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

My DDs have to leave their phones on silent in their bags all day, if they are seen with a phone they can be confiscated/suspensions for repeat offenders etc

I am happy with this, i don’t want them on their phones at school but also I don’t want them travelling to and from school without them.
Mainly because they have the travel apps on there, and can call if there’s a problem (and there have been several occasions of bus breakdowns/traffic etc), we live rurally so it’s not like there’s a bus every few mins and they could end up stranded on a country lane. Also just occasions like my eldest deciding to go to the gym or for coffee with a friend or whatever and can just let me know she’ll be late.

When I was in school there were phone boxes and I had emergency phone money on me.

The world has changed now so I feel much happier knowing my DDs have a mobile on them.
I also don’t think schools have a right to dictate what happens outside school hours.

In a world with no phone boxes exactly how does one ‘cope’ when the bus doesn’t show up? Our academy trust (England) has also introduced this ridiculous rule but has luckily relented when it’s been pointed out that pupils travelling up to an hour by public transport, or going on to clubs/activities after school and then home (often late in the evening) need a way of contacting their parents should something go wrong.

Everyone saying that they didn’t have mobile phones when they were at school had a selection of 2p and 5p coins in their pocket and their home phone number memorised.

God forbid we ever had an actual situation in this country and the kids were forced into working out what to do without a phone

Other than a handful of peppers, hardly any adults will know what to do if/when the systems shut down.

I don't see how the zombie apocalypse will be fundamentally improved by stopping me being informed by brick phone text that my kid wants to go to an after-school revision session this afternoon so dont pick him up and he'll get the late bus.

If the only way to prep for removal of systems and infrastructure is to experience living without the systems and infrastructure then we should shut it all down now and revert to a barter economy just in case.

I'll try one more time to explain what I mean then.

Your kid is confident to get to and from school without a phone. Brilliant. Mine too.

Both will ( perhaps yours to a greater extent ) have their social lives somewhat curtailed because of this. Or their 'liberty' on movement will be less because they can't be in touch for that journey time. I don't know your exact situation.

However, the schools around me are obviously aware of this, have taken all this into account amd weighed it up- distraction during lessons, policing them, see the post above about kids whipping them out while teachers back turned- and still come out at the decision that overall its best for all phones to be prohibited on school property.

Personally I agree with that decision.

The harm that may be caused to your own personal lives has been considered and weighed up against the greater social harms of having phones in school and on school journeys, and this is where our particular area has fallen.

I don't see how it's narrow minded of me, but I don't mind if you think that. I'm glad of the decision and personally hope its a sign of things continuing to change away from young people being so reliant on phones.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience to your family if this policy comes in where you are- there will be some to mine too- but again I'm confident we will all cope.

How does having a phone help with when the bus doesnt show up?

How often does the bus fail to show up?

Out of interest, how happy would you feel about doing an hour commute to and from work by bus/train, walking in the dark in unlit areas in mid-winter, without any means of
contacting anyone at all? Would you be fine with not being able to tell your employer you’re delayed, or not being able to call
your husband for a lift because your train got cancelled?

Because that is what you are expecting 11 year olds to do.

The phone allows you to call your parents and ask for a lift. The bus does get cancelled/breaks down. Up until a year ago it was notoriously unreliable but our MP got involved and the service has since improved.

The kids need the phones for after school imo for emergency’s. Some are travelling miles away, what if the bus doesn’t turn up? They feel unwell? They need to be able to contact mom or dad. I agree with not having them out in school though.

Well if they break the rule then there should be consequences.

Does a parent just leave their job or make themselves really late for their job in order to give the child a lift?

Do you do this? Or is it a hypothetical?

I’m in my 50’s and was mainly parented via benign neglect , but even so, we had pay phones at secondary school and used them to let parents know if we were going to an friends after school. I think I only grew out of the “keep 10p for the phone” mindset about 10 years ago.

So, while I agree that the smartphone ban is a good thing overall, I don’t agree that in days gone by, we couldn’t or didn’t get in contact with home when plans changed or buses were late.

Fortunately DC is sixth form, because her school have gone for a complete ban instead of lockers or pouches for lower school, Which would be great, except that the contract buses need a QR code to travel.

If the bus doesn't show up and your alternative is a 3 hour walk down a winding 50-60mph A road with no pavement (which was my kids route to school), you can phone someone to come and collect you. Or a taxi firm. In the dark that walk would be incredibly dangerous for anyone, let alone an 11 year old. When the public buses stop at 6pm and you have an after school club there may only be a single bus you can catch.

Yes of COURSE I have done this, as has every parent who lives rurally. You say ‘hang tight, I’ll be there as early as I can’ and if the kid has to wait an hour or two until you pick them up then that is life. Or if the bus was cancelled on the way in you phone work (using, God forbid, a mobile phone) and say you’ll be late.

