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

I think it's ridiculous - dd's school is lose it for 5 days and i thought that was extreme..
Sad thing is has probably become necessary
Actually solution is kids follow the put it away rule then no issue. But so many days of education will be lost to this.

100% reasonable. My school has children who CANNOT be filmed. One had to leave a foster placement they’d been settled safely with for 4 years because the biological family tracked them down via being in the background of another child’s video, filmed in school and posted to social media. They threatened the lives of the carer and her family. No phones out in school isn’t an arbitrary rule, it can be life saving.

So a sensitive thing- like a knife or a gun.....
Come on bag searches are to keep children safe- not every school has metal scanners......

Wrt scholbags, we definiyely had joints, lighters and things that could be used as weapons if so inclined (which we weren't), but mine was a small, private girls' school and there wasn't ever any trouble.

Phones: DC's (normal inner city state secondary) school has a no phones rule but they're allowed in their bags off/silent and confiscated for 24 hours if seen or heard. Teachers tell me they never have any problems.

It's a pretty simple rule to follow. Don't like the punishment, don't break the rules. Don't like the rules, look for a different school. I'm all for no phones in schools and would back the school 100%. Phones have no place in schools, and if kids can't go through a school day without one, then it's a massive problem that requires radical solutions.

They could just do the sanctions without the pouches.

in my DCs school they’ve put dumb phones in, used Apple Watches (now banned), they’ve unpicked the stitching and seen in Velcro. Bought the magnets to unlock them.

for the kids, it was just a challenge. No one used their phones because of the sanctions

They have different pouches for this so are allowed access.
DCs school nurse also has it sent to her as well

3 days suspension! I think that's ridiculous. I very much agree with no phones during the school day, but 3 days suspension is overkill. I'm guessing a lot of kids have just found a foolproof way of getting a few days at home.

Some of this is so eye-opening. DS is due to start secondary in September and all the schools we looked round made a big deal about the fact that they had a no-phones policy (implemented in various ways) and children were never expected to use phones in lessons. It was literally one of their selling points, but I never realised these schools were unusual as they all basically had the same policies.

Easy rule to follow.
if you don’t like it, there are plenty of other schools to go to. This is a school making a stand. No doubt the rules have been ignored up til now.
Your choice. Comply or move on.

I am actually a strong advocate for no phones. But three days does seem extreme with no other background story. Tbf though if you do the crime, do the time.

As an aside, we have a local school, no phones at all. Two others that allow phones.

It’s actually a pleasure seeing the kids from the no phones school walking to school laughing and chatting with each other. Phone schools and the kids are walking along side by side staring at screens it’s so sad!

If you had any idea how much time is wasted every single school day by staff trying to manage student phone usage, you’d be 100% behind a 3 day suspension as punishment.

Ours is until the end of term and you would be shocked how many parents come into reception shouting about it and demanding the phone back. The world’s gone mad.

Do you worry about your children following instructions when they enter the workplace? It’s a rule, nothing will happen if you follow it. Just do as you’re told.

You paid with cash everywhere and used public phone boxes. Neither of which are always easily accessible now. Families also managed without central heating and indoor toilets but I don’t see anyone not embracing those. We are not preparing them to be adults if we completely ban phones, that is not the world we live in anymore. A three day suspension is ridiculous and illustrates what is important to the school when assaults and bullying are probably given the same or lesser punishment.

the rules don’t say the child can’t use the phone outside school (so they can still use bus apps etc, make after school arrangements etc) . Everything else is within the power of the school to change - they dont have to use apps for homework or expect children to use phones in lessons. Plenty of schools have implemented no phone use in school hours policies and seem to be managing just fine.

Perhaps they will be self-employed and not just blindly following instructions from other people. Judging by those around me those are the ones with plenty of cash to spare.

Thems the rules...take your chances

Sounds like phones are a serious collective problem compared with fighting.

If the rule is no phones then that's the rule. There has to be some punishment that means something otherwise what's the point.

The hell? Oh my goodness, that's inhumane. You couldn't treat someone like that in a prison. What happened eventually?

Why do they need their phone during school time? If anything was to happen etc family emergency you would surely phone the school and vice versa. Also they have computers so they could easily email or use SM to send a message to a parent. You can’t have your phone on you in certain jobs so best they get use to it now.

Crazy how you can't take 3 days off for a holiday etc because even one day off school is "missing valuable education" and "causing disruption to teaching", but can get suspended for 3 days for something as petty as this, which apparently doesn't miss valuable education or cause disruption. What's wrong with detention?

3 days suspension would be seen as a reward by some kids. I think they would be better employed picking up litter or cleaning etc so that it isn't a break from school - I believe a bit of community service around the school would be much more of a deterrent.

LT1233 - you would have 500 pupils in Detention!

I dont think the two things are comparable in quite the same way.

Personally I dont feel that suspension is a suitable punishment for anything, though should be used if its about keeping another pupil safe whilst a plan is worked out.

The 3 day suspension for using your phone I think could be reasonable, as it is a large enough punishment to be a good deterrent for something that lots of people might want to actively engage in, but massively disrupts the school day, thier learning etc.

The punishments for physical agression might not seem as severe, but the motivation for such behaviour is different and the rule of 'no agression' is likely to be broken by a much smaller number of people.

It's a condition of entry. If you don't like the rule, choose another school. It's been this way for at least 10 years.

We have no issues with phones during the school day. After the end of school- it's the parents' responsibility.