Banning brick phones on journeys from school

[Gridloch]

Are they seriously considering banning brick phones so children can’t be contacted before/after school? How is that sledgehammer to crack a nut rational or defensible?

https://www.scotsman.com/education/parents-allow-brick-phones-in-school-or-campus-ban-will-fail-8943319

It’s not a public bus it’s a private coach company. I used to pay the school, who paid the bus company, and the driver had a list of names. Now I pay the bus company and they require DD to show her ticket on the coach company’s app.

I don’t understand your post though - buses couldn’t have been app-only tickets pre mobile phones.

Have you complained to governors. Banning phones when the school coach needs you to show an app is perverse. They can add if you travel by Bloggs coach to school to exempt list.

School is no place for a smart phone. Brick phones should absolutely be allowed.

It's really lovely that so many people never had a bother as a teenager, coming and going from school. As someone who got screamed at, tripped over on the bus.... As someone who then avoided the bus because of that and walked home 5 miles in fear most days, it was a very lonely and scary place to be.

Am I placing that anxiety on my child? Maybe. I've had messages from them over the last few years. Usually dickheads on the bus, so I've drove to the bus stop to make sure he isn't followed off. Twice for bike malfunctions that they couldn't fix themselves. As a kid, I'd have walked it home and been okay, but it's still shit.

Why some parents are so set on a "well I did without and I was okay" attitude is short sighted but I'm so glad you all and your children raise no cause for anxiety

The school needs to use the pouches as a compromise. Our school has them and the kids complained for 2 weeks then just got on with it. Then they can travel to and from school with phones but they're locked away for the school day!

I’ve emailed the school, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Will see what they reply before escalating.

It seems an unworkable policy regardless - DD seems to think around 70% of pupils will need their phone for the bus journey. Any child with an exemption will hand their phone in at the start of the day and get it back at the end. They have introduced a second tutor period at the end of the day to accommodate this (at the expense of learning time), but it would mean somewhere in the region of 700 phones being handed in and returned on a daily basis if they allow kids on buses to be exempt.

They have always been strict on phones - any phone seen in school was confiscated and would only be returned to the parent. Which meant a 40 mile round trip for some parents. My kids have never had their phone confiscated and DD says it’s rare anyone does. I supported this policy, but the new one is nonsense.

My son's school allow brick phones in bag for emergency. In 3 years he's never used it and no longer bothers taking it so it wouldn't bother me if they banned them.

It's been good for him. Instead of just phoning me if something goes wrong he finds a way of dealing with it. The journey to and from school with his friends is much more fun as none of them have phones with them. So I'm glad the school don't use pouches.

Bus tickets are on an arrival connect smart card so no app needed.

I think the idea of phones getting handed in is equally crazy.
How long will that take and how do you ensure that the cupboard they are locked in is actually safe and secure.

Who's responsible if a phone goes missing, accidently handed to the wrong person, or if someone claims to have handed one in but didn't.

Even a class full of relatively budget phones, say £300 a phone, x 30 kids is £9000 in a cupboard.

It should be simple phones in bottom of bag, switched off in class.

£300 for a "budget" phone 😂😂😂
Any parent who thinks that's a budget phone is on a different planet.
I have an emergency dumb/brick phone. It cost me £10 from Argos.
(although the same one is now £8).
It makes phone calls and sends texts.
It does have a camera but it's fairly rubbish.
It doesn't even have the snake game 😂
This is the type of phones that should be allowed in schools and having the switched off in your bag rule.

The form for the exemption is clear that the school accepts no liability for loss/damage/theft of any phones handed in…

How many of you "zero tolerance for children having phones" types are willing to have YOUR child be the statistically rare rape/kidnap/murder victim to back up your "in my day" bullshit?

This isn't the past. Even if it were, the past wasn't safe either.

How gregarious of you to offer up other people's children to predators because of YOUR prejudices about phones.

There are no public phones to call 999 with any more but you want children to not even carry a brick phone for accidents and emergencies.

Despicable selfish attitudes still abound on here. I've been away from this place for years and nothing has changed.

They have to be handed in. This is non negotiable.Hoards of schools already collect in phones, even primary schools. I don’t want my kids in a school with other children having access to phones during the school day. I don’t want my kids filmed on the way into school or in school. Kids don’t do as they are told and can’t be trusted.

I think it’s becoming very clear why behaviour is so appalling in schools. Parents finding excuses and arguing against school rules. What chance do children have growing up in an environment like that?

dc public transport pass is only available on an app (not uk) you can get other tickets but they are a lot more expensive, without child/student discount.

school has lockers for each pupil though and dc are expected to leave their phone in there during the school day.

You’ll sometimes get a kid with a medical exemption though who not only has their smartphone with them but has it out on their desk so you can never say never.

Weirdly enough, plenty of schools solve the issue, even with smartphones.
Our school: medical devices need an official ok, which comes with a note on tbe student account, and a laminated card attached to the phone
Everyone else: Parents need to register that their child gas a phone . Registered phones handed in at registration, collected at registration. Phones go in a locked drawer.
Phone seen at school means it gets confiscated and can only get collected by a parent between 10:30 and 11:00 monday - thursday. its meant to be a pain for parents ;)
No major behavioural issues, no phone issues, safe children (rural school, most need smartphones)
We also had to sign that bringing phones to school is entirely our own risk, so nobody has even remotely new/expensive phones. most have 4/5 year old phones

Is anyone aware of any existing groups or petitions against this overkill?

How does reception manage this? Super curious on the logistics as it's a huge sticking point for our school. The reception space is tiny and it would take ages for 800 kids to queue up each morning and afternoon - and then getting the right phone back to each person is another nightmare. There must be a way around this but no one seems to be able to come up with one (very much the chat of the PTA meeting!)

I assume she meant registration as in form time or tutor time (or whatever the school calls it).
The 10/15 or so minutes where the register (attendance) is taken and messages given out.
At lot of schools do form time at both the beginning and the end of the day now.
Plenty of time to put 30 phones in a box and then hand them out again at the end of the day.

Oh! Sorry - both live in Scotland and grew up in the states so my terms are all confused. Our school doesn’t do that so wouldn’t help but that does seem like a solution (excerpt they’re allowed them at lunchtime and whenever they leave campus for other schools etc so would be complicated).

Some area schools trialled the pouches but they’re so expensive and the kids just cheat at them so fairly useless too. The primary school just puts them in a locked drawer but obviously easy as it’s just one classroom much of the day.