No clue about phones for kids

[Woodacorn]

Our DS is 11 soon and currently Year 6. We want to get him a phone for his birthday. I think quite a lot of kids get them when they go to secondary (I know not all do). We thought it might be better to get him one for his birthday as he is going to find the transition to secondary difficult anyway and I don't want lots of new things to make it seem even more of a big thing. For example he is also going to get a new rucksack for Christmas which he can take to secondary so that isn't something new either. He has saved up £100 and we will make up the rest.
I have only ever had a phone with a contract and I am really embarrassingly unaware about the options and what is best for a child.
I would really appreciate any advice on phones (very basic advice would be great!). Eg would a contract or pay as you go be best? An older iPhone or an alternative brand? What apps ar appropriate for an 11 year old and how to monitor them? Money is an issue for us. DS himself doesn't get regular pocket money but gets stickers for helping around the house and 8 stickers earns him £1 plus he gets birthday/Christmas money which he is starting to prefer rather than toys/things.
Thanks.

Are you really all just letting your 10/11yos have unfettered access to the Internet via smart phones?

I would honestly out the money aside now, as you have it, for the school bag. What he wants now is different from September. We got one of my kids a great bag from evil sports direct for £15 and two years later it's going down fine. It doesn't need to be £45 on a hershel bag, and they may be 'out' in your area by september anyway!

Our kids started with cheap phones on cheapest 'contract' i.e. the £5 a month ones with no/little data. Not ideal but no biggie if lost or damaged. My kids have android. Most of their friends have android or second hand/old iPhones. Rich area, yet few new iPhones at early part of secondary school - too easily lost and damaged. Too much responsibility for little kids to have a £500+ phone.

About the bag- he will probably be the only Y7 without a new bag, and that will make him stand out. Sounds like that's just what he doesn't want.

Lots of yr 7s here tend to get their parents old iPhones and the parent gets themselves a new one.
I think buying the bag / uniform and other small items with your child over the summer holidays is one of those small things that can help with transition to secondary ( talking about what items you have and what will go into each pocket etc) so I'd probably be reluctant to lose that opportunity by buying the bag myself early as a gift. Unless you are planning to let him choose it early? Or you could always get it early summer and get him to use it over the holidays if you want him to get used to it?
If transition is likely to be difficult then perhaps also see if there are extra sessions put on for kids who struggle with it . Most secondaries seem to address this now . Ds went in for lunch many extra times to get used to the dining hall which was one of his (many) anxieties and dd's secondary put on a whole week of transition at the end of year 6 for all their new pupils regardless of whether or not kids struggled with the concept.
Ds did a lot of transition stuff..but it really helped
Good luck.. hope it goes well for your boy

It's definitely worth asking around your family, friends or neighbours to see if they have anything sitting in a drawer. The iPhone 5 has been out long enough to have expired a 2 year contract and been upgraded and they are good phones.

Probably best to avoid Android phones if you're more familiar with iPhones - although kids are WAY more adaptable than we are.

My one bit of added value advice is to ensure that you put Life 360 on his (and your) phone. It's a free tracking service but much better than others around like FindMyIPhone or FollowMe. It can also send you alerts - such as when he's left school each day and when he's got home. And you get a history too so you know everywhere he's been - not just where he is at any time!

Under smile, no I'm not. He has a phone,which he knows what he is and isn't allowed on. Aged 10 he is rarely without an adult around, and I check his messages and internet history daily.

For DS I got a sim only deal so pay around £15 per month for all calls texts and a fair amount of data. You can get cheaper sim only deals too.
I gave him my old iPhone 5S but you can get them second hand for reasonable prices. 5S and 5C are good. One thing I would ABSOLUTELY insist on is investing in a very good case, with bumper sides (Tech21 do a great one). His phone has been dropped so many times and is still working to tell the tale!
I would also recommend the iPhone if you have one too as you can set up family sharing and find my friends. The latter is great if his school bus is running late and you're quietly panicking but don't want to call him as trying to make sure he's independent (log in and see exactly where he is at that minute!)
He's a lucky boy starting school with a new phone yes it's a material thing but if it makes his transition easier then who cares.

