Mobile phone ban in school- not sure what is reasonable!

[greenmarsupial]

My children’s secondary school have just sent out an email about the new DfE guidance on mobile phones in school. Currently, they are allowed to bring them but they must be off and in their bags during the school day.

The school are consulting parents on options but with a heavy steer. It sounds like any lockable option is time -consuming and expensive so they would probably like to just say no phones whatsoever.

I do fully support the school and would reinforce rules around phones but for some reason this has made me quite cross as I feel it oversteps. My kids often go to the local leisure centre after school- they need the app to book and get in. They need Apple Pay to buy anything… I appreciate we could probably ask if the leisure centre does physical cards and they could carry a bank card so there are get arounds but why do we need to when that’s not the direction of travel for most things?

I am far from in constant contact with my kids but I do find it helpful to check their location and for them to be able to let me know if they need collecting - the plan is normally to walk but if friends don’t go or a club us cancelled then we need to communicate. I’m all for them having restrictions but I think that’s my place as a parent.

I’m happy to be told I’m wrong about all this- my gut reaction was just to be annoyed. I know we didn’t have tracking and text in the 90s but I was definitely a teen who was rarely where I told my parents I was so maybe it’s paranoia although this generation seem almost too sensible 😂

In SE London it is not uncommon. It happened to a colleague of mine at a bus stop outside the school. A young man on a motorbike grabbed her iPhone then sped away.

Strangely no-one has gone for my ancient Samsung...

Sounds like a great school taking action to combat the significant problems caused by phones in schools. Most schools banning smartphones allow a brick phone in a bag - great solution, you can contact your child but it goes a long way to protect them from the harmful material shared on social media and WhatsApp groups.

I agree. Mine starts secondary after the summer and I’d be much happier with phones in bags and out of sight switched off, as it currently is. Most of these kids are making their own way home or have activities/ socialising straight after school. I’d prefer her to be contactable. Our school haven’t realised any advance notice of any rule change so I’m hoping it stays as is.

Thank you - I can't imagine that at all, teachers are not security guards!

A lot of children that live in rural areas are bussed into school. The buses leave very soon after the final bell and if you miss one, you are probably going to need to phone your parents to collect you. The phones should be allowed in school but locked in pouches during the day.

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https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591513775169

How does it protect them at home?

If there’s a behaviour policy around phone use on school grounds that is adhered to, then that should be enough. If it’s not adhered to, then why would a complete ban work any better?

Our school introduced no phones seen on site from start of day till the designated finish time (1440 and 1530) about a year ago. It's actually worked really well, kids respect it as they know if phones are seen they are confiscated till end of the week.

Because of the location of the school, majority of the kids all use some form of public transport. Before Easter, the local train service went off between the station next door to the school and the airport. Kids were getting to the station and putting phones on and the disruption alert was coming through on the operators app. Kids were then able the phone for help getting home.

I even saw a group of the high school kids letting kids from one of the middle schools who didn't have phones use theirs to contact parents to come and get them from the station!

If lockers are too time consuming, bag checking will be more so.

We have a no phone policy in the school I work in, but really as long as they can’t be heard or seen then we’re not checking bags. We’ve to confiscate them if we see them though, which still happens several times a day for me.

I’m pretty anti phones for kids and fully support schools banning them - but I also strongly agree that it’s over stepping for the school to dictate what personal items kids can use when they are not on school grounds. I feel similarly about dictating how blazers must be worn to and from school.

Ooh, interesting!