Mobile phone ban in school- not sure what is reasonable!

[greenmarsupial]

My children’s secondary school have just sent out an email about the new DfE guidance on mobile phones in school. Currently, they are allowed to bring them but they must be off and in their bags during the school day.

The school are consulting parents on options but with a heavy steer. It sounds like any lockable option is time -consuming and expensive so they would probably like to just say no phones whatsoever.

I do fully support the school and would reinforce rules around phones but for some reason this has made me quite cross as I feel it oversteps. My kids often go to the local leisure centre after school- they need the app to book and get in. They need Apple Pay to buy anything… I appreciate we could probably ask if the leisure centre does physical cards and they could carry a bank card so there are get arounds but why do we need to when that’s not the direction of travel for most things?

I am far from in constant contact with my kids but I do find it helpful to check their location and for them to be able to let me know if they need collecting - the plan is normally to walk but if friends don’t go or a club us cancelled then we need to communicate. I’m all for them having restrictions but I think that’s my place as a parent.

I’m happy to be told I’m wrong about all this- my gut reaction was just to be annoyed. I know we didn’t have tracking and text in the 90s but I was definitely a teen who was rarely where I told my parents I was so maybe it’s paranoia although this generation seem almost too sensible 😂

Our school is going for the Yondr pouches.

Although my child’s phone is a medical device so doesn’t count.

This. 👍

My school has the lockable phone pouches they keep in their bag and are u locked at the exit of school. Our school provided them.

My kids school operated this for years. My kids are very rules bound so they wouldn't bring the phone to school unless they really needed it and then they had to hand it in at beginning of day and collect it at end. My kids were unusual though and most pupils took their phone and just had it in their bag. Occasionally there was a bag search and phones were confiscated.

I thought it was an overly strict policy and most kids ignored it. I think if they were caught with a phone it was confiscated and parents were called.

If the school cant afford to provide them, then there should be an option for parents to purchase. Then if parents really want their child to have access to the phone AFTER school, they can pay for the privilege.

My DC's school did the phones off and in the bag rule but it was constantly being flouted. They now have a no phones policy but it isnt being enforced. The consequence used to be having your phone confiscated for the remainder of the week, it has moved to a day suspension and ironically the teachers are reluctant to report a child with a phone as they feel the punishment is too harsh!

The school my kids go to is implementing the pouches so that kids can still access their phones once school finishes which I feel is a sensible middle ground. School are subsiding the cost but parents will have to pay £10 per pouch and I’m totally fine with this as I want my kids to have their phones for the journeys to and from school, other parents are kicking off about having to pay but also don’t want a blanket ban.

It’s tricky for the schools because they know a blanket ban will have parents complaining and they know that the alternative (pouches or lockers) that the parents will need to pay for will also have parents complaining. Rock and a hard place.

As a teacher you should know that schools CAN search students. So telling parents to make sure their children hide items that are specified as prohibited is pretty poor advice.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62d1643e8fa8f50bfbefa55c/Searching__Screening_and_Confiscation_guidance_July_2022.pdf

We did all manage at secondary school without one but in those days, a fiver in the bottom of your bag for an emergency with some coins for a phone box sorted out most problems. My DD doesn't use her phone at school but will message me afterwards if she needs to stay for an after school thing she's forgotten about, to say something is cancelled or to ask a question about whether she could go somewhere else after school. None of this is critical- she could get the office to ring me although would rather not bother them, and I could ring the office to tell her I will be home late, but it isn't as convenient.

I'd quite like her to be able to use her phone to take a photo in class of the exam questions she got wrong. Schools are being required to ban phones only to deliver a significant proportion of lessons on a Chromebook that she has to
lug to school and back on her bike. I'm all for a reduction in screen time but most of it is during lessons. She used it for 5/6 lessons one day this week. It seems like a crazy double standard. Having a smartphone has made her more independent and she is very considerate about letting me know if she will be late. I'm not especially anxious but as she cycles, it is nice to know she's at a meeting about the French trip not in an accident if she doesn't appear on time, and I would let her know if I have a last minute meeting on the same basis.

