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.

I can remember my home phone number from 65 years ago. I remember it when it changed from the exchange to all numbers. I know my current phone numbers.

I cannot remember anyone else's because I don't 'dial' them

FGS!

It's a bus journey, surrounded by people, in the UK, not a solo track across South America.

I'm pretty sure any kid getting harrassed by a man (we will leave out all the female teachers who have been jailed for grooming children) would also be surrounded by other adults or children. I think you're creating a problem where it doesn't exist.

As for the stabbing? Yeah, bit extreme and I absolutely guarantee that other adults were there in seconds, if not already there when it happened. And it's not exactly a common occurrence is it? Little Jaden isn't stepping over dead bodies on the way to school.

She was worried about being able to contact DS. I assumed that was for non school purposes eg evenings and weekends.

1. None of my secondary aged kids have form time at the end of the day so the same 30 arnt together at the start and end of the day.
2. You could put in form time at the end but that would mean extending the school day hours as teaching time can’t be cut. That has huge ramifications on everyone as transport links and all arrangements would need to be altered for most pupils.
3. wont work anyway as lots of students will just bring a dummy phone to hand in.

And we're now well into the 21st century. It's about time schools joined it.

Tell me, when did you last do a bus journey across London without the benefit of a phone?

I honestly feel like this raises new safeguarding / safety issues. Some kids may have to get the bus to/from school from afar. If the bus breaks down, there's a traffic accident or otherwise kids should be able to communicate this to their parents. Or if something happens to the kid on the way home e.g. wants to pop to a mate's house, falls over and has an accident etc, the kid should be able to reach their parents. It's the 21st century FGS. I am totally against use of phones throughout the school day, so if teachers collect them and hand them out again later that should be an easy solution. But the unnecessary hassle of a total ban is ridiculous. I would be raising this with the governors.

Yes, but there were public phone boxes then!

Yes, but we had other resources available that DC don't have now. Like payphones, bus timetables on stops etc.

I was shocked when my friend said the same thing about her son’s school in SW London. And many of the kids travel a long way by public transport.
I think it goes too far and wouldn’t be happy with my child not having a means of contacting me on their journey.

The things you had to help you if there was a problem back then are now gone! Kids don’t have any of the same resources such as printed time tables, pay phones or even a helpful adult in most cases as everyone is too busy with headphones in head down in their own phone to notice and most people are far more suspicious of strangers now than they were 40 years ago.
Everything is run with the assumption that you have a smart phone to hand.
How can you not realise this in 2024?

Do people honestly think parents would by smart phones if their wasn't a need for them?

Well this is disgraceful for young females health and safety. And boys too.

One of the girls in my secondary was abducted and murdered.

Her phone didn’t save her but it might have saved others as sadly after that many would be approached asking students to get in the car. Happened to me twice so not just a rumour.

While AirTags are the best. Tile is very good too and works across iPhones and Androids. Give that a shot before buying an iPhone for AirTags.

I think handing them in works at Primary but at Secondary they do classes in different groups. At my DD's school her form are made up of DC in her house - she doesn't ever have classes with that group. They just keep them turned off in their bags and it works fine.

I don't think it's right that a school can confiscate someone's personal property.

With a young child, the phone may not even belong to them, but to the parent.

If only schools concentrated on education and not draconian rules. Keeping a phone switched off and in your bag during school hours is fine.

Get the school to agree to a text only phone. Kids travelling need to contact their parents etc when there are travel problems. If they say no what about a hiking tracker that has text messages via satellite. It would cost but it’s not a phone as it doesn’t have a SIM card or connection to the mobile network or the internet via wifi/mobile. I have such a device for when I’m out of range on a daily basis of the mobile network in case of emergency.

But actually not everyone did manage. DC with autism etc. They were just isolated. New technology/ideas has made things more inclusive, which I believe is a good thing. As well as of course making it safer which I wouldn't want to go back on either.

Did you choose to send your child to that school?

I would be happy with a phone switched off and in bag policy. If the phone is seen or heard it is confiscated. But that isn't the policy. They proactively search the children's bags for phones. A lot of children are doing long journeys across London.

I understand why they want no phone but it's not reasonable in this day in age.

We had mobiles when I was in secondary, well a few had them in primary but not everyone. One things though the pay phone in the school was still connected so I could call home if something changed.

I'm not sure if they allowed but maybe take the phone off a child for 24 hours if they are caught with it? Turned off in their bag, but I know they will all turn them on!

@penjil technically most phones probably don't belong to the children. If they are on a contract it will be the parents who are paying for it.

I wouldn't choose a school with such a long commute in the first place

our school had many discussions and consultations on this.

in the end phones are not allowed to be switched on at all on school grounds and have to be stored in the child's locker.
other devices used in school (tablets, laptop) have to be wifi only (no sim) and only the school's communication app can be installed.

school does random spot checks.

seems to be working well so far.

Simple solution would be for schools to allow those cheap, non-smartphone mobiles which do calls/texts but you can't access the internet. That way they're still contactable in an emergency.