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.

It’s crazy stupid. You cannot uninvent the wheel!
There are some children near here where the school bus picks them up and drops them off after school at the end of a 1 mile road they have to walk to get to and from home. Phones are very useful and a safety item for children.

Obviously not to be used in school hours but for travel, essential I’d say.

havent read the thread but surely the sensible thing to do would be to put phone in locker so it cant be found in the bag during the day and then just take it out at the end of school?

I think if schools insist on no phones in school, even if they're turned off and in bags, then they need to provide phone lockers at the entrance. LIke many schools have for teachers have in staff rooms.

I get that it would be an expense when schools have no budget for anything, but I'm mildly surprised that schools who have no phones rules and go as far as scanners/bag searches on the way in don't also have small lockers suitable for a mobile phone to live in happily through the school day. It doesn't take a genius to know that children have legitimate reasons to have a mobile phone for their journeys to and from school, and requiring a parent to collect it is SUCH a waste of everybody's time.

Do all schools have lockers for the kids these days?

I would agree with you but I guess if it were a locker the kids could access during the school day they'd just be able to get it back out again at the first break and keep it in a pocket to be distracted by in lessons. Whereas if there was a bank of phone lockers in reception or their home classrooms or whatever it would be easier to have a blanket "Nobody goes in these lockers until 3pm" rule.

Do all schools have lockers for the kids these days?

I think most don't.

Surely that’s a safeguarding issue for those who make their own way home ? They should at least say phones can come in but will be left in reception and collected at the end of the day ! Can you maybe ask about this ?

My dgs is a type one diabetic. He needs his phone to check his blood and to sync with his libre. What about kids in that scenario?

Calling only with no internet phones need to make a comeback. And they WiFi enabled phones with apps etc need to be banned for under 16s.

Obviously a different scenario.

"talking to strangers was not encouraged"

we were always encouraged to find a policeman 🤭

My eldest at high school (who I've actually just registered and home educating from next week onwards) catches the bus. There's no shops or pay phones anywhere near his school. If there was a problem with missing a bus etc he wouldn't be able to tell me.

I was in pre mobile era. We had a pay phone right outside school.

Yes I know it’s a different scenario but what would be the plan if he attended that school? Or if his current school put something like this in place? He can’t be the only one.

Not a lawyer but I always question the legality of these ‘confiscation’ policies. It’d be called stealing and/or blackmail in another world.

All these issues and angst would be solved SO easily if parents just all agreed to get simple flip phones without internet access. Then you can call home or send texts if you need to but no drama with the school, no mental health problems, no access to harmful content, no screen addiction…..

Isn't the problem with schools collecting handsets that they then become responsible for them (or something along those lines...some sort of liability).

Some chancer may come along and accuse the school of breaking their phone screen..."It wasn't broken when I handed it in, Miss".
So schools have to get the child to sign it in, then it has to be signed out.
That would take a while with hundreds of children.

The London Oratory, right? They don’t care what parents think, tbh. Not my cup of tea.

For those asking for evidence on smartphone use being harmful:

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31193561/

https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/6/E136.short

https://ncpcr.gov.in/uploads/165650458362bc410794e02_effect1.PDF

And this excellent YouTube video:

It's an enormous cop out saying "oh well the world has changed, we can't do anything about it".

Maybe you can't uninvent to wheel but you can change societal habits. There was a time when smoking was ubiquitous, private car ownership is dropping in cities, similarly, phone use for children can lessen over the years

This 100% but people will always make excuses as to why they can't.

Not all schools have lockers

The school need to be onboard and not use homework and timetabling apps

I absolutely agree with this. It's a massive problem.

They don't have lockers