Does your child's school restrict mobile phone usage?

[Toughlove70]

Do any of your kids' schools ban phones during school day including breaks? What are the penalties if pupils don't comply? Can you advise the name of the school so we can check the policy? We are in Scotland and virtually no schools ban phones and they say it is not effective in practise... we disagree... thanks

When my daughter was at school there was a complete ban on mobile phone usage on the school site at any time. If anyone was found to be using their phone, it was confiscated and only returned to a parent at the end of the half term concerned, so a child could have been without their phone for up to six weeks. The school had a very wide catchment area, and we lived at the very edge, which meant a 45 minute drive for me to go in to collect my daughter's phone the only time it got confiscated. There weren't many repeat offenders! 😆😆

I've had children in our secondary over the last 14 years. Until last year there was an outright ban on phones with an escalating series of consequences rigorously enforced. Now they can be taken to and from school but must be off throughout the school day with the same consequences and level of enforcement. It works well. It's not difficult.

@Growlybear83 how would your school have dealt with a DC needing to use their phone throughout the day for medical reasons?

Not trying to be goady – my DCs are some way past school age – just genuinely interested.

For what kind of medical reasons would a child need their phone @thing47 ?

I can’t answer that as I was never aware of anyone who had medical issues that needed them to be able to access a phone during school hours. I would hope that the school would have made an exception if it was a real medical necessity.

At ours they have to keep them in their bags, if they’re caught with them the phone is confiscated and can only be collected by a parent 3-4pm.

This is a new policy since September and school have said the kids are much more sociable during breaks and lunch, there is more concentration within class as nobody’s trying to sneak a peak at Snapchat, and overall there are much fewer complaints to school about online bullying. Win win.

Oh there's more detail in my earlier post @TwigTheWonderKid but essentially insulin pumps and attached (to the body) blood sugar monitoring devices use bluetooth technology to send alarms to a smartphone for the purposes of adjusting insulin dosage for T1 diabetics.

It's pretty cool tech tbh, but it does require the DC to have their phone with them, and on, at all times.

Then I would imagine that the school would make an exception.

Indeed so, as you and a number of sensible PPs have pointed out. I was really wondering about those, not just on this thread, but elsewhere and in real life who say that their school(s) don't make any exceptions, ever, for anything.

Then they should be taking that up with the schools' governors if the SLT are not prepared to make the necessary accommodations as I believe diabetes is considered a disability and as such is covered under the Equality Act.

Yes you're quite right @TwigTheWonderKid, T1 diabetes is normally covered under the 2010 Equality Act.

I should point out that my own DCs are grown up, this isn't a personal issue, but I am always interested when schools think their rules and policies override the law. They don't. So not making an exception for phones used as part of a medical monitoring system would fall foul of disability discrimination legislation and would, potentially, be illegal.

The phone is just a piece of tech- not a functioning phone with social media apps- if it’s being used to support a medical condition. It’s the parents responsibility- not the school staff- to ensure the phone is stripped of other apps or functionality of a smartphone if all other pupils are banned from using them during a school day.

I don’t assume schools think they’re above any law, they are having to introduce rules that work for their premises across all age groups, but in the same way they can’t stop a child having a vape or smoke once they’re out of the gates, the children will be straight back on their phones.

Our school hasn’t banned them either, but a few families I know use a phone lock box during the school day to reinforce the rule—it’s surprisingly effective when schools won’t enforce it themselves.