The pouches have been in use for the past year at my son's school and work well. Parents had to pay £10 for them but they have to put their phone in the pouch in front of the teacher at the gate as they walk in, then they keep it in their bag and it gets unlocked with some magnet which they have access to on the way out. There are also lots of bag searches too . I think it's the best compromise.

Did you even read the OP?

29. The person conducting the search must not require the pupil to remove any clothing other than outer clothing. ‘Outer clothing’ means any item of clothing that is not worn wholly next to the skin or immediately over a garment that is being worn as underwear, as well as hats, shoes, boots or scarves.

So they can’t ask the kid to take everything off. A pouch worn under a shirt would not be detected.

My DS’s school have locked pouches and I think it works well. He obviously has it on the walk to school and back, I’ve no idea of the cost but this is a school in an affluent area (which means its govt funding won’t be that high) so it may not be extortionate.

We're going off but in bags because of the same reasons you cite OP. We're setting ourselves up to fail if we don't allow them because students need them for their bus passes. We can't afford exercise books let alone phone pouches.

It would have been massively helpful if the government had provided money for lockable pouches along with the dictat to schools. Please do write to your MP about it if you are also in this position.

The trouble with requiring schools to invest in the solution though is that schools have no money. I’m a primary school governor and if we had to spend £40k on a solution to children bringing in phones we’d have to make a teacher redundant to afford it.

Everyone managed fine before kids had phones. Maybe it will encourage students to be more resilient, to plan ahead and to not rely on their parents for everything?

You’re being utterly ridiculous.

This works if nothing is online. But it is.

Pouches here as well, they’ve had them all year and it’s working well. The school have said the number of phone incidents has reduced dramatically. If you are caught with your phone out, it’s a day in isolation and there are random checks to make sure the pouches are locked. They were given a pouch at the start of the year and that’s compulsory equipment, and if you lose it then you have to buy another. I think it’s reasonable to either say buy a pouch or no phone on school site.

Whilst I don’t like the reliance on phones, there are no phone boxes where I live, where as there used to be phone boxes all over the place and I had a phone card and spare coins to use if I needed. The school also had a payphone that could be used at break/lunch. (I remember buying concert tickets in my free as a sixth former!) However the school buses round here have the option now of a physical bus pass so no need for a smartphone app and that’s due to the pressure from the schools to provide an alternative.

Everybody managed fine because there were payphone, and bus tickets were on paper etc etc.
The world has moved on and so many things are apps these days.

We are going to be charged £15 to purchase a Yondr pouch. Not sure why the school would have to pay £40k.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. My daughter is an intense rule follower (not sure my son will be the same when the time comes but he doesn’t have a phone yet). Several days after school she has dance for several hours at the school. There is no way I want her alone on campus for that long without any way to phone me. Waiting to see what they come up with in August but I’m gearing up to get an exception for her.

I can’t see how they can make a rule about what happens outside of school. Plenty of kids commute a decent distance on public transport and need to be contactable. It’s not like there are pay phones or friendly helpful drivers etc. I am pretty concerned about the transport times too.

I don't know if this would account for the expense or not, but the school has to set up opening stations for students to release the pouches at the end of the day

I agree, even bus timetables are on apps now

Our society is no longer designed for a life without mobiles - apps for lots of things (bus pass, leisure centre access etc), lack of public phone boxes and an expectation that parents know whether their school age children are in the name of "safeguarding". It is therefore not reasonable for a school to prevent a child having their phone outside of school, including on the travel to and from school. They therefore need to provide a reasonable solution for the containment of phones in school, and solutions for this exist, like the lockable pouches.

I do think though that given the solution is likely to cost thousands for each school,.the government should have funded this or at least factored that in to the dictat.