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Secondary education

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Original poster

Mobile phones

117 replies

LittleEsmeWeatherwax · 14/03/2015 19:43

Are pupils banned from using them in your school? What are your policies?

Pupils in my school are taking the piss and I'm sick of being the ogre teacher who sticks to the rules.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 15/03/2015 21:14

Mine is on a contract for £7.50 a month.

Tilly i have had a lunchtime text or 2. 'Pleeeeeeease bring me up a baking tray and some syrup for cookery food tech Mum' Hmm

Not allowed to call though.

balletgirlmum · 15/03/2015 21:23

They have Internet access if their parents pay for a data bundle.

Dd exceeded hers within the first 5 days of this month!!

bigTillyMint · 15/03/2015 21:29

Oh mine call too, but only if they really need to speak to me (just DD really and only and not that often!) and usually at the end of the day.

Rosieposy4 · 15/03/2015 21:31

Undecided, why are the iPads a nightmare. We have them in our school and I am a huge fan. Phones are rarely seen, unless as a poor cousin to my iPad is broken, I see less kids trying to text etc in lessons. The iPads are the schools, so at any point we can look at internet history, photos etc. we face cyber bullying head on and I think our students suffer less no, not more since we moved to iPads. Embrace the future folks, we are prepping our students for life in the real world, where everyone ( or very nearly) uses smart technology.
Btw it is great for teaching and learning as well, Smile

blueemerald · 15/03/2015 21:34

I teach at a very small special secondary school. We have

Original poster
LittleEsmeWeatherwax · 15/03/2015 22:20

blue, how do parents feel about a confiscation?

We have a high number of pupils with smart phones yet zero school equipment. Not even a biro. Drives. Me. Mad.

24hr technology so having phones switched off during school days is the only respire some pupils have from their screens.

OP posts:
Teabaglady · 15/03/2015 23:21

Rosieposy my DCs school has iPads and they are huge distraction in lessons as kids cannot be trusted to do what they are meant to do with them in class but play games etc and teachers spend loads of time trying to police them and can't and lessons are disrupted. Kids also worked out how to get round the school's firewall ( a school which prides itself on being v tech savvy) and were playing inappropriate games online at break . I think iPads or such would be great but perhaps for kids further up the school where kids may have more self discipline and be more motivated generally ( I might be delusional about that...)

Kenlee · 16/03/2015 00:09

I have never understood this argument. DD's school has full WiFi. All the children are encouraged to use their phones. They use it in class to Google stuff and as a dictionary and calculator. It just helps the class move faster. We are guilty as charged whatsapping her during lesson time. They put their hand up and say parent text can I read and reply at break. This is especially good if your in different time zones.

The school bans the phone at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Which I think is correct. To promote interactions.

Cyber bullying is dealt with the same severity as normal bullying. Which is very quickly crushed.

As for DD we have always allowed her free access to the internet. She doesn't think its a biggie. My DH used to take her to McDonald's for breakfast every Sunday. Now she does not crave it or think it is special.

TheUnwillingNarcheska · 16/03/2015 06:55

Ds1 in year 7, they are incredibly strict on everything the school is all about discipline. It is the reason we chose it, amazing pastoral care, contact with teachers, and no wishy washy rules. You break the rules you are punished, you abide by rules you are rewarded with trips to theme parks, cinema etc

They are allowed a phone but it must be silent and not out in lessons or during breaks. If you are caught your phone is confiscated for 48 hours which means you can lose it over an entire weekend. They do not care if you brought in Mum's iphone and she needs it back. A rule is a rule.

Every week they have an equipment check so you must have certain items in your pencil case, including the calculator for maths.

EdithWeston · 16/03/2015 07:05

Our school allows mobiles, but they must be off and out of sight in all lessons.

They don't confiscate overnight, or demand parents come in. Some of the pupils travel quite a distance, and there was some concern that if there was an incident on the journey and absence of phone made difference to outcome (unlikely but possible) the school did not want to feel responsible (morally, not necessarily legally) for that.

They also felt they had no business trespassing on parents time to call them in to collect after a phone misdemeanours. (They save that for much worse conduct)

ragged · 16/03/2015 14:20

(I'm saying this as someone who was bullied terribly in primary school)

The answer to bullying is to learn to stand up for self, tell them off, block & ignore the bastards (and blocking can be very easy on Instagram-FB-Snapchat). When our kids can stand up for selves, then the phone is no worse opportunity for bullying than what they wear on their feet or did with their hair.

Bunbaker · 16/03/2015 15:41

Yes Ragged, but some kids just don't have the inner strength to stand up for themselves. DD doesn't. She has now been referred to CAMHS for her social anxiety, caused in part by bullying.

