Mobile phone ban in school

[Scalagala]

Post inspired by comments on other thread. Would you support a blanket ban on mobile phones in your school? This means no mobile phones - including brick phones - to be allowed in school at all, so hence no access on the way home / on to other activities.
YABU - support a blanket ban.
YANBU - schools could adopt other methods such as pouches or phones off during school day.

Schools use apps that need to be accessed via a smartphone or tablet. Everywhere uses apps. Many homes don’t have a landline. The fact that the world is so app dependent for everything is isolating for adults who struggle with technology.

Really a 1000 phones all held by reception. Who's ensuring the correct kid gets their phone back?

Who's responsible if a phone goes missing from reception.
Who's insurance are the phones covered by?

If the average phone is worth say £400 × 1000 kids, that's £ 400,000 worth of phones in a box or filing cabinet.

The phone pouches aren’t necessary.

There are lots of ways schools can store phones depending on the size of the school and the facilities.

Our design department built a pigeon hole style wall in our office where the kids store their phones during exams - each pigeon hole is numbered so the kids just tell the office staff what number they are when they come to pick their phones up. I’ve also been in schools where they have lock boxes for each form class that are stored in the office.

Storing and returning phones does take up staff time and space though, and as per, this is something the government has mandated without thinking about the practical consequences for schools. It’s all very well saying oh they can just put them in their lockers but we all know they won’t and then that’s more staff time and disruption to learning having to police it constantly during the day.

The easiest solution of course is them not bringing phones to school at all, but as discussed on this thread, many parents would not be comfortable with that and the reality is that so many of our everyday interactions have now been made dependent on phone usage (bank cards, transport apps, google maps), it would be very difficult in some areas of the country for children to get to and from school without one. Weaning kids off smartphones will need to be a more joined up process if it’s going to be practicable. We can’t have school bus services that require an app or school lunch services that require an app if we’re also trying to ban mobile phones in schools, can we? It just goes to show how little government ministers actually know about the realities on the ground.

My kids school used to allow them at break/lunch but now have a blanket ban on use at anytime in the day, there were various incidents of people taking photos of others to bully/share etc, trouble controlling phone use in lessons, all the kids were zombies staring down at the phones that you could see in the playground when you drove past…

all the kids still have them in their bags of course - mainly as the school recognise that kids needs them for travel/ to be contactable before and after school, but must not be seen or used at school.

it seems to be working well, and according to my kids everyone talks to each other again at break times! Of course they do sneakily use their phones in their bags (my daughter messages me from the loos when she’s having a tough day) but it’s kind of obvious who is doing that in public and if they get caught out staring into a bag for any length of time 🤣

There are ways round this my
children, youngest yr 12, went to school that has always had complete phone ban in
school. Lunch I pay online and I think they used fingerprint id when paying, homework etc written in a paper planner - there is an app for use at home but absolutely no need for phone in school. I am so pleased my children went to a school which has always had a blanket ban on phones.

Our school had a pay phone to.
As did the shop across the road. I also passed another 2 or 3 on my way home. either in corner shops or phone boxes.

IMHO there’s a gap in the market for a phone that allows the smart tech of bus and train travel, access to maps but zero access to the internet other than for phone calls and messaging and music.

And no camera. That’s the bit that gets overlooked. The safeguarding / MH issues / bullying issues linked to photos and videos, which is the main pull to social media, is huge.

I don’t know what has happened locally since Easter but there’s been a number of emails from Northumbria police to remind parents and teens that there are strict laws around taking an sharing of some images and their child could be prosecuted. Police have been into some schools to discuss it also.

I have heard of many examples of teachers refusing really poorly kids who have asked to go home/ring home and to try and stick it out so no.

My kids both have different health problems which need hospital treatment and come on very suddenly so they would always need access to 999 aka a phone that can't be withheld from them by someone.

I agree with you on the banning for under 18s - so for this reason I think pouches are not the answer, as they normalise smartphone ownership. I think the aim should be gradually looking back with horror at what we did to a generation of kids’ brains and mental heath.

And they can access those apps at home on an iPad or laptop, or at school on a school device.

No need for a mobile.

The pouches work for the kids who follow the rules anyway. Other kids get round it by bringing in a spare phone, or breaking the yondr (thank you tiktok). They're happy to risk a spot check. Parents are supposed to pay to replace them, but I can't see that happening.

DD’s school have used Yondr pouches for around a year. I wouldn’t support a blanket ban as we pick up dd after school on our way to get younger dd from primary.

She messages to let us know she’s on her way out, she comes out of school between 2.45 and 3pm depending on classes/where she is in the queue to unlock her phone at the end of the day, we clock out of work to do the school run and can’t afford to be there 15mins early if she doesn’t get out until 3.

Sometimes we’re running late and need to let her know someone else will be picking her up or she needs to walk somewhere else to meet us, sometimes she needs to walk the other way, sometimes we are early and parked up somewhere and need to let her know so no phone at all would be detrimental to us, and we shouldn’t have to purchase a new brick phone (that we then couldn’t track her on and would have to pay extra for texts/calls etc) when she’s got a perfectly good old iPhone that costs us £6pm and we can track where she is.

