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.

Fewer of us survived in the pre-mobile world. Child deaths in the 10 - 15 age range have dropped significantly since mobile phones became widespread.

*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.*

So you have let your child bring a phone in and that rules Don't apply to them.

The not being able to get the phone back is a consequence of not following the rules and is completely you and your child's fault and you will have to wait to get it back.

The argument isn't that it was better in the old days- just that being able to be in contact 24/7 isn't necessary and that children have managed long journeys home with delays without needing to communicate with their parents ; we are all used to instant responses all get stressed now if our partners /friends don't respond to texts - even when there is nothing actually urgent -it probably accounts for more stress than they mitigate...

That said the ban seems unnecessary- is there any PTA way of approaching school

Yondr pouches lasted about an hour at my son's school before the kids worked out how to open them ..total waste of money. School just bans phones being out during the day and actually enforces it.

A non-internet connected mobile phone. That makes voice calls. Interesting. Say you call a friend in New York, how exactly do you think that call signal reaches that person? Do you really think it's a piece of string with two tin cans?

I think what you mean is a mobile device that limits functionality to voice calls only.

And yup, I'm aware. I'd just prefer my child to have access to Duolingo on their phone. And Satchel. And Sparx. I also want them to call me or text me if they are late out of training.

And I think that choice is mine to make- not the schools. So if my child switches off their phone. Or drops it into a locked box- that's fine.

But you do you.

I did.

But I much prefer the ease of technology today, thank you very much.

I remember shared party lines and using an operator. Don't want to go back there either.

Pray tell us oh wise one, how you got to and from secondary school and what you did if there was a problem meaning you were stranded.

Could engage with the school perhaps via PTA to try and find a solution. Giving examples of how to make it workable. Maybe fund investment? Some good examples on this thread.

One DC’s school has phones handed in policy. Seems to wok. DC doesn’t need a phone to get to school (10 minutes walk away so any issues run home, go back to school, or pop into one of the shops that knows us and has my number) and we don’t let them take their phone as not trusted to not Pokémon along the way and get distracted from road safety!). If they had to take public transport I’d get them a dumb phone or a watch they could phone our numbers.

older DC’s school has policy of away in bags but I can tell they use it by times they view messages to family WhatsApp group. I wish they didn’t take their phone to school.

another local school has no phones at all policy but the teachers go to the railway station and check for delays etc and are available if children need to phone home.

But my DGCs' schools don't allow phones out of bags.

So none of those issues at breaks

Why is the sledgehammer approach needed?

He can ask someone in the pastoral team for advice and support if he has an issue.
Which sadly, is not always provided

I'm 40 odd. Very very very glad I didn't have one until I left school. Think it's a tragedy for kids.

Ds2 primary is the same thousand students collect and return daily

Can't imagine a primary that big!!
One of my DGC primaries has 72 pupils!

I think the issue is the world has changed.
My 2 used smart phones to help get to/from school.
They checked which route was best to get home. They had to get a bus to the train station, but if the trains were playing up they had the option of getting a slower, longer bus from school. This saved them getting the bus to the station and being left stranded.

There are no printed time tables anymore - all online.
There are no pay phones. We had one in school - I've never seen one in current schools
Laughing at bus drivers lending a phone. A couple of times DCs bus pass stopped working. Weren't allowed on the bus. They had a physical photo card pass with expiry date shown. But no, it didn't beep, so no entry.
Delayed away sport fixtures, they rang me to let me know. Are the schools going to do that?

OP you could try telling them you’re going to give their “mobile phones are evil” philosophy a try so you’re getting rid of your mobile and they’ll need to call the house landline if they need to contact you.

Realistically, I’m not sure what you can do other than raise it as a safeguarding issue or through the parent governors as a very parent unfriendly policy.

Also, not sure how an Apple AirTag would really help, but if you have a plan for that if only you had an iPhone, then a Tile tag might work for you with an android. https://uk.tile.com/en

Another option if you have money is one of the Apple Watches or equivalent that can send messages etc. without a phone. (Though they may realise what that is and ban it too).

I was infantalised far more in the 90s before phones became avaliable to teenagers. DM's response to safety was to drive me door to door everywhere which was infuriating. She only relinquished when I was 15 because she broke her arm and was unable to drive.

School had a payphone so I could queue and phone at breaktime if there was a change to afterschool clubs. I haven't seen a pay phone in a secondary school in about 15 years.

It's a lot easier to let my autistic child develop his independence when he knows that he can contact me for support as needed when journeys don't go to plan. That's far more effective than throwing him into the world pretending it's not 1998 yet. The tools like printed bus timetables and payphones that we used are gone and they're not coming back.

Incidentally DM who actively chose the luddite path through the early 2000s now struggles to function in a world that takes smart phones for granted. She can't book her own GP appointments. She can only use limited taxi companies. She struggles to hear on phones, but doesn't benefit from texts. She is often dependent on other people to do basic life admin for her and not engaging with the current world has left her isolated and more dependent.
I'm encouraging my children to use their phones wisely as tools and work around the pitfalls and tbh some of them like bullying can occur in a tech-free world anyway.

I think total phone bans are a great idea honestly. More schools should do it.

That's an awfully lot of messing around, teachers have enough to do.

DD's old school had this total ban and had random searches too.

It was a problem for the kids who took a bus as it meant they couldn't take advantage of the cheaper weekly ticket as they were only available on the bus company app.

It didn't reduce bullying or improve behaviour. In fact we had to move my DD to a different school because the bullying was so bad.

A local shop set up a service meaning that for £1 a day the kids could leave their phones in a locked box. There would be a queue out of the door after school but I really couldn't see the point of it.

My DD just used to leave her phone at home but I drove her and collected her every day as she didn't have a bus she could take and it was too far to walk.

New school just has a lock box in each form room.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Given the stabbing and murder rate today, you are talking shite

Yes and society has moved on.
People survived for decades using slate and chalk. Should schools go back to that too?

What do they use to call them when they're out?

I bet they wouldn't

If they search the students though surely they'd just find the second one...

YANBU.

Adults also use mobile phones for emergencies. Eg i once used mine to call 999 when I was out of the house. Why deny our children the same?

I’m in favour of the teachers collecting phones and handing them back at end of day. Yes there may be 1000s of pupils in a school but if it’s done by class then that’s 30 isn’t it. I also don’t think kids should have their phones in their bags so this would be a good compromise.

I’d also love to know where that PP has seen all these payphones.

And the PP who said ‘go to a nearer school’ - as if all parents have a choice. Where I am, secondary school location is literally pot luck as there aren’t enough in the catchment.

Because the safeguarding of identities of vulnerable children in school trumps that of others using phones to and from school. It might be the school had too many incidents of the pupils not turning their phones off so have had to ban them. As always, the minority not following the rules spoil it for the majority.

He can ask someone in the pastoral team for advice and support if he has an issue.

That's really not going to work when the kid is halfway home, only to discover all the trains for the next leg of his journey have been cancelled.

Or needs to tell his parents that his bike has got a puncture.

Or is on a delayed coach back from a school trip or a football match etc

I asked the same- got an eye roll and was told bus drivers, a police officer, paramedic or an adult. Not sure if this poster has secondary age kids taking the bus or has indeed even been out past their town in the last 30 years 🤣