Oh, and my son had a bag on his Xmas list last year, nothing sad with that if it's the one he wants!

Oh, and my son had a bag on his Xmas list last year, nothing sad with that if it's the one he wants! I probably agree, but the OP is getting the bag as a Christmas present to save her having to fork out for it about ten months later for her child moving up school. i think that's really tight.

Thank you everybody - some great advice which I have taken on board. I haven't decided yet but I quite like the idea of something we buy but he can top up with extra time/apps.
Interesting how the whole bag for Christmas has caused debate. I only put it in to give some context. He will be getting the bag for Christmas still. He will get to use it for the rest of Year 6 and take it to senior school. I don't feel a brand new bag to start secondary is essential and I feel it will make it more of a big thing if everything he has is different and new. He will have enough new and different things to contend with. Useful/useable gifts like clothes are a norm for us as a family.
Thanks also for the advice on extra settling in periods. I will speak to his teacher about those. It's possible it's already on her radar. Secondary is all new to us.

DS1 has an inexpensive android phone by Lenovo (I think the model was the A916, which cost about £65). It has very good specs for the price, especially as they will drop it/lose it/something else within the first few months of senior school, so I'd advise a phone you don't mind having to replace.

We then got a £4 per month "shockproof" contract with iD, which is capped at £5 maximum (so it's routinely £4 per month, but he can go over by £1 before it cuts off). He started off with payg but we found that was more expensive in the end for less minutes and data.

We got my DS a iPhone 5s on a tesco mobile contract for £17 a month. Not a huge data allowance, but lots of talk and text time. He already knew how to use the iPhone from playing around with my phone and iPad.

We did have older iPhone 4s's which we could've just gone with a PAYG sim only deal but one of the main reasons we changed from the 4s is that the battery life was beginning to be a problem. So I'd be careful of old second hand phones. I wanted to be sure that it wouldn't run out of battery too easily so got a new one.

I did umm and ahh about the 5s compared to a much cheaper phone but our gadget insurance covers loss and damage so hopefully if something happens we can get a replacement.

Oh and my DS didn't have a new bag for the start of secondary. He liked his old bag....which I think was bought in year 4, so definitely scraggy at the ends (but functional!). He wanted his old bag so that's what he's got.

DD started High School this year and had my old iPhone 4, when I have an iPhone 5s (it changed this weekend when I upgraded to a 6s and she's now got my 5s)

I have been with Vodafone for donkeys years and what I did was get her a sim only deal for £15.99 a month that is linked to my account. With it she gets unlimited texts and calls, and 4Gb data. If she hits 3Gb data I get a warning text, another at 500Mb and it cuts off if it's used. So far the first month nothing and this month she hit 3Gb (a week without wifi and a YouTube obsession!). I pay £30/month for mine with 5Gb data.

A smart phone was the only choice for her really as we live some distance from the majority of her friends and they all keep in touch over instagram & Oovoo rather than text. Plus she has a very boring 40 min bus ride to school on a coach with free wifi, so she tells me most of them spend the time watching videos. Unfortunately one of her friends has an older 'brick' phone and has been the target of some nasty bullying/piss taking because of it. As wrong as it is, I don't want DD to go down that route.

She knows the 'dangers' of the internet and I am happy that she is being careful. I'll revisit if I ever need to (and she knows that). Her instagram is linked on my phone and I have put password restrictions on her phone for Age 18/explicit stuff. Plus, well, I trust her, so I am happy to let her have it.

Her phone cover is a great one - A bastex cover we got on Amazon. The phone survived a slide and crash off the car roof the first week she had it!

DS got his first phone this September at age 13. Its a Samsung J5(2016) on contract for £15 per month (for phone and sim), unlimited calls and texts and loads of data. It was so good that DH and I upgraded to the same phone and contract

Dd carried on with her year 6 mipac bag in year 7. It then wore out after half a term so she got a hype bag. That lasted a year then she got another hype backpack.