Phones in school

[Bree82]

Ok don’t know if I’m being old fashioned or stupid here. And I get times are changing ie technology etc. So I understand using computers more in school and for homework.
but why are mobile phones allowed in high school?

it bothers me that kids think nothing of filming fights etc at school and passing it around etc
so many teens I know can’t even look up from phone to say hi and I don’t mind people using phone a lot - but why does it make some people so rude?!
how can we let kids have their phones but still behave respectful etc?
I get this is not every kid maybe just the ones I know and I wonder if the answer is having their phones less, or just helping them learn the balance …
also if there are any teachers who can let me know benefits of phones at school and if they agree or not? I would like to understand more. :)

So phones are automatically confiscated on sight but also they were used lots in school? That makes no sense.

My previous school had very successful no phones seen or on in school policy.

If a phone was seen it was confiscated until end of day. If a child had phone confiscated more than once per term a parent had to collect from the office. Repeat offenders had to hand in phone to school office on arrival each day and sign out at end of day.

It worked really well and school was much better for it.

How was this enforced at say, interval and lunch, when kids are by and large unsupervised? On corridors?

Im guessing this is in a small school?

When I was a teen the school office were happy to phone home and pass on messages like child will be late because of extra drama practice or whatever.
My kids are told to take a photo of the board (to save money on photocopying ) or use their phone to look something up (easier than teachers having to book iPads- no idea how up to date they may be)
France have a no smartphones to be used on school premises or at school based activities for under 15s.

The school my child goes to has a no phones rule but the vast majority of pupils ignore it .

I did not allow my child to take a phone but earlier this week he did not return from school at the usual expected time . I had no way of contacting him . I ended up driving around looking for him .

It turns out he’d been hit by a bus . Luckily it was not serious but it could have been. I will be sending him to school with a phone from now on .

It is part of the home school agreement you agree to abide by the rules when you start at the school. They have had this rule in place since they allowed phones in bags in 2017. So assume it is working.

we used to get told to take them out during lesson to take pictures of the board to save us from spending ages taking notes and not getting to the lesson in time, then the policy changed and became stricter because the school merged into an academy we couldn't even have them at break which was shit because me and my friends were in separate classes so we had no clue where to meet.

why not just arrange to meet at the same place always?

DD's school has 8 forms of 30 girls/form per year plus 300 Sixformers in a separate block.

There are plenty of adults in the corridors and during lunch/break to see what's going on, much to DD's annoyance.

Exactly!

wanting to meet your mates isn’t an argument to allow phones in school. Most friendship groups have a default meeting point anyway don’t they?

Almost all secondary school children have phones nowadays. In technology schools, like apple accredited schools, they may only use a smart device for lessons. It's expected but there are strict rules around use and conduct.
Eg. Phones off and stay in bags from start to end of school day or risk confiscation ; no access to social apps during lessons (teachers are linked in and can see what each child is doing on their device). On the whole the rules works well. There will of course be some exceptions to those that need their device for medical monitoring as that will be in their healthcare plan.
Our secondary has phones off in bag policy and it's never been a significant problem. If they need to contact a parent in the day they go to reception. Many of our pupils travel long distances and would be on devices before and after school. Would never have an outright ban of no phones on the premises. Even the teachers access their phones in between lessons/frees

Kids access the online learning platform in school using their phones. Teachers ask them to research using their phones/ take pictures of homework. Not a fan myself but it's 9 miles away with no public transport, if he misses the bus or wants to play football/ swimming with friends after school then I need to know.

So yes, a small school. And presumably a private school?

Not representative for the majority, I’m afraid.

Our school doesn't allow them. They can have them in their bags or pocket but they are not allowed to use them until they are off school property.

As a result, DS doesn't even bother taking his and DD only has it for emergencies. She does however take a very old iPod to school for at lunchtime as she studies in the media centre and puts her headphones in. She did one time have a teacher question whether it was a mobile at lunchtime, she showed her no it was just an iPod and then the teacher scrolled through the music, suggested they were impressed with their love of old music and let her get on with it.

