Does your school allow phone use during day?

[StrugglingGrief]

I spotted this article on the BBC this morning.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgdx7ddz55o

Our senior school has never allowed phones during the day they are expected to be switched off during school hours 840-410.

i didn’t know other schools did. Does your’s? Children are told to go to reception if they need to contact parents and we contact reception if we need to contact them.

My kids school doesn't and never has, phones get convinced if seen in use and parents have to collect them.

The school I work at used to allow students to use them in break time. They brought in new rules last year that no phone use during the school day either, phones get convinced and sent to the front office for collection at the end of the day. We are more rural and school feels students need to be able to have phones to take home. They do get detentions for multiple infections.

We often need pupils to use them in class to access resources because the wifi is too poor for their school devices (so they use data). Not ideal obviously but no one will sort out the wifi

DD is in YR11 and is expected to have a phone with her. They use it to access the internet in class and online resources.

My day school has a blanket no phone ban for the whole day. He just leaves it at home.

No not allowed, has to be switched off and out sight, no adults visiting are supposed to have their phones out during the day either. It helps the school is in a very weird black hole for signal, it feels designed!

My children go to a school where phones are t allowed at all. If someone has an absolute need then it's kept in student services but that's very rare

I work in a semi school with many kids in care. We have a blanket no phones rule for safeguarding purposes.

No phones policy has just been implemented here. Not sure if/when they’ll be results in the affects of this but I should imagine it will be positive for those children - even if they don’t accept it!!

There are some diabetic children who are allowed their phones. (Obviously)

Yes, my 8 year old needs to use his phone at all times. It's basically a life support keeping him alive.

It’s a blanket no phones at my DDs school.
If they are seen they are confiscated and have to be collected by an adult but the reception desk closes at 4pm so impossible for a lot of parents to collect.
That said whenever they are on a trip or sports match the teachers will ask them to message parents if running late etc. Very occasionally science teachers ask them to photograph or film experiments and demonstrations. So it’s very confusing.

Phones are put in lock boxes in each class at DC’s school. Just implemented this year.

Of course if it’s necessary for health I didn’t mean that.

The children are allowed to keep their phones with them but they have to be switched off. I guess there is a lot of trust on that basis. My DC don’t appear to have broken that rule. On sports trips they are allowed to take their phones and then call parents on their way back so we know the collection time.

During lessons I’ve not heard of phone use or for research.

Not allowed during school day. Off and in bag or pocket.
Only school devices can be used on lessons.

There is an exemption for medical devices and in lessons the teachers are aware if a pupil has one

Primary was y6 could bring a phone and leave it at reception for the day. No phones in classrooms.

Secondary, phones allowed but switched off in bag unless directed to used foe educational purpose.

At the secondary I work at they are allowed but switched off in bags. Only allowed out for educational purposes for ks4, shouldn't be out at all at ks3.

No. Phones have to be handed in at the start of the day for y7-9, then from Y10 they can have them in school time aren't allowed to use them but are expected to self regulate and not use them in the school day.

No not allowed. Off and in bags. If they are seen to be using them they are confiscated until a parent comes to collect them or until the end of term.

It does help that the school is in a black hole for network so they can't use them anyway.

Are they at my school, it's odd we have no phone signal at all. Only in the car park, when contracts come in and need to make a phone call I'm always having to apologise and point them outside. It is like a odd black hole.

The WiFi works most of the time though, if we're not having a bad day. So I could never understand how the kids could use their phones previously.

So I’m not sure why this is such a big deal as it appears most schools don’t allow them anyway!

Cgm?
I would assume in those cases it's treated as a medical device my son is diabetic and has a Dexcom he was allowed to have his phone on the desk in front of him throughout his GCSE exams and he's now at college ,and his tutors know he has to have his phone on him at all times.

My DS’s school don’t allow any phones to be seen or heard at any time during the school day with various sanctions for doing so. For repeat offenders this includes having phone taken and given back at the end of term. DS hasn’t mentioned anyone having their phone taken. I think it’s pretty easy to comply when you know the consequence! At primary they could give phones in to reception ,in year 6, at the beginning of the day if they needed it to walk to and from school.

DD's school has an out of sight rule. They do sometimes use in class, but that's obviously with permission. If they are caught using it otherwise, it gets confiscated and a parent has to pick it up.

Ds finished school recently. His school have no specific mobile phone polices and sometimes they were used to support learning in class.

Any behaviour issues in class, or on breaks, regardless of whether it was with a mobile phone or not would be managed.

Blanket bans in school imo are a lazy approach and not teaching children how to navigate their use in the world they are growing up in.

No. I've always thought it was completely ridiculous to allow phones in the day and it formed part of our decision of where to send DD as one of our potential choices did allow phones.
When we were looking at secondaries, it seemed more common for private schools to ban phones - none of the private schools allowed them, but 2 out of 4 state schools did. That was a few years ago though.

Ours recently shifted from "switched off out of sight" to ban - phones are either handed in or in Yondr pouches for the full school day.

This was after a trial with years 7-8 which went well - the school reported students were less distracted, less tempted to just check their phones at break times/in the loo, behaviour overall improved. It's now rolled out across the whole school and it seems much better than a system that relies a lot on trust and the deterrent of punishment.

There are obviously exceptions for kids with eg diabetes, and there are of course kids who'll claim they didn't bring a phone to school/try to get around it (though the school gets parents to note at the start of the school year whether their child usually brings a phone and what make/model.) No system is foolproof but I think this is a much better system than them having their phones on them and having the temptation there all the time - part of the idea is embedding the idea that the world won't end if you don't check your phone for 7 hours.

I think this is ridiculous to be honest collecting 1000 + phones at the beginning of the day and giving them out again must be a logistical nightmare.