To wonder what the ban on smartphones across 17 schools in South London will acheive.

[ThatMother2024]

The Guardian reports that 17 schools are uniting to ban smartphones. I have no idea what this is expected to acheive, what the evidence base is and whether kids will just devise some easy workaround.

@LizzieSiddal that's how strict school needs to be.

I do work in a secondary school, and it's a resounding yes to all of those depressingly. It is rare that I have a full hour lesson where I don't see at least one student glancing at theirs (and that's just the ones I catch). Our school has rules about mobile phones, but they're not well implemented (to the point it's like fighting against the tide) and although we're meant to confiscate, we just tell children to put them away unless they are actively doing something very wrong that we can clearly see (making a phone call, filming fights etc). At that point we ask to confiscate, at which point they say "no" and laugh at you...

I think we're actually at the point where there needs to be a formal ban in place for all schools. The evidence shows they're so bloody detrimental to education on the whole!

Thank you for the acerbic remark.

My dc are currently moaning about the planned ban in their school. The school will have phone pouches so every child locks the phone in the pouch at the start of the day, carries the locked pouch with them and unlocks at the end of the day. They need phones for the commute (45 mins or so on public transport across London) but this should help them focus in lessons and reduce screen time in lunch breaks. So I'm in favour of it.

I do wonder if they will all start getting Apple Watches instead.

That’s horrible. That is depressing indeed.

I used to teach before everyone had a phone, and I cannot imagine how teachers manage now when all the kids have them. Should never have been allowed in schools at all.

My son’s school takes them at reception, puts them in a pouch and hands them back at the end of the day.

My kids both take their phones to school. (2 different schools). One has a no phones policy, the other provides a pouch which is locked during school time.

There were issues when kids initially got their phones in year 6 (recommended by school as they transition to walking home without parents - London) and kids wrote silly things on WhatsApp or made tiktoks even though they are too young to have the app. Plenty of lessons and talks in school when these things happened and as a result, we've had no issues at all with phone use at secondary school.

My kids travel a long distance to school so need it for when buses/trains don't go to plan. They look at them during the 'sit down' part of their commute and for about an hour in the evenings (child 2 hasn't looked at all tonight as they've gone from homework to sport to shower to bed). I don't begrudge screen time when they rise at 6.15, get home at 6 after a sports match, then do homework and sometimes more sport training before shower and bed. If kids are kept busy then the phone use is limited, functional (eg: meeting up) and regulates to use that of normal for an adult.

I'm baffled as to all of the poor school behaviours listed in the quote. I guess that's a sign of the times in some schools. It's not a phone problem, it's a behaviour problem.

I'm hoping by the time my DC is secondary age more parents will band together and agree to not give kids smartphones.

Simple phone for texts/calls
All they need

If you’re finding it difficult to work out for yourself then I suggest you volunteer in a secondary and you’ll soon find out.

😂

It’s not surprising though, is it, when so many adults don’t seem able to walk along the street or walk their dog or push a child in a pram, without gazing at their phone.

Young people really can’t bear to e parted from them and everyone has either forgotten, or has never known what it’s like to live in a world where you’re not connected constantly to technology.

I hope a ban would achieve more focus in lessons and ultimately fewer instances of poor behaviour. Maybe it’s a vain hope, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t try to do something about the chaos that schools are rapidly turning into.

Perhaps also fewer grammatical mistakes;)

Schools are making evidence based decisions. Behaviour and focus improve significantly when phones are banned completely.

Why do they need a phone to walk home from school?

I work in a high, not even in the classroom and have witnessed almost all of this behaviour.

Luckily we have recently cracked down on phone use in school and they are now confiscated if seen. It's not totally ideal as they are given back at the end of the day so confiscation at the end of last lesson is very problematic.

@PrincessTeaSet that poster said her children use public transport.
So they may need to phone as their payment method.
To phone a parent/taxi when the public transport doesn't turn up or stops for a random reason.
To go online and find out why the public transport hasn't turned up......

Even without the list of bad phone use, the distraction caused by constant alerts is a good enough reason to ban them in lessons.

I'm pretty strict with my (sixth form) students in a setting where they are allowed unlimited access - no phones on desks, and if I have to remind them more than once it goes on my desk.

My youngest (yr 8) was saying how they ought be able to have phones out at break and lunch at school.
My yr 12 replied instantly - how would you have ever made friends?
She is absolutely correct. All heads down, scrolling, no conversation, no games, no laughter. The lost social interaction has got to be the number one reason for banning, never mind the potential crimes committed.

They do get used in class educationally, but the benefits of no phones would outweigh the losses. If we were well stocked with tablets we could use those (ha ha).

A step in the right direction. Spain are proposing banning social media for under 16s the tide seems to finally be turning (very slowly)

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/spain-ban-children-under-16-social-media-3093398

In relation to the advice in year 6 do you mean? It was a combination of parents being able to call the kids if they did not get home on time or kids being able to call in the event of a change of plan or problem.

my year 6 is getting a basic Nokia phone, despite what seems to be the majority of friends getting smartphones especially for starting secondary. I could find no good reason why a smartphone was required in year 7, it seemed to be mostly so they wouldn’t feel left out.
If more schools across the U.K. could do what these London schools have announced maybe parents would stop buying them for year 7 and children wouldn’t feel left out of the smartphone cliques, as they wouldn’t exist 😣

So annoying for me that I had in place no phone for school with my middle two (having had three through school already) and now the school bus pass is going to app only from September.

There was zero need for them to have them from bus stop to school and back again, but now they’re essential.

The HT is furious as well, so I’m hoping something like a pouch set up will be brought in. It’s a big school though and most of the pupils are bussed in so it’s going to be tricky for the school to confiscate.

stupid decision by whoever at the council made it.

Students can bring their phones into school but if they have them out when in school, they are (supposed to be) confiscated.
Smartphones are a massive issue. Kids will film staff members, other students and all sorts if they get the chance and for many kids this is a safeguarding concern.
.............Not to mention having phones in the toilets.

A colleague told me a couple of days ago about a child who had taken her phone, gone to the toilet and taken pictures on it. He then accused her of child abuse (as the pictures were on her phone). You don't even need a pin to take pictures on most phones. It's swipe and click.

Lets not be naive about what kids get up to!

About the phones for walking to/from school thing....perhaps there needs to be more public phones put back in place.
My walk to secondary was about 25 minutes.
I walked past 3 public phone boxes (and there was one more slightly further on from my house that my friend walked past).
All those phone boxes are now gone.

This with bells on!