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. :)

The benefit of phones in school is that when our totally unreliable school bus fails to collect the kids, breaks down or abandons them in a random location, they can ring me so I can get them.

That said, clearly they should be off and away. My dc's school makes the kids hand them in to be locked away, but I appreciate that won't be possible for bigger schools.

At our school there is a returns process to be gone through which seems always to end up with the phone being returned last thing on a Friday so they can demand all they like. Second offence, phone is confiscated again and child ends up in isolation. You'd be amazed at how quickly everybody gets the message: switched off at the bottom of your bag on school premises.

YADNBU
At my DC's school they have to be handed over in the morning and then they're given back at the end of the day.

They carry out bag checks on occasion, and if a pupil has one on them, there are consequences.

Works very well,

Simple.

As a pastoral lead at a large school, I'd rather eat a handful of earth each morning. Draconian nonsense like that is why SLT won't last a decade.

A moronic policy deaf to reality. Phones are useful for learning. Kids have multiple phones. Bag searches should not be routine (and actually a bag search requires CP team involvement).

NRTFT but my school has a policy of phones off and in bags once you arrive at school. The students are compliant and we get very few issues. However, as we draw kids in from a wide area, most of whom come by bus, there are occasions when they need to contact home quickly. We do allow that, plus we allow phones at the discretion of the class teacher for a specific purpose.

Some students use their phone to help with their diabetes. We have at least 1 student per year group whose blood sugar is tracked to their phone. They do have permission to use their phones discreetly. How would that work in schools with a ban?

The secondary school closest to my home has a blanket ban. Personally I think that's ridiculous. My students soon learn about sticking to the rules; if they don't, after 2 warnings, the phone is removed and parents have to come in to collect it. In the 21 years I have been there, I haven't had to take one.

How did we manage before phones. We still got to school OK.

@Malbecfan re diabetic pupils, they were given special permission to use their phones. It had to be a trust thing and in class the phone had to be out in plain view on the table so they couldn’t be on social media without the teacher knowing.

I plan on keeping dds phone at home when she goes to secondary in September- however then I see posts on here which say their dc are told to take a photo of the homework or are told to use their devices to Google stuff.

I'm not bothered about being in contact with her during the commute as she will be getting the scholars bus to and from our street. I assume if something happens at school with the bus she can go back into the building to call me. And if something happens en route the driver would notify the school anyways.

'how did we manage before phones' that's the thing a lot of people didn't i don't see what the problem is teens having a phone so they can communicate with their parents when their home alone in the evening or going to and from school or at their friends house

Are you alright? destroy somebody's personal property and have them immediately expelled on their first offence, that would be grounds for a full investigation into the school, plus how are you going to forcefully remove a minor from a school. Also the no exceptions rule is a bit much don't you think, honestly you sound completely barmy but somebody on here will agree with your madness

To be fair, it’s never assumed that a kid would have a phone.

An example would be if we are discussing a volcanic eruption from the 1960s and a kid asks me if the volcano has erupted recently - which has nothing to do with the lesson, but is still a point of interest. Instead of shutting down their interest, I might ask them if they have a phone and allow them to google it and tell the class. Now obviously if they don’t have a phone, it’s going to have little impact, and I can check later on in the lesson.

I also never ask if they have a phone directly because that leads to the potential for embarrassment. Instead I ask if their phone has charge/if they are connected to the school Wi-Fi/if they have any data left. So nobody feels the social pressure to have a phone.

Similarly with homework, I don’t directly say “note this in your phone” - I say “note this down how you normally record your homework” - and I also post it on Google classroom. However, not all kids have computers/tablets/phones at home, so I also offer them a paper copy (under the guise of “if you prefer to have a paper copy too” rather than saying “if you don’t have a computer” because obviously that reinforces a stigma for those who don’t have)

Its perfectly fine not to send your kid with a phone, they most definitely don’t NEED it. Despite what your kid will undoubtedly tell you. However, I’d say that at the start of high school, it’s maybe 70:30 phone:no phone, and by Christmas almost every kid has a phone.

I guess it depends how the teachers manage phones in their classrooms as to whether it’s an issue or not.

