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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

School rules about phones.

57 replies

seeker · 26/05/2010 18:29

My dd's school has always been relaxed about phones. The school places a lot of emphasis on trusting the girls generally. However, from after half term, they will have to put their phones in their lockers at the beginning of the day and not get them out til the end of the day. I have no problem with them not being allowed to have them during the day. However, I have two concerns. One is what seems to be a sudden change in the relationship of trust between staff and girls. Why not tell them that they have to be turned off and in the bottom of bags in school time? My other concern is the prospect of 1000 girls rushing to their lockers at the end of the day for their phones - they have shuttle buses to catch to connect to public buses home. Is is remotely possible that this "phone stampede is NOT going to create chaos and missed buses? Anyone have any experience?

OP posts:

janeite · 26/05/2010 18:36

Do they not have to go back to their lockers at the end of the day anyway, to get coats etc?

I think it's a fair enough system actually. Most schools ime would expect them to hand their phone in to the office in the morning and collect it at the end of the day.

TheFallenMadonna · 26/05/2010 18:38

What was ther previous rule? Even if they were relaxed, I'm assuming that switched off and in the bag was the rule for lesson time anyway. Have there been a number of thefts perhaps?

We don't have lockers, so our rule is out of sight (and hearing!). I see it or hear it, I confiscate it.

Original poster

seeker · 26/05/2010 19:41

No - they keep their coats in the cloak room which is on the ground floor near the door. The school site is huge - and very spread out, so they go to their lockers at lunch time and sort out their stuff for he afternoon and going home.

Janeite, do they really? How does that work with 1000 people all queuing to collect their phones?

The previous rule was no phones in lessons - anyone caught got it confiscated til the end of term, but they could use them any other time.

I think it's the sudden change in the trust relationship that bothers me most - it seems to me to be agains the ethos of the school (which they are very proud of) to go from relaxed to draconian so suddenly.

OP posts:

TheFallenMadonna · 26/05/2010 19:45

Have they not given a reason? I do suspect theft actually - some children bring very expensive stuff into school. And if it gets taken, parents get very angry. In fact, if it gets confiscated, some parents get rather angry at my school. Scarily so. Or text/facebook bullying?

gherkinwithapurplemerkin · 26/05/2010 19:46

Probably too many people taking the piss - texting under desks etc - has led to blanket ban.

personally I'm in favour of a "No seen, not heard, not worried" stylee poilcy with phones, but confiscated until a parent collects if they are seen.

Locker issue, most schools have a 10 min buffer time for keeping classes in if necc, so time to visit locker should be fine.

Original poster

seeker · 26/05/2010 19:48

I wondered about cyber bullying - dd said that the assembly mentioned safeguarding, which I know is the latest buzz word. Just seems very sudden, that's all. And bullying could happen any time. But I suppose it wouldn't be the school's problem if it happened between 4,00pm and 9.00am, would it? Just sad about the trust thing.

OP posts:

TheFallenMadonna · 26/05/2010 19:53

Ah well then - that might well be it. And yes, it is horrible to lose trust. But safeguarding is the thing now, and if there has been cybver bullying in school hours, or taking and posting photos in schoo, then the school is going to come down hard. Or face the consequences.

gherkinwithapurplemerkin · 26/05/2010 19:54

And schools have a specific legal responsibility now to deal with cyber-bullying.

islandofsodor · 26/05/2010 19:58

I thik the sudden change sounds like there has been some sort of incident and unfortunately the minority occasionally spols it for the majority.

Perhaps you could send a short note in asking if the shuttle buses are going to take accountof this and wait a little longer.

pointydog · 26/05/2010 20:00

I doubt it is possible to trust all pupils not to use their phones during the day. Seems fair enough to me to leave them in lockers.

ravenAK · 26/05/2010 20:02

I'm going to be cynical here.

What this really means is:

'We have a policy of phones in bags, which is being regularly flouted & time is being wasted arguing with stroppy little madams claiming that they were "just checking it's switched off", or "using the calculator". We are bringing this new rule in - which will obviously be honoured more in the breach than the observance - so that our gels know not to get their phones out of their bags in sight of a teacher. At all'

So long as your dds' phones are at the bottom of a bag, bothering no-one, I really doubt there'll be anyone conducting searches!

cat64 · 26/05/2010 20:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Greenshadow · 26/05/2010 20:06

Experience of 2 secondary schools here and at neither do you have to hand your phone into the office or leave it in lockers (not enough lockers to go round, but that's another story).
Wouldn't be suprised if it was more of a camera issue than a phone one...I'm amazed the number of photos I see on the boys phones obviously taken during lesson time.

