Is it possible to find a school with very little/no exposure to digital??

[OlliEliza]

My child will start reception next year, and I've just got to know that all of the schools in my area rely heavily on screens from a young age. (I'd like to keep in mind both primary and secondary schools.)This is absolutely a deal breaker for me. Is it possible to find a primary school with no screens at all, and is it possible to find a secondary school with very minimal exposure to them? What I mean is no mandatory iPads; books, and exercise books in daily use, handwritten homework, computers used for IT, research, etc.

What is going on is truly appalling for me. The only school that I've found is a Montessori school, but it's very expensive. Any luck in finding those schools?

I work in a school where a key stage two children have one-to-one laptops funded by the school. While they have them out on their desk every day and it is really useful when you want them to quickly look something up or complete a quiz etc., I would estimate that they look at them about two hours a week in school at most. All homework is set on them for reasons I've explained in previous posts but very little classwork is done on them.

Other schools may be very different to this but I think it just highlights that you really need to speak to the staff to get a sense of their views on technology.

DS is at a state grammar. They do use their phones for the odd quiz and have interactive whiteboards but no iPads / computing lessons.

I suspect with AI able to code we don't need hordes of coders. I think interpersonal skills will be more needed than ever especially when half the population has mental health issues or are zombies due to staring at screens non stop.

DD is at indie which uses laptops in all lessons. She says it is a massive time sink and most of the boys waste their time gaming..

https://ukstories.microsoft.com/features/uk-leads-the-way-on-using-technology-in-schools/

The difference across schools is incredible. Our academy gives every child in every school and iPad from reception and a lot of learning, even handwriting is done in them. I absolutely hate it and half the teachers don't approve either. The kids miss out on so much because clearly all the money has gone on the iPads. So good for you OP for trying to avoid it.

An article written by Microsoft about how great it is that UK schools are becoming Microsoft schools…. ?

Some do, some don’t. It’s luck of the draw in areas, depending on which way you think is lucky! I am not a fan either, but most of the school in my area can’t afford fancy tech thankfully!

They are in my local authority.

Sorry it was to answer the pp who said they didn't understand how schools supplied all their pupils with devices.

I know of these schools that Microsoft kit out so shared it.

Weirdly the Dept of Education massively support this sort of partnership and have made them hubs and Outstanding etc.

Will be interesting to see them reconcile it all with the mounting evidence of harm and the policy changes limiting screen time.

Scotland doesn't even have Reception though. Apologies, didn't reply to your post but yes your experience sounds completely alien to me. I can't understand how they even cover the curriculum and feel that would be deemed inadequate by Ofsted here. In England, local authorities have far less influence so you don't get whole areas doing similar things in the same way. (I've taught in Scotland and England)

I’m a primary teacher…we rarely use the iPads or laptops in school…because they’re utter shit and never work!

I think most primaries would say the same…certainly all my teacher friends say the same of their school. We have no money to replace them. Our iPads are so old that apps no longer work. The only use they have is to take photos 🤷‍♀️

The laptops won’t connect to the internet (we just get the whirring screen as they attempt 😂)

I wouldn’t worry about the primary school experience OP 😂

Given the priorities Ofsted have for early years, especially around oracy, I don’t see how overuse of technology would be any help there - infact I can see it being judged quite negativity and rightly so.

Then it’s sounds like you are the one who has misunderstood OP if you think this is the way it happens. The way you want tech to be used is exactly how it is used. You are arguing against yourself here.

In my state grammar school every student is given a laptop. They did loads of fundraising to be able to buy them in late 2020 so that in the 2nd lockdown of early 2021, we transitioned instantly to online taught lessons. Those laptops were ok but students are now given the option of buying their own slightly better ones, but this has to be done through the school.

@Ezra123 I’m really surprised by your comment about unfiltered internet access. In my school everything is filtered, even for staff. Anyone younger than 6th form cannot even access the BBC website. The brilliant online music resource IMSLP was filtered for staff until I told the Business Manager that unless it was unblocked, I would require them to buy £100s of music that was freely available online without infringing copyright.

I use a mixture of whiteboard and screen for teaching. I love that the kids have reference material on their laptop so they can look something up (no more “Miss, how do I play Dm?”) so it frees me up to check technique and progress. I love them having access to free notation software so they produce legible music that they can listen back to and correct, even if their keyboard/piano skills aren’t great. I love that I can upload recordings of work in progress with my comments so they can listen to them prior to the next lesson. I get frustrated by frozen screens, my work laptop not always connecting to the screen immediately, kids bringing them to school not fully charged and my laptop’s battery struggling to get through a morning but it works.

