Strict no phones rule at secondary school

[mrstidytraxxxx]

DS is starting Y7 in September. The school has a strict no mobile phone rule on site. If a student takes a mobile onto school grounds and it is found, it is confiscated for a minimum of 48-hours.

We live approximately a 30-minute walk from secondary school. There are buses, but these are apparently unreliable.

Either myself or DH will take DS to school at present (primary school is less than 10-minute walk away) and he walks home by himself, with one of us meeting him at home.

When DS plays out with friends, he has his mobile with him and knows we use Google Family Link to check he is where he says he is and he is happy with this arrangement. Obviously, we will not be able to continue like this for school journeys from September.

I would like to get a GPS tracker, either key-ring or watch, to make sure where he is on the way home.

Can anyone recommend an Android-compatible GPS key-ring or watch, that does not alert if it moves too far away from the mobile it is connected to, preferably subscription free?

Thanks in advance.

@Can't believe how many posters want to return to the 1980s. I bet if you were meeting a friend for dinner, you'd take your phone just in case of any hold ups or changes of plan."

Of course I would. But either the friend or I would choose to get in touch. I wouldn't need to track her. Nobody has been able to explain the benefits of tracking. I am perfectly convinced of the benefits of having a phone!

People aren't cars.

Reported crimes aren't equal to crimes occuring. Many assaults and rapes were previously not reported because there was no hope of justice.

Not to be unpleasant, but a phone won't save a child from a targeted gang attack. They're not going to stop so you can ring your mum or the police, are they?

Because whilst my DC are school age, I'm perfectly entitled to know their whereabouts. Like I said, I don't sit there staring at it all day obsessively . But if there was an occasion where they were running late or hadn't contacted me, I'd like to be able to check where they are. Its another layer of safety and doesn't infringe on them...they literally don't care. In our area a few weeks ago, some weirdo tried to get a school pupil to get into their van.

Everyone saying how did we cope as kids without phones ... well, sometimes not very well.

And we all use ours, so why not them?

One example of them being convenient, is sometimes I happen to be driving by their school at end of day time, so can let them know I'm available to give them a lift. This means they can be home in 10 minutes as opposed to the hour it takes on public transport. Which they obviously manage regularly, but on the occasion my work takes me near their school at the right time, I can let them know. Saves them a long walk with heavy bags, especially on days they are carrying PE kit or musical instruments. That's not mollycoddling, it's a nice break from the monotony of public transport for them, and they are really grateful. As an adult, I'd appreciate the help. I don't feel we need to toughen them up further, or make life harder just to make them independent.

I'm not stalking you @CurlewKate , honest! But this is yet another thread where I find myself in full agreement with you.

I rely on my phone for all sorts of things now, like everyone else. But I use it when I choose to, and my young adult kids contact me when they choose to. The thought of someone tracking my whereabouts makes me shudder, and there's no way I'd have inflicted that on my kids when they were teens.

This reminds me of the thread about tracking partners. Apparently it's vital so that you can have a cup of tea/dinner ready when your partner gets home from work 🙄

I've literally given you 2 specific examples of when it was beneficial to be able to track DD. Just because you think she should have been able to have behaved in a different way, that's irrelevant because she couldn't/didn't, and tracking was useful in those scenarios.

@Welcometothehumanrace "Why, if we would go to lengths to protect inanimate objects such as a car, would we not use the same technology to keep our young safe?"

Because a car cannot disconnect its tracker. A car will not think it's safe because it has a tracker. A car does not need to learn how to negotiate the world and become a confident, functioning adult car. A car has no need/entitlement to privacy. A car is not able to sent a text/make a call. A car does not need to learn how to make good choices. A car is an absurd metaphor!

My dS is year 8, he plays sport for the school and occassionally there are away matches that we don't hear about until the day. He doesn't always take his phone to school but it's helpful to know if he messages saying there's a match at x school and I'll be home at approx y. The other day he didn't take his phone, and wasn't in at 6.15 when I got home from work which was slightly disconcerting (school is 15 min walk) but I guessed he was at a match.

@Comedycook
"In our area a few weeks ago, some weirdo tried to get a school pupil to get into their van"

How would a tracker have helped here?

@AuntieJune A tracker or a phone with tracking wouldn't stop an attack no, but it's function is to show the location - giving you a chance to interject or provide information to the police. Its not protection in itself, it's a mitigation. Kids know their phones track them already.

I always wonder how schools manage with phones they confiscate. What about insurance?

If this technology has been available when I was at secondary school, I really wouldn't have been bothered about my mother knowing where I was.