BrokenBananaTantrum · 26/05/2010 20:06

I think it is a good idea to have them in their lockers all day as there would be too much temptation to just have a peek and see if you had any texts if they had thier phones in their bags. I know i would not be able to stop myself from having a sneaky look and if I had got a text I would then want to read it and then reply to it and so on.

I agree that the logistics of them getting phones at the end of the day might be an issue but they will have to sort that of it becomes a problem.

EvilTwins · 26/05/2010 23:18

We're bringing a new policy in after half term in the school I teach at. Kids have been taking the piss more and more - particularly now that most of them have phones with internet access. School internet access to site like hotmail and FB is filtered, so they just use their phones instead. I caught a girl using her phone to check her FC account in a lesson I was covering this week. So we're having a blanket ban - no phones out at all during the school day (don't have lockers, so turned off and in bags) If students are caught with phones out/on/making noises at all then they are taken off them and taken to reception where they can only collect them at the end of the day.

OP - it sounds very much like a number of students at your DDs school have been taking the piss in a similar manner, so the school has had no option but to take a blanket approach.

circular · 27/05/2010 06:59

Ours is out of sight and switched off - which is usually at bottom of bags, although some of the girls wear small shoulder bags under their blazers.
No useage at all during school hours - although this does get breached with some teachers that cannot control their classes.
At previous school, juniors (up to year 8) had to hand them (named) into the offce, and collect after hours. Never a problem as they only had 36 in a year group, with staggered leaving times.

MmeTrueBlueberry · 27/05/2010 07:02

Our school rule is that phones have to be turned off and locked in lockers for the duration of the school day. There is no stampede at the end of the day - they have to sort their books anyway, and we dismiss our pupils in our school, so they have to return to their locker base for that.

They simply don't need phones in school. If they need to phone home, they go to reception and are always allowed.

Phones in school are a real nuisance on many levels. With a lot of kids having smartphones now, they can use websites that are specifically banned on the school network, eg Facebook.

Cyberbullying is a huge problem, and schools should take steps to minimise this happening in school.

Original poster

seeker · 27/05/2010 08:39

I know. I suppose I'm mourning the Golden Age!

And it takes dd a good 5 minutes to get from the playing field to her locker and then another good 5 minutes to get from the locker to the bus stop, so she'll miss her bus on games days at least.

OP posts:

maggotts · 27/05/2010 08:46

seeker

why does your dd need a phone at school?

could she not manage without on games days?

shabbapinkfrog · 27/05/2010 08:48

At the rough scary high school that my DS4 goes to there are no bans on mobiles - just not allowed to use them during lessons. this week on Facebook at least a dozen of them are posting status' and there have been two fairly long videos of a lesson as well!!!! I was delighted to see that, in the video, my DS was hard at work and didn't even seem to notice the mayhem around him, in fact he was shocked that it was on Facebook .....I wouldn't be a teacher at a high school for all the tea in China and I take my hat off to anybody who does.

Original poster

seeker · 27/05/2010 09:32

Maggotts - she needs it because her journey home is so unpredictable that I would have to wait at the bus stop for 30 minutes or more if I don't know what bus she's on. It's purely for my convenience - I would be of the "Well, we managed perfecty well without one in my day so so can you" camp otherwise.

I am about to start a thread about what a seriously bad idea it is to a) live in the country and b) choose any school except your nearest where I will rant rfurther on this subject!

OP posts:

snorkie · 27/05/2010 10:09

I'm with Raven here. If it's turned off & well concealed at the bottom of her bag who's to know/care.

maggotts · 27/05/2010 14:02

seeker

I think I would join that thread!

DDs school has rule about phones in lockers but everyone keeps them switched off and well hidden in bags. Just removes all possible excuses if one does appear i.e. can't claim it is off, or just checking, as an excuse when not meant to be in bag at all. Makes life much easier for teachers so am all for it.

Original poster

seeker · 27/05/2010 14:11

I suggested this to dd, maggotts, and she was absolutely horrified! Not as horrified as when her father (joking, honestly) suggested she had a decoy phone to keep in her locker and her real one hidden in her bag! She's such a little goodie-goodie - quite sweet really, I suppose.

OP posts:

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 27/05/2010 19:10

Why do they need phones in school at all is what I want to know.

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