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 😂

And the school will have to pay for pupils whose parents refuse to pay and for those who can't pay, they'll need a stash for kids who forget or lose them, for new pupils and broken ones etc.

The Duke of Westminster donated money for school pouches in Cheshire - it's a shame more millionaires don't get involved! Many schools locally now use them and there is a big change in behaviour and communication (according to colleagues in other schools too). Have even seen kids playing uno at lunch.

Is the consultation for all mobiles or smartphones only? Maybe smartphones could be kept at home and anxious parents could provide a Nokia brick equivalent to be carried to school?

It's not just anxious parents though. Most bus passes are apps now. As are lots of out of school activities. And what if you miss the bus? There's no pay phones anymore. As much as I can say I coped fine as a teen with no phone, life is very different now and we have a society based on technology use. It is very difficult to opt out (I've tried, as I don't like technology reliance).

"Anxious parents" 🙄
Many posts have discussed paying for things by phone, booking gym visits on an app, looking at the bus or train time app. All of which require a basic smart phone.
Handing them in on the way in - in schools with 1000 students, how long would that take? And even long reuniting them on the way home!

I think its great. Anywhere you can pay with a phone you can pay with bank/debit card so its not an issue there. It will quickly force leisure centres, libraries and travel services to return to plastic cards. Its so not an issue and we need to do this to reverse the damage done to a generation of young people through excessive phone use.

I say that as a thoroughly phone addicted adult. My kids will not be getting phones unt absolutely necessary.

Lots of school do this however so presumably it works.

My ds school have lockable pouches and phones are put in them, locked and carried around in their bags. At the end of the day as the kids walk out the pupil exits the teachers use open them with this device on the wall and kids then can use their phones when walking home etc. Works very well. It's called a yondr pouche.

Name changed as this is outing. Our school has just brought in pouches - choice to parents was buy a pouch or sign something to say your child wouldn’t have a phone at school. Another local school has introduced a policy of only allowing Nokia brick phones - that is way more costly than pouches, as parents are complaining about needing to pay for another SIM card plus the phone of course.
We are in a rural area where about 60% of kids get (often unreliable) buses to school. I think the school are very relieved about their choice, as last week they suddenly realised the fire alarm system had been broken after a lightening strike. About 1200 children needed to be collected from school, and they needed to get verbal permission from all of those parents… far easier to get the phone pouches unlocked and all the kids to ring home than it would’ve been had they needed to coordinate centrally.
I think so many people seem to think we all live in cities where there is a good public transport network, and if you miss the bus another will be along in 10 minutes. It’s 2 hours here to wait for another one on the same route!

Get your children to stop dicking and messing around with their phone causing distruption to the class. I am expecting many people to jump on me saying their children would never do this followed by except once when they forgot to turn it off yada yada yada.

And I am allowed to say what happened before mobiles!!

As far as I am concerned, asking children to travel to and from school without cell phones is a safety issue. There are no longer ubiquitous pay phones available.

The schools must accept that students will enter the building with phones. If the school wants the phones locked up instead of in bags and off, I will support that as a parent, even if I think it is overkill.

With the pouches you need the locking stations to lock and unlock. Local schools went this way. Current pupils got given a pouch. New pupils (or pupils who lose or damage one) have to buy them

Initial outlay was similar to amount OP mentioned. But would be cheaper if all pupils had to buy the pouch

My ds' school required all phones to be off in lockers by 9am and collected at 4pm. Any phone found during school hours was confiscated for a week. No exceptions.

It worked fine. Dcs soon learned not to push their luck.

LOL at the phone pouches!

Our secondary school introduced a no phones in school ban last September and school supply special pouches that are locked with an extra strong magnet at the start and released at the end of the school day.

All the kids I know use an old non-working phone to put in the pouches and keep their actual phones switched off and hidden in the bags all day. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think they occasionally do random bag checks but generally only pick on the 1st years to re-inforce the rules or the known disruptive kids. My DS has never been checked. We live rurally and he catches a school bus to school with a 50 minute journey each way so it’s important to me that I know if he’s missed his bus as there aren’t any other busses. He’s missed the bus very occasionally and it’s always been because a teacher has kept the class too late and the bus has gone.

All schools in our area had the pouches before it came in, local primary year 6 hand to reception inn a morning pick up after school(only 15 kids tho) and so they can walk to school etc.
The problem with the switched off in bags/pocket is that has been the rule for years and teachers spend tok much time saying Bob put your phone away, kids too tempted to use them.
In local college still a massive problem, they are considering putting them all in lockable box at the beginning of each lesson, but they can have access breaks,etc.

I think lockable pouches seem to work well in a lot of schools, don't they? I think some kids will need their phone for before after school for buses and paying for things. Pouches sound like the best option to me.

Agree. And plenty children need them to organise transport, work, etc. My DS couldn't have a debit card (age) so used his phone to pay for food etc, and some places only took cards, not cash.

They shouldn't be on them during school hours but it's a gigantic pain in the arse to suggest they can't have them before or after school.

@KrazyKatty does he have 2 phones.

Thing is if pupils flout the rules you will then get toilets locked as phones and toilets are never a good mix

Many schools have found pupils have gone back to traditional games during breaks and shock, horror actually speaking to each other!

My daughter's school has a box per class, not sure how they know which phone is which but they just put them in at the start of school and collect at the end.

The pouches do seem to be a good compromise, so I’d push for that option, stressing the lack of payphones anymore for children travelling by public transport etc.

The pouches work because it takes away any grey area, if they see a phone during the school day, it’s taken immediately, not “I was just emptying my bag to find something” or “it fell out of my blazer and I was putting it safely in my bag” nonsense- if they can see a phone, that’s against the rules, but your child has access to a phone before /after school.

That proves tricky when the get higher up the school and have picked their gcse options, it means the children aren’t all in the same group at the end of the day as the start. Or you have to have another form time at the end of the day to hand them back.

It also means the school is responsible for the phones (including overnight for any not collected)

Yes, all his friends in his year have 2 phones, one for the pouch and their actual phone. (He’s 17 for context) Also, toilets are kept locked during classes. They’ve done that from when he started there. He won’t use the school loos and is usually desperate for a wee when he gets home!

The one in his phone pouch was an old non working iPhone but it hasn’t been charged for well over a year and is still locked away in the phone pouch in his school bag from when school broke up in May! He keeps the locked pouch in his bag in the front zipped pocket in case it’s ever checked. His real phone is hidden in the bottom of his bag.

I’m not bothered about the rule breaking as DS has never been in trouble in his life and his teachers would never pick on him as he’s one of their most hard working academic students. (We’re not in the UK and they get 12 weeks off for summer )

I assume you are right but I have never known of one - maybe at primary level? Or handing in to a form teacher? (Which as a pp said only works if you have form at the end of the day as well). Secondary schools are, mostly, just too large to this to be a workable option at the school office

@KrazyKatty why do they need the extra phone?

I suppose some of the posts on here do highlight that some of the problems in schools come from the parents not the pupils, and why so many teachers are leaving