makes something like this more necessary. Secondary would call from 9:30 if a parent hadn't rung in, so you'd at least know then if your child went missing. Even sixth form called me (DS marked absent due to a late bus) then went and found him and called me back to let me know.

And don't get me STARTED on airpods. Kids rolling into class, phone on hand, outraged when I make them take out their earphones.

My daughter's school doesn't allow phones out of their bags on school grounds, and they're really strict in enforcing it. I thought this was the case in most schools.

Even if they do have a smart phone, that doesn't mean that you have to let them access to social media etc, parental controls exist for a reason.