Let me guess, you live in a town or suburb with a school 25 minutes walk away?

I've done it loads. Happy. My walk to and from school was 45m and I did it every day both directions. Before phones. In the rain. It was just what we did. Obviously I've done it for work too. I didn't have a mobile phone til mid 20's. Made it through school and employment fine.

Look, I'm not expecting other peoples kids to do anything. People can do as they wish with their kids. If your child doesn't feel able to get themselves to and from school safely then there's many ways that can be dealt with, as many ways as there are families and routes and buses and bikes and friends and attitudes and personal boundaries.

Overall, my school district has decided its best to ban all phones from school property. I agree with that policy and am personally happy to enforce it with my child for the many reasons I've given.

^^
Overall, my school district has decided it’s best to ban all phones from school property. I agree with that policy and am personally happy to enforce it with my child for the many reasons I've given.

We all do what we think is right for our children @dairydebris I’m imagining from your use of “my school district” that you are not posting about the UK.

For context, some UK children do journeys of over an hour by bus or train, including in the winter when it’s dark. That transport is not reliable and so parents need to be able to sort out alternatives at times. Which starts with being able to be contacted so that they know there is a problem.

It would be less of an issue about travelling home in the dark if we sensibly had BST year round, but that does not seem to be on the horizon.

When I was growing up, as said there were telephone boxes. There were police on the beat and passing in cars. Everyone knew each other. There'd be old women sitting in their front gardens, they'd let you use their toilet. Adults would get involved. Lads would get a smack if going too far (it was always lads).
We didn't have the knife crime, or where I lived, gun crime. We didn't have groups of grown men waiting by schools to sexually harrass us and the police gas lighting everyone, denying it was happening.

My granddaughters will have phones. I'm annoyed that someone whose child was mentally ill and vulnerable has been allowed to campaign without a few home truths, as sad as the murder was. We've also got to skirt around the parental background of the perpetrators, just like we had to with the Welsh boy. We are all suffering because of poor/bad parenting.

I agree we need phone boxes, I lived rurally and it was essential to let my mum know what bus I was (or wasn’t) on, they just don’t exist and would you, as a stranger hand a teenager your iPhone to call a parent?

I managed to make it to 22 before I got a basic (Nokia) phone, my dc managed to get to school until 14 without phones (phone boxes already disappearing by then) they simply aren’t needed unless in very specific circumstances for school eg insulin pump. If a child really needs to contact their parents the school needs to provide a phone for such purposes (or vice versa getting a message to a child) and more generally kids need to carry essential telephone numbers in their bag and I’m sure people will happily let them make a call in emergency when on eg bus has broken down.

In a comp with 2000 kids, where 50% are sneaking their phones out in class and probably more at break, teachers simply don’t have the time or frankly parents’ backing to sanction kids every time. The whole class of teaching time would be taken up with discussion/arguing/kid denying it/kicking off. They have to just try and ignore most of it, and it’s awful low level disruption that stops those who want to learn from being taught. There aren’t enough lunchtime supervisors and they aren’t teachers so generally powerless and quite scared of some of the kids. Even if you could sanction it, there’s no space for 1000 detentions a day and you can’t suspend them on those grounds anyway.

Once the phones go, there’s nothing to police. They simply can’t use them in class or at break and teachers can actually focus on supporting kids to learn.

I seriously don’t understand why people don’t see that, unless their kids are all at top grammars with extremely conformist kids (not the norm!)

I had a phone from 13, and I’m 42 now. I needed one for travelling home from school to make arrangements to be picked up. After school is different for everyone and I couldn’t have done it without a phone

This. It's really not that unusual for kids in rural areas to need to call for help when the often limited public transport lets them down. Or you're late for work because the bus hasn't showed up to take them in. And yes, you help other kids too. I can't count the times I have collected kids from a bus stop because the bus hasn't shown or has broken down, because my son was able to phone me to ask. You can really tell on this thread who lives in a town or suburb with public transport options and a school within reasonable walking distance.

I live in a suburb over a hour walk to school so my child bikes or bus. If they miss the bus they wait for the next one and be late for school.

Theres no way my work would accept lateness for taking a kid to school. Or leaving early.

But I can see some of these journeys people are describing where if there is one bus missed there isn't another, or the route is particularly dangerous and cannot be walked or biked, and a parent is actually able to shorten their own work day, a brick phone might be necessary... in these rarer situations wouldn't you just tell your child to keep it off and hidden all day without fail and with a huge consequence if they get caught with it? I think the policy is still sound and the school accepts the odd child will have it in their bag, but if the vast majority don't have their phones at all it's much better overall?

@LlynTegid

my dc left home in the dark in winter as it was and got home in the light. Switching to bst would be far worse. Most schools seem to be 8.15-2.15 here

I never needed to use a phone box when i went to school