DS takes his phone to school (Y6 primary) because he walks home and I can track him and he can call me if there’s a problem.

he has it switched off on his bag and knows if he gets it out or turns it on it will be confiscated. The school are still unhappy about this and say he can’t have it but I’ve said “Sorry. He will have it for his safety walking home. If he has it out or switches it on confiscate it by all means but he will be bringing it in and keeping it his bag switched off for my peace of mind and his safety.”

You're a pastoral lead and think a term like the one you have used is acceptable language? You need training in not using offensive language.

Phones handed in at DDs school also. Collect at end of day. I wonder if it works because they all have laptops - private school, privileged kids. Don't need the phone for work. They can still message but but it's not as easy as using a phone. It's a large school, but probably relatively high staff to student ratios. High levels of compliance as rule breaking has sanctions ranging from detention to Saturday detention to suspension to ultimately being asked to leave. Easier to enforce.

We have at least 1 student per year group whose blood sugar is tracked to their phone. They do have permission to use their phones discreetly. How would that work in schools with a ban?

why should they have to be discrete about it? Alarms go off if things are too high/too low so it’s hardly unobtrusive, unfortunately. I even with a ban on phones diabetic children will need to be allowed to use them - as I said up thread, it is written into care plans and immediately becomes an issue of disability discrimination (use of tech for type 1 is ‘reasonable adjustment’) if a teacher tries to stop it.

They were banned when they first hit the schools but parents complained that they were necessary in the event of an emergency. We just laughed but the education authority conceded the matter under the threat of a court action.

Sometimes parents demonstrate a complete lack of sense. The children phoned friends in other classes, orchestrated phones going off simultaneously all over the school, or sat playing games on their phones. They even phoned their parents in the middle of classes to complain about the teacher. I read about one parent who sent the police to a teacher's house to investigate the theft of their son's phone when the teacher confiscated it.

There is a preserved Victorian school in Glasgow. In the office lies the headmaster's Day Book. It is open at a page where he describes a complaint from a parent about her child being punished for a clear breach of rules. He told the woman to go home.and mind her.own business and leave him to his. And that was that.
Sigh. We need more of that attitude today.

Our secondary school only allows brick phones. Obviously kids still bring in smart phones but they do get confiscated for a while if found during spot checks.

Gave me the wriggle room I needed to hold out longer until giving a smartphone than I would otherwise have.

That's all sounds good on theory but the reality is a diabetic constantly having to explain their condition to new teachers etc. It's bad enough having diabetes without this.

As a result of his school's draconian policy my son uses a different monitor *ie not a phone) which makes it much harder to monitor his condition. He hates having to inject in front of friends and chooses not to take his phone/use an app so he doesn't have to have constant embarrassing arguments.

@Ohthejoyous I’m sorry that doesn’t work for your son. Teachers should be informed when they start teaching that there is someone in class using cgm and/or a pump like omnipod dash (where the controller looks like a phone) . There should be no need to explain it. Supply teachers should always be made aware of type 1s in classes they are covering. If your son is constantly having to explain himself, it really isn’t good enough. How can they know who/how to support if they’re not sure who’s who and don’t know what tech they are using? He should also have somewhere to go to inject in peace. Ask your DSN to get it written into careplans if necessary. Is he coded on registers so he’s able to go out to the loo with out any questions?

Unfortunately we've had a fight tooth and nail even to get him allowed to have his monitor on his desk in gcse exams. Yes it really isn't good enough but what can you do?

The school toilets - that's a whole other issue. They are so disgusting both my kids avoid drinking so they don't have to go at school. My son usually skips lunch. Not ideal but the reality when the alternative is battling through the vapers or injecting in front of mates.

I am. Amazingly, one doesn't need to speak like Miss Honey in one's personal life to be a teacher. I, like all teachers, speak to children differently to adults.

Surely your son should qualify for using the disabled toilet? Where I am, those are normally the staff loos too and therefore are generally clean and well maintained. There would be space for him to place his equipment too, should he need it.

Well, you either ask them to keep phones in bags or you ask them to hand phones in (you'd have to have a system for that obviously).

Just because phones are "personal property" it doesn't mean that pupils should be allowed to bring anything to school!

YANBU. They should be banned in schools and for all under 13s.