I think the most important things you need to look for are that reading is done with real books, not e-books and writing is done by hand, not on iPads or laptops. You can't avoid screens in schools altogether unless you move somewhere else so have to find the least worst usage.
But I am glad I moved out of the UK and ended up in a town where the schools are still quite old fashioned and almost everything is textbooks, work books and exercise books. Homework isn't online either and there's no use of ed tech except for occasional rounds of kahoot in older years.

Any Steiner School.

Don't know where you live but the Steiner School in Herefordshire is state supported and free.

You just need to do your research OP. I think you’d be struggling to find somewhere (Steiner/Waldorf/forest schools aside) that doesn’t use screens at all as part of the school day, but as other posters have said there is a huge amount of variation.

We’ve recently relocated and moved DD from a London school (primary) where the bulk of the learning was sedentary ‘Death By PowerPoint’ lessons and everything done on apps, to a small village one that is much more outdoorsy and holistic, with a small amount of dedicated ICT time each week. It really does depend on the individual setting.

Broadly I am with you though in wanting to minimise the use of screens, especially in the younger years. I was a governor at DD’s previous school and saw how they were all in thrall to the EdTech industry and whatever the latest ‘must have’ tech was. You could clearly see the gamification of homework activities and reliance on bought-in tech schemes to plug holes in the teachers’ subject knowledge. It also very much depends on how the tech is deployed - it was soul destroying, as a volunteer, to witness 9-year-old children having to sit through endless 40-slide PowerPoint presentations on whatever topic they were covering, with zero physical input or opportunities for real-life learning.

Personally my absolute deal breaker would be school reading books on screens/apps - lots of our local primaries no longer send home physical books and expect reading do be done on a iPad. I also made it clear to DD’s previous school that we would be doing the bare minimum on apps such as TT Rockstars and teaching DD these skills in other ways - the school used to set targets for screen learning time at home which, if not met, would result in pupils being kept in a break time, and certificates were given out in assembly to the children who had accumulated most points on the app each week (these were seldom the children who were actually the best at times tables).

Also just to add that part of the reason we relocated was to dodge our local secondary option, which insisted on all Year 7s having their own tablet device in school on which much of the learning was done.

I'm also in Scotland with an early primary aged child, and our experience is very different from @Ezra123 's. The classroom has a smartboard, and they've definitely watched little phonics videos and bits of newsround on it, the occasional Topsy & Tim or similar. (I think when relevant to the personal/social/health topics, but if it was just because it was the eighth wet playtime in a row, I can live with that. They definitely do cosmic yoga when there have been too many wet playtimes – which again, I can live with.) They do have a small amount of time playing learning games on the smartboard or an iPad, but the work is overwhelmingly offline – real books, paper, pencils, glue sticks, etc. The end of term treat is sometimes a film, but they mix it up. Sometimes it's a board game afternoon, sometimes a silent disco, etc.

We have access to a couple of learning apps/websites at home, but using them is optional (and DD is not a big fan, so we generally don't).

DD rarely went on an iPad, it was definitely seen as a treat to go on them. I don’t think they make the teachers lives easier so they don’t bother.
I think I spent more time in front of screens than her in the early 80s, we had the tv on frequently. We also had a machine that read out pieces of paper with words on you had to practice. I remember some parents didn’t approve of that.

As for secondary DD still didn’t use them that much. There is a secondary near me which actively used mobile phones in lessons, one of the many reasons we didn’t go there. Not sure what they’ll do now.

Good for you. Where did you move ?

Any luck with finding a secondary who doesn't force to have a 1-2-1 device at your new place?

DS goes to a London infant school. They have a smart board and do computing once a week on a laptop. Homework is reading actual books or comprehension on a worksheet. They do share logins to Timestables Rockstars but it is optional.

DD is at a junior school, with the majority of school based learning being books and paper. They do use apps for homework (although you can request a paper copy) and iPads for practising times tables in class or doing Kahoot quizzes. It feels an appropriate level to me.

I couldn't agree more. What genuinely worries me that I don't have a choice as a parent. It looks like I have to pay a fortune for something like Montessori school just to protect her from the crap that's going on these days in state sector.

Every primary school I've experienced use exercise books daily. I think there are benefits to screens when used sensibly, I am confident my DC will fly through his timetables check in a few weeks times as timetables rockstars makes them fun in a way that reciting timetables and worksheets could not. I don't think fully demonising screens will benefit your child.