If it was as easy as "just standing up for oneself" why is there still so much bullying in schools, in the workplace, in families? It isn't that easy.

You utter lack of empathy and understanding is astounding.

mumsneedwine · 16/03/2015 16:38

Watch Cyberbully. On catch up on Channel 4. Very scary - but very real. Sadly

ragged · 16/03/2015 17:07

I imagine most people don't spend 7 yrs of their life before 14 being suicidal, so of course I have an astounding lack of empathy. Obviously.

I still don't think that phones are a special bullying tool.

mumsneedwine · 16/03/2015 17:44

Most kids are never bullied. But cyber bullying is horrific - unless a kids never turns anything electronic on (including school email) then there is no escape. As grown ups we think it's easy to say 'just block them' or 'don't use Instagram' but this just alienates them from their peers. Kids don't phone each other to arrange to meet. I work with the fall out of it all and it is life changing. There Is a reason the police become involved.

Hulababy · 16/03/2015 17:53

I have several iPads I monitor and deal with at school. But children don't have them issued to them - so they are on a school account. I have every setting set and password protected and the password is changed regularly. Children cannot install or delete apps, and they are restricted to certain age ranges for apps, music, videos, etc. The internet is the same as our school computers so again it is filtered. The history and usage of the iPads can easily be checked.

If any pupil would be found to be on inappropriate sites/apps or have tampered in any way they would be banned fro using them, and all classes are supervised by a teacher - it should be the same in secondary.

mumsneedwine · 16/03/2015 19:47

Trouble is hulababy the kids know more than we do - and are experts at over-riding any security we put on. 99% of my students are awesome and would never try, but a few don't care. Remember, some are 16 and have had enough of school - if they can play candy crush instead of algebra, they will (to be honest, so would I !!!). I have a zero tolerance rule as it means we all know where we stand. The funniest thing is when they are watching a video and they have phone under the desk - their faces get a green glow. To much teaching time is wasted by kids using phones. And the safety issues of them using social media are huge. And some will whatever we do or say. They are teenagers, and some are hard wired to try it on. My job is to ensure they learn that rules is rules - cos if they do it in a job they will be fired.

blueemerald · 16/03/2015 20:26

Our parents are, how can I put this delicately, not the types to be worrying about PFB getting back from badminton club... so they don't really care. Probably helps that most of our students live quite locally and those that don't get taxis to and from school.
The kids care a lot.
Our KS4 students have chromebooks to use in lessons, which are amazing. Yes, they very occasionally get around the blocking system but a one day ban usually sorts that out. Of course having a max of 7 kids per class helps a lot.

mumsneedwine · 16/03/2015 20:39

7 kids a class !!!!!!! Oh how I dream of less than 30.

blueemerald · 16/03/2015 20:41

Haha with their SEBD needs they more than make up for it.

Hulababy · 16/03/2015 20:48

How are they accessing social media if using the school filtered website? Is it not a county wide system? Ours is password protected to access any form of social media inc you tube - staff can access but only with password. If there is any chance a child knows the password then the county have to be notified and it gets changed.
Do you not have decent IT techs in a secondary?

It also needs to be proper school SMT supported sanctions for not following their ipad code of conduct at secondary level - this can be escalating levels but can just mean no use of ipads at all at school ever.

mumsneedwine · 16/03/2015 21:29

3G & 4G. Can't control them I'm afraid. They don't have access to school Internet.

Hulababy · 16/03/2015 21:56

Sounds like the school's needs a big clamp down on it all.

mumsneedwine · 16/03/2015 22:09

We clamp down v v hard. I'm just saying it's impossible to totally stop. Phones are a pain as we can't block access to anything. If I let them use them for calculator or research there's always one wally who tries to take a selfie. Or worse (& punishable by exclusion) - take a photo of me. It is impossible to stop them but we try - if parent turns up unexpectedly at reception saying their kid has texted them, well that is punishable !!! And if parents don't like it - tough. We teach and phones are banned so support us please. Don't bite my head off cos your darling got bollocked for wasting half my lesson arguing about Instagram. By now in year 11 it's learn or leave.

Kenlee · 17/03/2015 00:06

I have a question why should phones be banned if its only a small percentage that misuse them? Surely it is the parents responsibility to ensure that the child understands how to use their phone responsibly? I personally think if a child is using their phone inappropriately then they should be shown the door. The phone should then be used to inform the parent that their child has been shown the door because they have misused their phone. That they will take no futher part in the lesson and their phone will be returned once the lesson has finished.

Why ban it for those who use it correctly just to make sure the ones that don't don't.