To be annoyed by total phone ban

[TeleGardenGnome]

My child's school which is a busy city location has a total phone ban. So you aren't allowed to take any type of phone to school at all even if it stays hidden in a bag and is on silent and never used. They do bag searches and use metal detectors to find students breaking the rules.

If your child's phone is found they get a detention and you can only get it back by visiting the school in person.

So yesterday my child's phone was found in a bag search and removed. There were awful transport issues and it took them several hours to get home. In the meanwhile we had no way to contact each other.

I can't get the phone back due to work and my husband being away for work. It just stresses me out that he won't be able to get in touch if there's a problem. Expressing my feelings here as there is no point complaining to the school. They don't listen to parental feedback.

Don't agree with a total ban no. Not in this day and age. Children need to be able to check transport apps etc,let parents know if they decide to stay behind to do homework club etc.

Our school has it right. Phones off at 8.27 am and kept in the pupil's bag. If it's even seen, doesn't even have to be on,it's taken away, detention and parent has to come and collect it at the end of the day.

The more I read about these things at secondary schools the more it sounds like a prison led by dictators on a power trip rather than individuals caring for the next generation.

https://edexec.co.uk/news-phone-bans-boost-school-gcse-scores/

Bans are good for results

But not practical in a UK school where you move between classes.

Why is it not practical? It works well in DS's school. Every teacher has a basket in their room, phone goes in on the way in, out on the way out. They've never had an issue with phones going missing because it would be discovered immediately and not at the end of the day.

Absolutely look at the number of abuse cases coming to light decades after the event.
People 40s plus going to court over abuse that happened when they were children. Abuse that happened in schools, churches, and children's homed.

Yes safeguarding was built on trust. We now know not to trust people because of the 'respectable' positions.

I get the pros and cons of a mobile phone ban.
tbh there’s times I’ve saved my kids asses by them contacting me - whether it’s lack of money, travel, and my oldest is autistic so she does have reliance on me. I can track her location too, so if she does go missing I will know where she is
However a total ban is just too much. Rules about usage should be enforced but they should have some access too

The school is trying to stop disruption by phone use in school. They have clearly found that telling students to keep phones on silent and out of sight has not worked so they now have a phone ban. It would be helpful all round if you supported them. You are presumably not a teacher, and may not be aware of the havoc phones can cause in schools, with students insisting they must phone home, answering text messages in class etc, disrupting other students' education, not to mention the opportunities for online bullying on school premises.
I also do not understand why not having his phone caused DS to take several hours to get home. How can not having it have caused that?

And how do you stop children taking someone else's phone because its newer and shinier than theirs?

But not on the way home, and wide spread abuse is still happening, in fact some might say worsened by technology

Nope.

They are caring for the next generation. Phones cause disruption. Some schools may manage with 'phones off and out of sight', but this is not always the case and then a phone ban is needed. It is part of expecting order in the corridors and silence whilst the teacher is talking, it's about educating the children.

@Needanewname42 I imagine because all the other kids are standing there waiting to get their phone and after a couple of days they know whose phone is whose. Also if a phone were to go missing, they would know which group of children had access to it rather than the whole school. Seems to work.

So how would this have been managed before mobile phones? They are not as necessary as some would like us to think.

That's what secondary schools are. I was looking at detention list for the school my kids is going to - so you are not allowed to talk in the corridor, walk in groups, or be "defiant". Also was told that in another school you get detention for picking stuff that's fallen on the floor or taking your eyes off the teacher. And you get shouted at during the detention. Its all shit, but sadly all schools are like this here.

Look up Moria Anderson.
It's never been proven but its widely believed her abducter was the bus driver.

I guess expecting the worst may mean you get pleasantly surprised

Things don't change. We have a generation that is certain it needs to be in contact with everyone all the time. Society functioned perfectly well without this. And child abductions have not decreased because children have mobile phones, nor has bullying etc. We don't need this constant connection and it is harming us having it.

Ah right, OK, I guess there are dangerous people in all professions, although thankfully very rare

My niece’s school allows “dumb phones” that text and call and not much else. They were having real problems with pupils videoing teachers and whatsapping each other so consulted with parents and found a compromise. No smartphones or phones with internet or cameras allowed. It’s really helped with bullying and general learning too as in a lot of cases it’s now the only phone the kids have so they’re not spending hours on Snapchat, TikTok etc outside of school time.

Again, as lots of people have explained, the world is different in lots of ways, in part because there is a widespread expectation that people will carry their own phones. My secondary school had payphones to call home, so it wasn't the case that there was no way of contacting a parent.

I remember once my bus home - the only bus, because I lived in a small village - just didn't turn up. I waited, alone as I was the only person from my secondary school who lived in my village, for a while and then went to the office of the bus station. I used their phone to ring home and when no one answered because mum wasn't yet home from work they paid for a taxi to take me home! All of that - a manned office in the bus station that allowed people to use its phone, a bus company that was so easily contactable and saw a stranded 12 year old as its responsibility - sounds like fiction now. It was 1998.

They’ll still get metal detected

I do wonder how I managed to cross London, using two buses, and sometimes diverting to the library on the way home (I doubt I told my DM I was doing that) or going to a book shop, without a mobile phone. I really don't understand how my two children crossed the county on a school bus to go to school, or how my DD managed two buses when the city would not provide the free transport she had been promised when living in the county. No mobile phones. It is only twenty years ago or less when all of this would be the case. We are breeding a generation of needy children.

Not all 11 year olds have bank cards. And ones like Go Henry have a fee.

I agree with you OP. DD is 12 and in her secondary, phones are switched off and in bags all day. It works fine as far as I know - not heard of any problems - they are not allowed to use them at school between school hours, so she turns is on as she leaves. She is autistic and walks to and from school on her own - she sometimes contacts me on the way home, sometimes a club changes or she's forgotten her key. She gets a bit anxious and panicky. If she didn't have a phone, she would be a lot less happy going out on her own.

When was the last time you saw a working payphone on a street corner for emergencies? Times have changed since we were kids.