Suitable phone for secondary school

[TheProvincialLady]

I’d be grateful for any advice please. My son starts secondary school this year and the deal has always been that he will get a phone at this point, as he will be travelling alone by public transport.

He’d like the fanciest, most expensive phone of course but knows this isn’t on offer. It’s his birthday soon and I’d like to give him a phone as a present but I’m really not sure what to get him. I don’t want him to be laughed at for having an embarrassing phone but neither do I want to spend money on a phone that might be damaged or stolen. What do people normally get for rising 12 year olds please? I’m a complete novice. I’m assuming a smartphone and he already has Qustodio installed on his tablet (and no access to social media) so would be happy to replicate that on a phone.

All advice gratefully received!

It's iPhones round here. You can get iPhone SE at a competitive price.

Could get him an iPhone SE from CEX or Game for around £90-110 or something like a Samsung J3 brand new for £110

iPhone SE or Samsung J series will do.

I think the majority in my y6 dd class have I phone 6 or SE. My dd has a hand me down 6 and she prefers that as the shape is the same as the later phones whereas the SE is like the older ones.

Samsung J3 for my 11yo and she's delighted with it.