Phones banned from schools from 1st April - what is your school doing?

[Kepler22B]

My school (teacher) is fully implementing the new government policy https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mobile-phones-in-schools/mobile-phones-in-schools

Phones handed in at the start of the school day and not collected until they go home. It is a boarding school so they can get their phones for a short while in the evening. No change for us here, we already did this.

What is changing for us is no phones on trips or matches or Saturdays. Plus the rules now apply to 6th form (but there is some leeway that my school isn’t taking)

Is your school fully banning phones? How are they implementing this? Are you happy with the rules?

I do think phones should be locked away in school. I also think that banning smart phones completely is completely unrealistic, especially in rural areas where a dumb phone is about as useful as a fisher price toy phone!
At our (secondary) school, only kids with phones are allowed to make their own way to/from school, and smartphones are strongly recommended. some parents every year try a dumb phone, and usually change to a smartphone by the first half term .

No phones allowed but they are allowed to bring them in but to be kept in bags. If they are discovered to be used, they will be confiscated and parents notified. This has been the case since my one started and before that. I don't think they will change anything and it works. I am surprised that any secondary schools didn't have this in place and now have to do this more severe ban. Seems stupid and time wasting.

I feel the same - when the government started talking about this I couldn’t believe there were schools where phones weren’t already banned. My son’s school policy is phones off or silent and stay in bag or blazer pocket, although I think they are allowed in 6th form and on coach trips etc. Sanction for first offence is phone removed until the end of the day.

My dc School has just banned smart phones completely for year 7. Dumb phones only which makes sense as they are less addictive/still useful for travel to and from school. BUT they have not done this for other years

A school I read about is or will be banning them for yr7, then next year they will also be banned for yr8, then yr9, as that cohort moves up the school. So eventually they will be banned throughout the school.

No phones allowed but they are allowed to bring them in but to be kept in bags.... I am surprised that any secondary schools didn't have this in place and now have to do this more severe ban. Seems stupid and time wasting.

How does phones in bags prevent them being used out of sight in the toilets? Many teachers have said this is one of the big problems they have to deal with.

@HelenaWilson I agree, but no solution is perfect.

Forcing kids to leave their phones at reception or to put them in pouches can be a logistical nightmare in large schools, and kids can always put a burner phone in the pouch while hiding their real one in their bag, to use in the toilet.

At the same time, no solution is foolproof, but not every kid will use burner phones, so even if 3/4 of the kids don't use their phones in school, and 1/4 uses it in the bathroom, it's better than nothing.

There is a virtual network operator which lets parents block data reception during school hours. I suppose the same can be done with dedicated apps. But of course it's the parents who must set this up, the school cannot force it

https://parentshield.co.uk/features-time-controls/

Our school was "turned off and in your bag" before trialling a "hand in" policy for years 7 and 8 two years ago and switching to pouches for the whole school (except sixth form) last year.

It's a six form entry secondary so neither huge nor tiny but they've made it work and what's interesting is that the head has said that the impact was huge. Her view was that you'll always have kids who try to get around it but what the pouches have done is remove temptation from the kids who usually try to follow rules but give into temptation in the loos/in a quiet corner at break etc. They say kids are more social at breaks, there's less interpersonal conflict and attention in class is better.

She says there are always kids who'll try to come up with clever way around the rules but having the pouches removes any doubt between accident ("it just fell out of my bag miss, not my fault") and intentional rule breaking. They're not a crazy strict school but they come down like a ton of bricks if they see a phone.

I thought that was interesting - that the beneficiaries aren't the hardcore rule breakers but those who are so hooked on their phones that it's just too hard not to give in.

I would be happy with this rule. A lot of schools in our area already have rules where they will confiscate phones if they are seen in use on school grounds and the parent will have to go in and collect it.

They are allowed to use them on school trips and outings.

@JassyRadlett I thought that was interesting - that the beneficiaries aren't the hardcore rule breakers but those who are so hooked on their phones that it's just too hard not to give in.

