How to word a letter about mobile phones being used in the classroom ?

[mamatomany]

Apparently my 6 year olds year 2 teacher asks them to hang on a minute whilst she responds to a text
There was something on the radio about the case in Plymouth and I just casually said none of your teachers have mobiles do they ? Turns out all three have witnessed teachers using their phones whilst the children work during the lessons.
I feel this is extremely unprofessional and in light of events should have been stopped months ago.
I want to approach the head WWDY ?

They contact you by dialling 999? Are you an emergency services operator, scurryfunge?

.....and there is still no evidence in this strand of any teacher responding to anything less than an emergency...so we are all in agreed.

great

Can we ban cameras though, pleeeease?

If it is that much of an emergency (life or death)then yes they can dial 999 - most people use the non emergency number though.

Am Police, yes.

I have apps on my phone that I allow children in my literacy or numeracy groups to lay on - ones I have downloaded specifically. I also have a talking app that I downloaded to help a little boy with selective mutism with his communication. So I know that all he childrn int he class I work in have seen me with my phone.

When the school class camera broke I used my iPhone camera instead - the photos were downloaded as normal and then deleted from my phone.

I don't answer texts and take phone calls in class, but the children do see my phone - and use it.

My phone is on silent in the class. My bag is in the class.

But yes - it is unprofessional to actuall take calls or recieve and answer texts in class.

Goblinchild- you are so right about digiblus. We are switching to Flip videos if out IT budget holds out....

Not sure that photos of my DD nattering with her pal working hard at her maths exercises would be worth much on the internet though. They do tend to be fully dressed during lessons.

Well, scurryfunge, as many teachers have explained, getting through school phone systems in emergencies is difficult. I don't have the luxury of the sodding ultimate emergency system if something happened my dh/ds as you do. I think had a right cheek actually, suggesting teachers turn their phones off and I'm glad you changed your mind.

Oh - and yes, our teachers do take the photos of children home on the school cameras, on the school ownded encrypted SD cards or own the school owned individual laptops. Our teachers do a lot of work at home - and these photos often form part of that.

Oh - and I don't trust messages to get though to me after having a problem in school when DD was a year old. PIlscalled me on their way to talking DD to hospital ill and had to go via the office. i was invigalating an exam. The office were told I was needd straight away - noone came to get me. I was more than a little furious. So - my phone is now ON but silent. I check messages as break times - i.e. in MY time.

Incidentally, we did once have a parent (luckily one with a healthy scepticism about her child's reporting accuracy) ask us what exactly we had been doing in ICT, as her child had told her they had been 'producing blue movies'

The software used with the digiblu video cameras is called Digital Blue Movie Producer....

At the secondary school I teach in, the problem is students with phones, not teachers. It's a bloody nightmare - especially the VI formers, who seem to think that they are exempt from the school policy of phones being off/silent and in bags during lessons. One girl in my tutor group was kicked out of a lesson yesterday for uploading to FB during a lesson. Last year, we had a particularly unpleasant case of a hate group being set up by students about a teacher, and photos of her etc were uploaded. I lead by example and keep my phone in my bag in my office - not in my classroom. However, like others, I wouldn't trust the school switchboard to be an emergency contact - it's often impossible to get through.

OP - if you approach the head, especially if you mention the Vanessa George case, you'll look like a nutjob IMO.

eviltwins

;Incidentally, we did once have a parent (luckily one with a healthy scepticism about her child's reporting accuracy) ask us what exactly we had been doing in ICT, as her child had told her they had been 'producing blue movies'

The software used with the digiblu video cameras is called Digital Blue Movie Producer....'

Classic RustyBear,
Imagine what might have happened had the parent been a more extreme Mumsnutter. You'd have had the press and placards before you could blink.

Oops, apologies for the Freudian typo.

You don't need them on in lessons! Read them at breaks or lunchtime....if you cannot be away from your children for more than an hour or so then don't go to work. Don't appear so needed....you are at work.

LOLOL at Rusty and the Mumsnutter.

Best typo I have seen all year.

"Don't appear so needed....you are at work."

Says the person who stated her family could contact her using 999 in a life or death emergency! Are my family not as important as yours then, scurryfunge?

We had a little girl fall unconscious at 1.05p.m. a couple of weeks ago - she had had an epileptic fit, but no one knew that at the time. It was extremely distressing for all concerned - we called an ambulance and she was in hospital sleeping under sedation by 1.25pm. As it happens she is fine now, but no one knew if she would be (including emergency staff) - now if that was my child, I would want to know straight away - not at 2.15p.m when our next playtime is, or whenever the phonelines stop being tied up with parents/reps/contractors/LEA etc, etc, etc.

God, talk about I'm alright, Jack - *999, no less!

Scurry
You must see how hypocritical you are being. It is ok to call 999 to contact you immediately in an emergency, but teachers should wait until break to be contacted?

"You don't need them on in lessons!"

true - but the kids love some of the educationa apps. Agreat additional tool every once in a while when doing some one to one or small group work.

And the little boy with selective mutism loved actually talking aloud to the talkin cat app. Was a real break through and discovered entirely by accident.

The 999 reference was tongue in cheek -life or death was the emphasis -you will be contacted in a life or death situation, believe me.

Stop pretending that being on the end of a mobile is crucial to your family's safety -bollocks to that.

"People contact me by dialling 999 if they have to- if it is that much of an emergency or a message gets passed directly."

"If it is that much of an emergency (life or death)then yes they can dial 999 - most people use the non emergency number though.

Am Police, yes."

Two posts - my arse are they tongue in cheek. You are just trying unsuccessfully to backtrack - just saying you may be wrong would be more honest, scurryfunge.

Well i'm afraid i don't agree at all there is any difference between the nursery workers that have to hand in their mobiles and teaching staff that it would seem don't. Both are in positions of trust and have access to children who could be photographed without their consent or knowledge it should be one rule for all staff.

People can if they really have to...no one in their right mind would unless it was life or death. Just trying to show that in a real emergency you can be contacted - emphasis on real emergency.

Distort any words to suit your thinking by all means.....you cannot change the fact that teachers do not need 24 hour instant contact with everyone else while they are working. If I had a phone call during attendance at a cot death or a hanging then I would be deemed unprofessional, like it or not. Teachers (and I used to be one before joining the police) need to maintain profesionalism at all times).

There's a lot of over-reaction about rampant peadophilia on the boards today. I'm tempted to move in with MmeLindt

Does no-one think it is just plain wrong that teachers are texting during lessons?

Isn't it just general professionalism to wait until the next break time. How can the sending of a text be so urgent? The OP isn't complaining about the teacher receiving urgent calls to A & E or messages about her children not arriving at school.

Does anyone rely on a text to make emergency contact ?