Secondary teachers : tell me your school's mobile phone policy!

[Piggywaspushed]

Just that, really. Bit of a snap survey.

And is the policy adhered to/ applied/ does it work ?

My ds secondary seem quite lax. The kids can connect their phones to the schools WiFi! They use them in lessons sometimes. They can use them break and lunch if needed.

My ds even has a reminded on his phone to take his medication at break time - the school nurse suggested it!

The other week I sent ds a message during afternoon as emergency (change of plans after school) and I wouldn't be able to text him after school. As his phone vibrated his LSA told him to read it as he checked and t was from me.

Any use of phone for bullying or inappropriate use gets an immediate sanction and confiscation.
The school do A LOT of work on SM use and safety online.
They do A LOT of work on anti bullying and have ambassadors.

They are brilliant as they don't set heavy rules but trust the pupils. The pupils on the whole respond to that trust.

Ds thought it hilarious recently when one his teachers phone kept vibrating. Eventually he had to check t as was his DW. Something about keys and being locked out

Oh and on a recent trip the 'boys' and 'girls' buses for separated. His HOU asked if anyone had phone number of anyone in other bus. So ds called his friend. The teachers then pulled over and talked to each other on the respective students phones.

That one also amused ds no end

He's an easily pleased year 9!

alpine the point is we wouldn't know they had a message from mum if it was at break time, so the fact that we all mention it seems to suggest it is happening during lessons!

Either a) mum doesn't know when beaks and lunch are (why should she really?) or b) just sends a message as she thinks about it, not really thinking that DCs won't have phone on silent. A few weeks ago, a mum phoned her DD. She ignored it and the mum kept ringing back . The girl put her phone on airplane mode to stop it. She wouldn't turn the phone off : they never do...

I manage to get through the day without phoning or texting my DCs!

I think students having phones in corridors on way to lessons slows them down, alters their focus, changes their attention to their surroundings, shuts them off from the outside world if they are using headphones and many other things. I guess banning them at break / lunch just removes grey areas. I would say they often arrive hyper after break because of what they have been doing on their phones/ sharing/ spreading/ finding out.

And I would say , I think an awful lot of this is about conspicuous consumption and display. the ones with phones out in corridors etc, as I said earlier, are usually those with the snazziest phones.

I am not sure what the world is really coming to if students need to listen to Nicki Minaj or phone their friend in the 3 minute walk between lessons.

.... or send multiple texts to their girlfriend in another lessons... all lesson. I do get concerned about phone use by controlling (usually ) boyfriends. See that a lot.

Let's also just consider what (some) students are using their phones between and in lessons to do: meet their friends for a gossip in the toilet or a smoke, plan to bunk a lesson, talk about their friends, complain to parents about the 'unfair' treatment they have just received in a lesson, all making them both late for and distracted before their next lesson, and causing bother for the member of staff who has to follow up their behaviour.

Piggywaspushed

Agreed. Students checking up on one another's whereabouts during school hours because they're 'together' -

Before we banned phones, at break and lunch you’d see groups of students sat together just on their phones not even looking at each other. It was quite sad.

My ds secondary seem quite lax. The kids can connect their phones to the schools WiFi! They use them in lessons sometimes. They can use them break and lunch if needed.
I worked in a school like that.

Sure, most students followed the rules ahd liked them but lessons were still disrupted and held up by people using phones.

And then we had students sitting on phoned at breaks and lunches, school selfies over social media.

When I say use them i lessons - I don't mean socially! I mean as part of the lesson content!

Before we banned phones, at break and lunch you’d see groups of students sat together just on their phones not even looking at each other. It was quite sad.

So school was like real adult life then?

Banned on site, those who live further than walking distance can request permission to hand them in to the office at the start of the day and collect them after school.

It's a tough school so there used to be a real problem with phones, students doing all sorts including photographing over toilet doors and arranging fights but things have got a lot better since the ban 5 years ago.

kazzy to be honest I don't see many adults in their work environments walking along attached to another person by headphones, or phoning their mum when another colleagues has reprimanded them...

I think most schools who have banned them altogether probably did it as a response to the distractions that then spill over into the classroom.

I think I say "put your phone away" more time daily than any other sentence.

me too.

I'm going to count tomorrow

kazzy to be honest I don't see many adults in their work environments walking along attached to another person by headphones, or phoning their mum when another colleagues has reprimanded them

I was replying (and quoted) a poster who was saying it was sad to see kids sat together just looking at their phones. The issues you raise are completely different.

But it's all part and parcel of their complete dependence on phones, so it is related. They genuinely can't live without them and society has developed a bit of a problem!

Normal comp with some 'challenging' students - not allowed to be seen between 8 and 3.15. Adhered to and instant detention (unquestioned) if seen.
Last school had a policy of 'shouldn't be out in class' and it was a nightmare. Believed they couldn't enforce anything different. The difference is amazing.

Phones are not allowed on inside school buildings. They are able to use them outside.

Both current and former school banned them in lessons, to be confiscated and handed over to the office who deal with any admin. Former school allowed use at lunch and break, current school banned at lunch and break.

In neither school were phones a problem in lessons once the kids realised you are a teacher who will enforce the rules. In former school this took about a year after starting as not all teachers took phones. In current school I took one within the first week then not seen one since as all teachers enforce the rules.

Not a teacher anymore but at dcs school they're allowed at all times- they're encouraged to take picture of work, contacted by school intranet etc.
They're hot on misuse though. DC was bollocked for checking an offsite appointment time during a lesson and for taking a photo of a teacher and turning it into a poster

taking a photo of a teacher and turning it into a poster

This would get a child internally excluded in my current school. Taking photos of other students or staff without their consent is taken really, really seriously at any school I've worked at.

@Gluesticks dc was punished. pm if you want to hear the complicated (quite funny) details