As per my previous example, our trackers allow my kids to see where I am if I've said I'm near their school at 3.30. We find it very useful.

@CurlewKate I am a functioning, confident adult. I still turn on location tracking on my phone so that if something bad happens my loved ones know my location. It doesn't stop me going out, functioning or taking risks. It protects me and has been useful when dodgy men have been pestering me on nights out walking home alone. To suggest sharing your location on a device with your parents (which the majority of kids already do with their phones) will somehow make you an anxious paranoid mess is what's ludicrous. It's responsible and sensible in todays society. Sad , yes. But true.

Our school has a very strict phone policy. However, most children have phones and they just turn them off or to silent when they're in school. It really is that easy.

@saraclara if the thought of somebody tracking you makes you shudder, maybe you're protecting that onto how your kids would feel?

I couldn't care less that DD and DH can see my whereabouts. They're my family, I don't need privacy from them as I go about my normal day. DH feels exactly the same. So as a result DD knows that tracking is a normal thing in our family and she doesn't see it as an invasion of privacy or whatever. It's just a thing that we can do. She finds it fun being able to track DH driving somewhere and he doesn't feel that his privacy has been terribly invaded because she can see he went to Tesco on his way home 😂

Cars are fitted with trackers because insurance companies insist on it and they lower premiums. Cars are stolen all the time and no-one has ££££s for insurance or replacement.

Your second point doesn't add up. Rape and attacks on women are at an all time high - while smartphone usage is almost universal. So how exactly are phones helping? Where is the evidence that smartphones prevent rapes and assault? If anything they increase the prevalence and opportunties (stalking, upskirting, mugging, voyeurism). They might help provide evidence after the fact but given less than 1% of reported rapes make it to court, it's not really a significant factor.

To be clear- I think phones are great. My children had them young. I understand schools trying to ban them, but I don't agree with the policy. It's parental tracking I am objecting to. And I haven't seen a single scenario on here where a call or a text wouldn't have served just as well.
I admire the honesty of the poster who said she was "entitled to know where her kids are." I don't agree-but I admire the honesty.

I work in a school like this. It is only if they go off in class they get confiscated or if the students wander around staring at their screens. They are meant to keep them switched off in the bottom of their bags. I'd just get him to do that.

A smart watch or anything which rings would also get confiscated but a GPS tracker which didn't make any noise would be OK.

We do get parents ringing up to check on their kids who have taken a detour as they've been watching them walk to school online! The kids are always in school, they've just taken a different route. From my perspective, I'm glad parents are taking an interest as we have some gang activity in the area our school is in and we suspect some students of being involved with gangs. Especially the ones who are persistent non attenders but who don't stay at home either. Big worry. But I also understand why people think it's ott. Probably depends on your child and where you live

I said that. I mean it's age dependent. At 12/13 for example, I'm perfectly entitled to know where my DC are at all times. At 16/17, probably not.

@CurlewKate if your kids had phones.. they had trackers? Phones track location unless deliberately turned off at every available avenue, apply family, google family, gps services etc etc (or turning it off) which although possible would render the phone mostly useless. Just because you weren't actively looking at the locations, doesn't mean tracking data wasn't always there. I don't think anyone's suggesting parents actively monitor location, it's only to look up information if you need it. Which would accessible on a standard mobile anyway - so the only way to ensure no location tracking is no electronic device.

Also I wouldn't be looking just for the sake of it and losing the plot if they are somewhere different to where I expected...but I would look if they were late, lost or had been uncontactable for a while.

@Welcometothehumanrace I don't understand your point. As far as I am aware, you can't track a phone as a "civilian" (ie-not the police or something) without installing an App.

My dds are at a secondary with a strict no phone rule.
If a phone is required for travel to/from school they have a system where it can be deposited in an office in the morning and retrieved after school.
The school has a busy programme of sports and other lunchtime activities. They noticed that engagement had dropped off to nothing while the kids sat around on their phones each day hence the introduction of the rule.
They now have thriving extra curricular activities and feel the whole mood of the school is better and its more of a community again.

@CurlewKate when a device connects to the internet or 3G,4G etc. its location is trackable. Most phones these days will also have family set up enabled (and should be, to enable parental controls), often meaning you can all see each others locations, if you are so inclined to look. You can of course turn off such features but it would be an effort and remove access to desirable services.

So is it that you're ok with the Internet service providers knowing where your kids are, any cyber criminals infiltrating their browsing on public Wi-Fi networks, every website they visit which can cache location of the device, the police, social media platforms and viewers of kid's social media content which is often geotagged... but you're not ok with the kids own parents being able to check where they are?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobilephonee_tracking?wprov=sfti1