Great perspective. What were the logistics like?
Some heads don't want these rules not because they oppose the principle but because they are afraid the implementation would be chaos.

Has it worked OK at your school?

LOL! Our school in Ireland does this but it’s a total bollox. 😂😂

The kids hand in any old smart phone in the prescribed special pouch and keep their actual phones in the bottom of their school bags.

@WappityWabbit

But what are the penalties? Some schools let a parent collect a confiscated phone the next day. Some keep it for longer.

Maybe the threat of being without mobile and social media etc etc for a couple of weeks is a decent deterrent?

No one actually checks the school bags.

Maybe if a kid is caught using another phone, there might be a sanction given (detention most likely), but it’s definitely nothing more than a tick box exercise to satisfy certain types of parent.

All the parents I’ve spoken to (obviously a small random sample) really don’t care about the policy and think the whole exercise is pointless.

It seems to have done! We're in the second year now and it all seems to run pretty smoothly. Phones go into pouches and get locked in morning form time and the form teacher unlocks it in afternoon form at the end of the school day.

Parents are asked at the start of each school year to let the school know the make/model of their kid's phone - obviously not foolproof but gives teachers something to check against as well.

I'm sure there are kids who bring in multiple phones and get around it, just like any system. But I like it overall - not too heavy handed a supporting the majority to have phone-free school days.

@changednameagain1234I would’ve called the police!

What do you think the police would do? Schools are allowed to confiscate prohibited items (including phones) so no law has been broken.

Would you call 999 and demand an immediate response or 101?

Haven't heard a thing from my DSs school and judging by the amount of times they ask them to use apps etc in class for learning I'm not sure how they would implement this.

Our school have always been phones off in bag not to be seen.

My dds schools has it so that you get two warnings then your phone is token off you for the rest of the lesson I think it is too little

My DS starts yr 7 in September at an independent school. Received an email recently to say no phones are allowed on site (previously they could be taken but handed in for the day). His is the first year with and outright ban and this will follow him through the school. I am happy about it - they are not needed. None of the kids can walk to the school so they are either dropped off and picked up by parents or use the school's transport network.

Ugh, don’t even get me started on the spare phone problem! My cousin’s son’s school tried the ban last term, but half the kids brought old cheap phones hidden in their bags. It turned into this whole cat-and-mouse game that was way more stressful than just having phones out. They ended up working with parents to set consistent screen time rules at home—we use screen time management tools to lock down old devices too, which stopped the spare phone loophole for us and helped a lot. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.

Don't be daft, when they're linked to CGMs, they're regarded as medical devices and are usually included in the Diabetes care plan.

With hearing aids (I have one - as in one prescribed by an audiologist just as children would have, not the cheap shit glorified earbuds sold by Temu and the like), they can be used without a phone - the basic settings are programmed into the HA, it's the additional features and initial programming of particular patterns that is done by mobile - they'd be allowed as well in any case, but it's not essential.

Once they get to actual public exams, the phones would be allowed in the care of an invigilator - if a CGM alerts, that's also evidence for special consideration, for example.

Best thing schools do is to collect the phones at the beginning of the day and return them at the end - the difference in behaviour between that and 'off in your bag' (as on average, they never, ever stay in the bag) is very clear.

This is a very sensible post, but I have one comment: Diabetes care plan? Nope never seen such a thing for either of my 2 DC's, at any.school either of them ever attended.

Well you should have.

Phone-free school parent here. So nothing new.

My DC has a Samsung tag so I know where he is, and does take phone with him occasionally, despite the threat of losing it for a term if found. Apart from that, I can't see anything wrong with the ban. I wish it extended outside of school, too )))

How does this work? My DC's school confiscates phones until the end of term, if found - that's a lot of spare phones!

Phones aren't banned, just their use in school time. Our kids school had this in place anyway. They're not allowed on their phones. If caught the phone is taken off them. It's not been an issue to date.