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.

Not in itself but it can be used as an excuse to get their hands on your phone and then they can scam you.

It probably isn't a thing now but a while ago a scam used to be to borrow your phone for a call and they would set your phone to call via a premium rate number. It was only at the end of the month when a huge bill came through that people were aware

How old is your child?
What would you have done if able to reach child on phone? Was it the not knowing where they were that bothered you the most? Don't you think your child is able to navigate transport issues without a phone? Given the no phone situation at school, rather than go down the hiding route ending in lengthy detentions, I think you'd better teach your child how to cope without a phone. This will only make them MORE resourceful and you too might learn how to navigate without a phone in 2024 - I think it is still possible.

Teach your child how to use an A to Z you can even buy pocket versions they can keep in their school bag - if this is too laughable a suggestion;
Look up alternative routes online together so that they have a plan to refer to when transport issues arise.

PPs mentioned why school has banned smart phones.

Read; The Anxious generation by Dr Jonathan Haidt

Check out
https://smartphonefreechildhood.co.uk/

Sadly, in relation to a Smartphone free childhood, the horse has bolted and destroyed the stable door in the process.

Nobody knew how damaging they were going to be until it was too late.

Because then school will be responsible for 100’s of phones, and if one gets stolen?!

😂😂 pay phone?? I haven’t seen a public pay phone in my area for at least a decade!

There are still things people can do to try to mitigate the damage though.

For example, even getting a group of like minded parents in a collective to stop their own group of children from having smart phones at least until an older age, would go some way to making those children not feel they were the odd ones out for not having one.

• Official/formal complaint? Explain your child NEEDS phone for transport and safety? If head doesn’t listen go to parent governors?
• Other parents must also feel the same? I’m sure they’d be forced to listen if 100 parents put in official complaints!
• Could he wear his phone in a phone belt round his waist? Surely they don’t do body searches? My daughters phone is a medical device so this ban wouldn’t apply to her thankfully, and she can’t through metal detectors !

maybe the kids all need to stand out the front of school and refuse to go in and do a peaceful protest… or as others have suggested maybe hundreds of parents need to start calling the office asking for messages to be forwarded to their child saying they won’t be home and they need to go to uncle pats instead
etc…
As for the school not returning the phone at the end of the day, surely that’s theft?
Wonder what will happen to a student before they change this rule… a concerned parent/parents calling police when a child doesn’t come home on time… or if a child doesn’t arrive to school?… school ring parents and parents say ‘I can’t contact or track their whereabouts because they don’t have a phone!’

Other thought, do Apple Watches with their own SIM card send and receive messages? I think my ex could make calls from his?!

https://www.beatxp.com/blog/can-we-call-from-smartwatch/#:~:text=Yes%2C%20you%20can%20make%20and,smartwatches%20that%20have%20cellular%20connectivity.

This railway sign makes me laugh. The station information board doesn't mention payphones. I think the nearest payphone is about a mile and half away.

I've tried to Google payphone locations can find any public resources just a private site wanted £2.99 for every seach.

Or the school should adapt their rules seeing as their rules mean that some kids can't have their phones at other integral parts of the day such as when they are travelling to and from school, when having a phone is often important and can help to keep them safe.

Following this phone rule can have negative consequences also so it's very different than following the rules regarding driving licenses.

The fundamental problem here is large numbers of children WILL NOT follow the rules and time and time again they are backed-up by their parents.

Schools have been pushed into a corner.

The parents who have created the problem are now moaning about the problem.

I feel sorry for secondary school teachers. No matter what they do they are the enemy when the Real villains are the large number of shit parents.

^^This.

Phones are not a problem. The problem is children who will not follow rules and parents who support them. They do as they like, think they should not face the consequences and their parents back them up vociferously.

Shit-parenting is the issue.

@Hateam, I don't think my child's school have been backed into a corner. There is no sign that they previously had a phones in bags policy and it didn't work.

Rules seem to fall into three categories.

1. Rules that are sensible and help the community to function
2. Rules that seem a bit petty (about exact hair length or something) but don't really do any harm.
3. Rules that when you follow them have negative consequences

I posted about this rule because I think it's in the third category and I wish it could be changed. As I can't change the rule I posted about it instead!!

I also think it's inaccurate to blame shit parents for all the behaviour issues at secondary. There are quite a few other problems frequently mentioned here. Underfunding, under staffing, lack of provision for SEND, lack of alternate provision for children, difficulty of excluding violent students, forcing all students regardless of aptitude into an academic curriculum etc etc.

To prevent chaos many secondary schools now have draconian behaviour policies with lots of type 2 rules because they are trying to impose order and a bit like the military they need to get the children to follow instructions and accept authority without question.

This is entirely understandable. However it's not leading to a pleasant experience educational experience for the children and it's an under rated benefit of independent and selective schools that they can afford not to take these measures.

Parental backup though is essential in maintaining school discipline. It helps if the rules are proportionate in the first place and communciation from the school is clear. On the other hand parents do need to accept their child can behave badly (most teenagers do at least some of the time) and that they may not have heard an entirely accurate picture of events from them!

I don't believe that large numbers of children won't follow the rules on not having phones out in lesson times. If this happens the school obviously has big problems. Regardless can't the rule just be that if the phone is seen it's instant detention. If a student breaks the rule more than once they are not allowed a phone.

It seems at the moment some schools are punishing and making life difficult for all students and parents not to mention less safe because of the actions of a minority.

This is a really good summation. I find many type 2 rules tiresome - but support the school on these.

Type 3 rules - if they impact my child- then not so much.

I am guessing that those who are using the argument 'we never had mobile phones in my day and we did ok' think that a total phone ban IE not being able to have any phone at school (even if not using it) sits in category 2.

Those who are saying 'but they shouldn't use in class' are missing the point too.
Those who are saying handset only with only calls allowed. Are also missing the point.
If the rules said anything other than 'total phone ban'- then, imo, it sits in category 2.

The school has gone for the nuclear 'ban all phones' option- which does have negative impact and therefore is in category 3.

That's a perfect ly sensible rule... that many parents will get angry about.

One or two might be if it is their child that has been banned from having a phone AND they don't believe the school. However, just banning all phones regardless of whether the student breaks rules and regardless of whether it impacts the students safety (and parents stress levels) is going to anger almost all parents and is actually likely to make them less helpful with enforcing school rules in the future. Why go for the latter option rather than the first.

Our kids school have yonder pouches. You put the phone in at the beginning of the day and it locks and unlocks at the end if the day using some sort of machine thing. It’s not 100% effective but it’s definitely cut down phone usage.

You have no idea what is going on in our schools.

There are many YouTube videos that show how to open these without the dedicated magnet.

What if you bring in an old phone and put it in the pouch and keep your actual phone hidden?

@Hateam this is true.
Those who want to get round the rules will.

Maybe the answer is the government up the age from parental controls and company responsibility.
All children's social media stuff is locked between 8.45 and 16.00 regardless of days of the week and holidays.

If China can control social media to that extent so can the UK. Take it out of the schools hands, away from teachers who have a job to do. Put.it onto the companies who are making money out of it

A couple of thousand phones??🤔

schools also can't have it all ways

• ban phones and sim containing devices
• use school app that only work on phones and not other decices
• set homework where they need internet and not provide wifi

my teens often have after school activities where they need to get to themselves and one location requires a smart phone to check in. a total ban would piss me off (but our school handles it sensibly so all is good)