Wow what a response :)
ok I understand the Benefits of phones for safety/ being contactable etc
also taking photos of lessons and certain apps & research etc
but I guess it bothers me than sometimes it is hard to police? But I see that some schools manage?
I know times are changing but it’s more that for example - my step kid sending me random tik toks they thought I would find funny (I don’t even have tik tok) but during class time. When we pointed this out they said it was ok because it was during lunch break… when we pointed out it was sent at 3pm they changed their story and claimed the teacher let them as the lesson was finished (30 mins early).

so I get the feeling the school don’t actually allow use of them in that manner that but I guess kids do it anyway.
then I felt frustrated that my husband and their mum didn’t seem bothered 😕
but I just find it so disrespectful to ignore a class like that and in my case if parents are not bothered then not much I can do, but that just make it harder for the teachers?
it does also bother me how easy it is to film someone being beat up and laugh about it and pass it around. I don’t find that ok at all :/

@GneissWork did you miss-read? 8 forms of 30 per year? That's fairly standard for a comp. Whilst there are some up to 2000 it's not small. Not sure what difference it makes in this particular context anyway.

@Bree82 I'm afraid it is largely a generational thing in terms of how you feel about it. Having said that, Phone use is ubiquitous in all age groups...first thing people (including some police officers) do now is take a picture of a crime scene / incident / accident and share it on SM. Couples or families in restaurants all on devices. My kids will get their phones out rather than chat about their day for the ten min drive home. It is v v difficult to police in class..if I ask them to use their phones to access the work set on Teams (for a cover lesson say) there's no actual way I can know if they are messaging...unless they are doing it with someone in the class and they don't have the wit not too smirk across the room which is a dead giveaway 🤣. Sometimes it gets picked up because they message a teacher about something, or a friend in another class and that teacher sees them check their phone. It gets picked up when they do that.

Phones out of sight and silent at all times at our Secondary school.

The kids have them in their bags for travelling to and from school but they are not seen or used once through the school gates. It seems to be enforced pretty effectively by the teachers. The kids don't want to have their phones taken off them so they stick to the rule.

Phones were previously allowed and the no phone rule introduced about a year ago. I think it's an improvement and the kids adjusted very quickly. They now talk to each other and take part in lunchtime clubs instead.

Aw that’s a good point though the music.
i did find it easier to focus on studying with music in the background.
maybe some kids use their phones for that reason. But then it’s being used to help focus on study which I think is fine. It’s when it’s being used to ignore lessons or make fun of people etc I don’t agree with.

Oh that’s good. So I see it can be implemented with a positive outcome.
then they still have it for emergencies etc but also respect the rules

Oh I didn’t think about that actually re asking the kids to do something on their phone and they do something else. Yes that would be hard to police.
i guess the messaging someone in class is the modern way of passing notes lol
I think I find the most frustrating thing about it all is how disrespectful some people are with it. And I know it’s not everyone. And I know it’s not just school kids. :/

No, state secondary. And average size for the secondaries in our area.

So, at least representative for our part of London.

That's incredibly harsh and ridiculous. What happens if the child actually needs their phone, say for example their bus gets cancelled or breaks down? What happens when the school loose the phone as will probably happen? The school my DD is at now are incredibly relaxed on phone use and they are allowed to use them in certain lessons.
They seem to have very few issues with phones being used for the wrong thing whereas the school she was at before with a very strict phone policy had endless issues and virtually every child had their phone confiscated at some point (only until the end of the day not for half a term).

So rather than you and your husband policing the phone usage of your one child, you want school staff to police the use of tens of hundreds of children?

@GneissWork no it was a typical 1000 pupil school. Lunches and breaks were fully supervised at all times. It was run in such a way that facilitated full supervision so it was never an issue.

@GneissWork also any parent was allowed to come collect a confiscated phone if they wanted it. But I only saw that happen once or twice. Most parents loved the no phone thing as it caused less stress or drama