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.

Why not go for you can have your phones at break time so the kids leave them alone in lessons as it was when I was at school.

School didn't get involved in anything on phones and it was part of the home student agreement that they wouldn't. Worked well and looking at the information for if our son goes to the same school they are expected to have a smart phone as all homework, time table etc is set on an app. An iPad is suggested aswell.

@SpidersAreShitheads

If something happened to a child on the way home and they were unable to contact their family for help, the school would be partially to blame. They're removing any way of the child being able to get help if needed. Their rules are draconian and excessive.

I would put in a complaint with the governors and highlight it as a safeguarding concern.

Absolutely this.

Keeping them off and in their bags doesn’t work

Works very well in many schools.

I don't think they should be able to have them all day, but in my children's school they hand them in to their form tutor at registration and get them back at the end of the day. Makes total sense for getting home safely.

I agree. It’s also really difficult if children live in two houses and will be going to a different home after school than they left from in the morning.

Bloody phones and annoying children. Shouldn't you change your job then?

Not sure where you lived or what era you are talking about but in the 70s and 80s there were pay phones everywhere in cities. If they were vandalised they were fixed as they made a lot of money.

I completely agree with smart phones being banned but a basic Nokia/brick phone is reasonable as long as switched off and in bag at school.

The schools did but if the kids lose it they have to buy a new one and they're £5 each. I assume the school gets them at a much cheaper rate when they bulk buy.

If it’s the school I’m thinking of they won’t care what parents think - an actual bomb went off on a tube where many children from this school were travelling, no one had phones, they briefly relaxed the rule and then tightened it again.

Exactly. Who'd want to be responsible for thousands of pounds worth of phones everyday. Document the condition they were handed in in and the condition they were collected in.

Some are saying class teachers should do it. But that's still 30 phones, with probably an average value of £400 each (some will be much more, some less)
£12,000 worth of phones in one small safe.
How do you make sure the safe isn't broken into or stolen?

It just doesn’t work. They record other students or teachers. They make TikToks on school premises. They go into the toilets and take picture/record people. There is also no need to, they should be able to talk to their friends without needing a device but they can’t. They are addicted to them so they can’t contain their use to 15 minutes a day in a sensible fashion. I’m secondary.

When you were at school were phones as all encompassing as they are now? You are talking about a generation of kids who have grown up with phones/YouTube/games from being babies. It’s a serious issue.

Does it? I don’t know of any.

Leaves schools stuck between a rock and a hard place as they are the ones that have to pick up all the pieces after incidents involving social media, even where it occur outside of normal school hours.

Yes. You see it here all the time. 'My child is being bullied on WhatsApp' - the response almost universally is to get the school to deal with it. Why can't parents deal with it?

Given this thread is all about children and phones surely she is raising a valid point without being told to just change her job.

This may be a really silly suggestion but are there any parks nearby school where he could hide a cheap pre-paid mobile on the way in and then collect on the way out?

I also think you could pop some Bluetooth tags in his bag and clothes.

I would give mine a bank card. Also I don’t think it’s necessary to see your kids’ location, although I appreciate for some anxious parents it’s reassuring. It’s not really in the child’s interest though and I personally feel that it stunts their independence. I think since smartphones / find my friends was invented we have all got used to tracking locations and it can be super convenient for pick ups etc. But I think that small plus point is totally not worth it for all the other serious drawbacks you get with a smartphone: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-68972494

According to that article a 'ban' just means them not having access to their phones during the day, rather than not being able to bring them to school atall.

And a few years before that hardly anyone had a home phone so you wouldn't have been able to phone your mum anyway. You would just get home when you did, having taken a bit longer.

When I grew up in the 80s, even though there were payphones, teenagers weren't in constant contact with mum and dad. For a start they would have to be in the house and not on the phone already. If you were going to miss the last bus home you would try and phone home. Otherwise just get on with it.

This is completely wrong. Phones are integral to how we function and absolutely should be permitted to and from school. So that means the school has to manage the situation by having a system of removal at registration and return at the end of the school day. There is no justification for harping back to times when children didn't have phones. That was then and now is now. It shows such a lack of how phones work for families and can not be justified.

Ooooo, I've spotted a hole in the market.
I'm going go round the schools, collect all the phones as they arrive and give them back at the end of the day. I'll have a team, someone for each year group. I'll have charging stations and offer a cleaning service.

The was a time before roads were built but we don't say it's fine for our 8 year old to walk along a dual carriage way because in 1940 every 8 year old walked to the school.
What any previous generation did is not how it is now and it's bizarre making comparisons.

don't know of any, so could you give a list, please!

At my DD's school they sometimes use their phones in class too. They are part of the modern world and I agree they should be taught to use them sensibly. The DC at my DD's school are perfectly able to keep their phones off in their bags during school time.

Her friend at a different school allows phone use during breaks and apparently DC even get them out during class. This school has a problem with discipline not phones per se.

The more I read mumsnet. The less inclined I am to sent any future kids to school. Metal detrctors to find secret phones? For short term solution I'd be tempted to buy him one of those phone watches made for young kids/smartwatch that doesn't need the phone to be close by. Longer term band together with other parents to stop this ridiculousness.

Phones shouldn't be used during lesson unless it is needed for learning. Phones are not great for kids (nor adults) but also they are here to stay and there are tons of apps that are needed daily that you need the phone for.

Whenever something is banned or some absolutely ridiculous rule regarding uniforms or lunches is introduced I always assume it is due to poor leadership and management from the school. Making up shit for no good reason cause they don't know how to actually handle it.