Brick phone at an iPad school

[Walkingdisaster1991]

Just wondering what brick phone everyone is getting their children for September?
I've been trying to work out if my children would be able to get away with their smart phones if they're hidden 🫣. And also what are peoples view on this new rule? I understand why the schools and government are bringing this policy in but I'm also so frustrated as I've now not only got to spend out loads as my youngest is starting secondary school, but now I need to buy 3 children brick phones as well as a tracker to keep in their bags/on keys 😩 also the school my children are at before they even start you have to spend nearly £500 on an iPad 🫠🫠 madness how they can't have a smart phone but have to have an I pad Imo 🤦🏻‍♀️. Also not sure if I chose the right subject for this or not so sorry if posting in wrong place.

iPads will more than likely be locked down so only apps needed for education are available.

At our local comp they expect you to cough up nearly £900 before your new Y7 sets foot on the property - for a Chromebook and the September residential trip (so with uniform you’re down a grand+!!). They conveniently omit to mention that both things are effectively voluntary!

Our secondary got round this by having a “suggested” contribution from parents of £13 a month for the compulsory school issued iPad. Dd is now year 10 and we’ve been paying that since year 7. It’s totally locked down to school apps and anything they deem appropriate content for browsers, I.e not a lot.

Pupil premium students don’t have to contribute to the school iPad scheme (which is basically a rental, as at the end of year 11 you either have to give it back or pay however much it is to buy it and keep it). Hardly anyone buys it as they then need to provide their own laptops for sixth form.

If a student isn’t pupil premium but parents feel they can’t afford the £13 a month, they can either contact the school and suggest an amount they feel they can afford to pay, or apply for funding from the school. From what I gather very few people do this and most just sign the contract to pay the £13 a month for 5 years!

We didn’t get this at all as a one to one device school.

When you have one class set that moves around, nobody takes responsibility and the infrastructure isn’t sound.

When you have 800, the backend is more controlled and systematic. Updates are pushed out, systems are locked down more, kept cleaner so they’re quicker for longer. Charging is the student’s responsibility and we have a few sockets available for those who forgot.

At that scale you also need some it support more than once a fortnight

You mean they lock their old smart phone in a pouch 😉

It’s a bit disingenuous to say we all managed without phones, there were pay phones all over so if a bus was cancelled you could still call home. Brick phones can be cheap but we’ve found they aren’t reliable (sometimes confiscate the smartphone as punishment and give the brick), they don’t have as strong reception as the smartphones (same SIM card and we’ve tried a few). I also think if you’re traveling on the tube you have WiFi so can still be in contact if necessary if you are below ground. It’s helpful to encourage independence to be able to drop a pin on Google Maps and say meet me here. I also don’t like this cliff edge, we all know phones are addictive and giving unfettered access at 16 when we have less influence as parents is a worry. The reality is this is going to cost parents, a lot of my DCs friends have their parents old phones, presumable when the parents have upgraded, to get a brick that you can have maps and tracking on is over £250 (looking at the smartphone free childhood options). I’m very sympathetic to the cause and see the benefits but I think the locked bags should be the answer not forking out for new phones.