Agree. There needs to be a massive culture change.

Current yr 1 and reception parents need to get on board with this.

I’m some ears of the city kids get a smartphone end of year two going into y3.

I couldn’t believe that recent (external) safeguarding training was encouraging parents to make sure children’s WhatsApp groups were limited to the school year cohort ffs, with y3 given as an example.

to be clear, the groups the kids were in.

What is banning phones in school going to actually do? Kids will still have said phone when they get home, or am I missing something?

In my children's school, they are allowed to take their phones but it's made clear, they have to be switched off. Anyone seen with their phone or a notification sound is heard, its confiscated for 48 hours!

Like I mentioned earlier, a ban in schools will not stop children having their phones when they get home, which surely is seen as the bigger issue in regards to social media. Happy to be corrected!

You are missing something.
Students still use their phones.
They go to the bathrooms, they find quiet spots outside, they ask to leave the classroom, they message from within the classroom….
I get parents every day phoning me to say their child has phoned them to say they feel unwell.

This is worrying. Schools - some more than others - are much more focused on an attendance tick than doing what’s right for an unwell child.

My dc have a long (hour and 45 min) journey to school using an unreliable bus followed by a taxi. I want them to have a phone to call me when they end up stuck somewhere (this has happened a number of times).

I have no issue with them not having access to a phone at school, but I want them to have it for the journey.

Luckily our school use lockable pouches, which seem like a good compromise.

And then you hear/ see the phone and they refuse to hand it over. So then you go through the rigmarole of connecting slt to get it from them. They hand it over- to make sure you know your place; or they argue and it escalates.

All of which wastes teaching time.

My DS is 14 and he has a phone. He mainly uses it to WhatsApp and call us - he used to find it convenient to be able to message us about plans/changes during his break times and after school. He doesn't use it that often; but then we have a lawn mower that we don't use over 99% of the time, but we still need it.

He now cannot do this and he has to go to the school reception to ask them to phone us - like a nursery child asking a grown-up to speak to mummy or daddy for them.

I judge parents (and schools) who assume that, because they obviously don't have a teenager who can be/has been properly brought up/disciplined to use a phone responsibly and sensibly, all teenagers shouldn't have a phone.

Phones are here to stay and it's ridiculous trying to be like King Canute and denying they exist, or at least keeping young people from learning about them until they are 18. Do we do this for other life skills? People who didn't understand the internet in general used to scoff about what a pointless fad it was, and that we have books, so nobody actually has a need for it.

Do we ban PSHE lessons at school about money management, budgeting, loans, interest etc. and assume that they will be able to instantly learn once they're an adult and old enough to need that knowledge?

Saying "They can have a brick phone" is like the people who parrot "Bring back national service!" without really having any idea of how it would work in practice, but they just think it makes them sound clever and original. Modern life is designed around having your whole life on a smartphone - I'm amazed at any parents who would genuinely want to hold their children and teenagers back from learning about and becoming familiar with this essential part of life and hinder them in this way.

The main demographic of people who have brick phones - many elderly people - are also 'coincidentally' the same demographic that ends up digitally excluded, struggling to stay integrated and isolated from society in many ways. Is that really what you want for your children, who will eventually simply not have the 'luxury' that current old folk have of just about being able to manage without one.

Because we all worship at the mighty altar of ofsted. And ofsted like to fuck you up the arse sideways if your attendance is poor. No excuses; no mitigating circumstances: if attendance to school is poor, the school's to blame.

You’ll get the whole “didn’t need a phone in my day” comments - but I prefer mine to have one to contact me from the bus/club/friends in case there’s any issues or change of plan.

had to use a few times due to a missed bus and and another for when a club was cancelled and no way to get back. Also when he wanted to go to a friends.

It helps his independence and confidence. He uses maps to find places and help when lost and has the bus app on there too.

Theres been loads of these threads and it always ends in a bun fight between those who think the kids could walk miles or ask a policeman when lost, and those who just want their kids to be independent and know they're safe.

currently at school it’s phones off once onsite. Seems to work ok.

Our sons school has a complete ban on phoned unless its a medical device, so type one diabetics, children with hearing aids for example. Anyone else found with a phone has it removed until an adul collects it. It has been their policy for at least four years when you look at the policies available on their website.

Virtually all of the pupils walk, get a bus or the metro to the school from the age of seven. They will be banned in all schools here when school starts again in August. Children 2 and under are already banned from using screens in nursery and there are no screen based requirements for children between 3-6.

Good post.

we have a fairly locked down phone, rules and phone checks. All very sensible and no drama.

Mine go to school quite a long way away, with a long, unreliable bus. They also do various after school activities. I’d be fine with a complete smartphone ban, but I’d prefer them to have access to a non smart phone for their journeys to and from school

This is the issue.
At the school I work at, many students travel by train or bus, often in the dark in winter if they have after school sports practice or clubs. I wouldn't travel in the dark without a phone and walk distances each end without a phone so I wouldn't expect a minor to. But I don't want to see them by day.
They have to be off in bags, and if we see one (even at break time), it goes to the office and a parent has to collect it and detention given. That causes massive inconvenience as many parents live miles away!