Whats app and wifi (internet-free phone)

[Nnaomi]

My 12 year old son has a basic text-only phone, but his friends are all using Whats App. We're wary of upgrading him to a smart phone as he's easily distracted and already struggling to stay focussed on his work. My sister who lives abroad said she's given her daughter a smartphone but without an internet plan, so she can use wifi at home and school but not without supervision. My contract is with Three - their website's pretty useless on internet safety. Any idea whether this would work in the UK?
Thanks

I have done this using an old phone. I just inserted a free sim and it allowed me to connect to wifi at home, but I don't put any money on the sim so it can't connect on 3G. You'd just have to be careful though that he doesn't spend his own money on a top up as he could use it on any phone service including 3G then.