3 day suspension for having phone out in school

[TooBored1]

Would you think this was reasonable?

For context my DC's school is consulting on going phone free - pupils will have to put their phone into a lockable pouch when they enter school. They will be subject to random bag checks, and if your phone is not in the locked pouch, or if you are caught using it, there will be an automatic 3 day suspension.

Overall, I'm in favour of going phone free, but I think the punishment is too much, especially as it is harsher than that given for fighting/bullying or disrupting lessons.

I also don't think it will prevent cyber bullying, as, as experienced by both my children, this happens in the evening, rather than during the day.

The punishment is ok - your are being unreasonable
The punishment is not ok - you are not being unreasonable

What sanction is imposed if the rule is broken?

You're absolutely right. As well as cashless payments for school dinners, DD's timetable is on an app through her phone, and her school bus pass is on a separate app. They make it impossible for kids not to have phones in school

Rules are fine if they are sensible and proportionate. But we should be encouraging young people to ask questions and challenge where they think there's an injustice, or another solution that reaches the same aim without infringing rights. When we all blindly follow rules just because 'thats the rules' then we're in trouble...

I’d prefer this rule over having it confiscated. I don’t agree with them being taken away as they are the property of parents.

It’s our job as a parent to back the school up and tell our kids that if they get it out/ don’t lock it away then they know the consequence. I’d also be taking the phone away for the 3 days suspension.

yea, it’s harsh. But I bet it works over a detention!

I think my kid’s school must be so crazy. They need their phones! If they don’t have a smart phone (or a tablet) in some classes, they need to borrow one from the school. They’re told to use them to look things up, to go check stuff on google classroom etc .
There are consequences for misuse, but they can have their phones out all the time. Just like most adults do at work really.

School meals here are paid for via parentpay - payment is fingerprint.

I don't really understand the personal safety argument? What situations would occur in school where your child needs the phone for personal safety? If that's a concern you have a lot bigger problem with the school.

Phones create safety issues - they encourage mugging. They are used for upskirting and bullying as well as distracting kids from school work. My kids school has banned phones for ten years - it is one of the best performing schools in the UK and there are very few behavioural or safety issues.

Well they are doing really as this is at consultation stage, it hasn’t been blindly implemented and may not be at all yet. They are literally proposing an idea and asking for opinions

I can see why you think it's a bit harsh, but such is kids' addiction to their phones, and such is the lack of support among parents for school rules, that it's going to take a hefty deterrent (and a punishment which inconveniences parents) to actually make kids obey the rule.

Pretty much all schools already have sanctions for being caught using your phone in school. It doesn't work. Kids get around the rules or just rely on not getting caught.

Phones are disruptive. I’d fully support the school. The same mistake won’t be made twice.

The problem with taking the phone is cashless payments and in my da case he got a taxi to and from school.

Many need their phones for travel to school but they don’t need it in school.

So if they use the phone in school the punishment of taking it away causes things like travel issues and not being able to pay for lunch etc.

Thats why confiscate my child’s phone if they were suspended - they would t need it!

Given the constant pressure to have 100% attendance, the letters telling us how much our child will suffer if they miss so many days etc and the stupid award systems in place for not being ill all year, this is ridiculous and hypocritical. I say that as someone who feels schools should be phone free and would support them having the pouches, but that punishment is ridiculous.

Quite a few bairns now have a Libre for Diabetes , the app is on their phone ,which needs to be with them in order to sound an alarm if they go Hi or Low.............Its bound to cause ructions if some are allowed phones and others not

Same here, school timetable and bus pass are both on an app.
As is his gym membership and football season ticket. Those are not needed for school but it just shows how access to a phone is central to school life.

When kids get sick, unless very serious injury they ask the kids themselves to phone home to get collected or let parents know they're coming home.
Last minute timetable changes are communited via SMS. It's not the simple solution it appears to be, technology is part of life!

Yet in adult life there are times when we have to follow rules even if we don’t agree that they are “sensible and proportionate”.

We set kids up for failure if we don’t teach them that sometimes you have to follow rules even if you don’t agree with them or think they are fair.

What? What is this witchcraft?

They hand their phone in after they get to school (obviously) and get it back before they go home, so paying for a taxi is no issue.

Your ds just needs to stick to the rules.

If you are worried about it, get your ds a bank card and he can pay with that. Then when he gets home, tear him off a strip for having his phone confiscated. It will be his fault. No-one else's.

Sadly they have to go all out with phones as detentions just don't cut it. It's not hard, put the phone in the pouch and job done, and they will be fine.
At the school my DH works at if they see or hear a phone it is confiscated and the parents have to come in and sign for it on the next Friday. Causes a lot of inconvenience (good), as many pupils live far away.

@TooBored1 I have some sympathy. This obviously has nothing to do with safety as DC has phone on way to school and again after school. Can you imagine how we managed pre mobile phone? We did.

It’s about disruption and not following rules. The phone in school policy and punishment should be as set out in the school’s behaviour policy and 3 days sounds harsh to me. Fighting and violence is definitely a worse crime. However your DC hasn’t done what was asked of him or his phone would not have been noticed. What did you understand the current phone policy to be? What punishments are attached to breaking it? Are they set out?

Schools cannot consult on a policy and implement it before they have concluded the consultation. Not that consulting is anything more than a cosmetic exercise. When a policy is clearly explained to all, there’s secure boxes for phones, and punishments are made clear, then they can implement 3 days suspension if phone is seen. If that’s the punishment for a first offence.

If this is a first offence, and not the latest in a long line of offences, I would contact the governors to hear your complaint. They cannot overturn the exclusion but they can listen if it’s patently unfair. I would only do this if your DC has not been a phone nuisance and is well behaved in every other respect. Otherwise you have to suck it up. I would have thought 1 day was reasonable. The head is making a point.

I agree fully with this as its an easy rule to follow. Imo phones should never have been allowed to creep into schools full stop.

When people start complaining about phone bans in school, they remind me of the mums that handed cheeseburgers through the school railings when Jamie Oliver dared to make their lunches healthier

I disagree. It's perfectly simple. Any child can understand that serious medical exceptions may be made. They don't have to like it. They just have to stick to the rule.

Surely that only works with the consent of the parent? Otherwise it’s ultimately theft

DC school has a problem with attendance so highly unlikely to implement something like this. Lots of kids don't actually like going to school, so this would be an excellent way out of it.
Their phone rule is: taken for the day if seen, then detention, then perhaps a day internal exclusion if seen again within the same term.
It surprises me that a school would want a lot of exclusions, it's not great on their record, they must be fairly confident that no one will break the rule.

OP, what other kinds of behaviour would get a three day exclusion?

yeah but his food is gross

Well no becsuse in that case it's being used as a medical device
My sons diabetic he has Dexcom, he was diagnosed I year 11 just before his GCSE,s he was allowed his phone in the exam hall placed on the desk in front of him with a big sign saying do not remove for medical reasons.