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 😂

I thought they were moving to lockable phone pouches in bags during the day.

They are doing this in all the local high schools now. They can get bag searches so any phone not in a pouch means you are toast. You don't have to take a phone to school though either so this is also on their record.

Well, kids told me immediately how you can open the bags.

If nothing else it'll be a short challenge of ingenuity.

Makes you wonder how on earth we all survived not having phones at school 🙄. Get a grip.

smart watch with eSIM will allow messaging and payment without a phone if necessary

The problem with allowing phones in school but switched off is that many kids won’t follow the rules and it becomes a headache for teachers and have a knock on effect to admin staff. There will be kids who abuse it, parents who don’t agree with the ban and therefore don’t support the school and the whole thing creates more work. Schools just don’t have enough spare capacity for it.

most can use contactless.

DD’s school has been phones off in bag. I completely supported this stance and she knows that if she’s stupid enough to use it and it gets confiscated, she’s not getting it back unless her dad is willing to leave work early and go pick it up on a Friday. They are moving to pouches in the next year and I fully support that too. However , I do not agree with a full ban .

The world wasn’t set up around mobile phone /access to internet usage . HTH.

The bus costs more to tap on contactless than on the prepaid pass that is on the app. The physical card that they had was stopped as a cost cutting measure, no more plastic card so now it is the app.

@somanychristmaslights my FIL realised how limited he was just after Covid when you had to scan QR codes to enter restaurants because he didn't have a smartphone and the restaurant had no other method. I should say my Dad who is mid 80s has an iPhone and able to use it easily. The world has moved on from when we were children. We took dinner money to school, my child's school is cashless, to stop people taking money you have to top it up online and pay using your fingerprint.

I think pouches are the best way to go or collecting them in during form. I have seen enough tv shows where they are not allowed mobile phones for security reasons and are locked away in boxes.

My kids school has never allowed phones and it’s fine. Any time my child needs something the office calls me and it’s resolved. They can take cash to school, the sports centre has a card entry as well as phone entry … non issue

Thats why we should be lushing back kn the App nonsense for everything.

Many areas manage childtens passes as a physical card not an app without bother. The whole of London for example.

For people moaning about it, the Government have stipulated no phones in schools. Usual Government policy where they have told schools to implement it without giving funds to implement it!

Yes, some students will find ways round the pouches, bring an extra phone, but a phone not in a pouch can then be treated like any other prohibited item. Prohibited items can lead to an immediate suspension whereas previously a phone out of the bag might lead to a detention and confiscation. Suspensions go on your school record (although not like a criminal record).

If schools want no phones they are going to need to stop telling children to use them.

They could also maybe cut back on the half dozen fecking apps parents are supposed to diligently spend our days checking...

Fundamentally there is a tension between schools pushing tech on one hand, and reprimanding children for using it with the other.

My DS’s school have implemented a no phones policy this year (he’s year 9). It was that years 10/11 could have limited phone privileges, I think because they were sometimes needed in lessons but they’re removing that next year I think. They used to have a “phones off in bag” policy. He said they’ve received some sort of permission to bag check from Monday.

I support them although it does make certain things tricky (eg timing for after school cricket match pick up). I think DS didn’t experience too much negative from having phones but I’m sure some kids do (bullying type stuff) so I think overall it’s a good decision.

@WrongKindOfFeminist see my post above it is the Government telling schools there shouldn’t be phones in school

I wish the DfE had been sensible

School budgets are not enough.
Those pouches cost a huge amount for a secondary school to buy and pupils just have two phones. You can charge parents but thats a nightmare chasing payments.

Most Schools were doing fine with just confiscating phones if they saw them.

The real issue with phones is the 6 hours of tik tok when they get home..

Not quite. They have stipulated no phone/other similar device USE in schools.

Sorry I haven’t had time to rtft so it’s probably been said but are the school allowing brick phones?

I think the point of the guidance and the phone- free movement in general, is to shift the culture towards children not having smartphones until well into their teens, when they are more equipped to handle the dangers.

We have devices that we know to be addictive and have various harms to children’s education, development and wellbeing, but we’re all like ‘but the bus is on an app so what can we do?’ - we need to push the bus companies and say ‘stop forcing our children to use addictive devices to use your services’!!

When the smoking ban came in, there were all kinds of practical challenges in how services are designed and used, but the evidence was mounting that exposure to smoke was harming people.

Many of the social harms with smartphones happen when travelling to school - photos of other kids, showing one another harmful content, online bullying etc. Because they are kids and not yet ready to use these devices appropriately. Look how many adults can’t do this!!

Brick phones for parents/kids who need to be able to ring one another. Give them a chance to be kids and develop independence through problem solving when they are ready for it at each stage.

They kind of were, at least as sensible as the DFE can be. They said phone usage must be prohibited in school, however it’s up to the schools how they manage it. Hand it in at the start of day, pouches, lockers, complete ban , off and in bag etc. What schools must do is to have a policy around it (and consequences/sanctions for not following it) that is clearly communicated to parents. It can be as part of the behaviour policy, or a stand alone policy.

@ChalkOutlines the guidance states that schools need to have a policy where pupils cannot have access to a mobile during the school day. Having it in their bag turned off probably isn’t sufficient for the term ‘access’

Am I missing something? She said currently they're allowed to take them? If they're off and hidden, how will anyone else even know they have them?

My School, a 950 pupil secondary, brought in pouches after Easter. If a pupil is found with a phone it is confiscated and can only be retrieved the following day by a parent. If a phone is confiscated on a Friday it is held until Monday.

Looking at the data behaviour has improved and unsurprisingly the number of kids using the toilet in lesson time has decreased.

We had a lot of issues with Snapchat and pupils posting over break times and lunch causing arguments and sometimes fights over snaps that had been posted. This has obviously been eliminated.

Yes. The problem is a top down decision.

@sittingonabeach

As part of this policy, schools should develop a mobile phone policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones (for example, the ability to send and/or receive notifications or messages via mobile phone networks or the ability to record audio and/or video) throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime.

While access is used in the guidance as well, the focus is on use. A phone being in a locker (one if their suggestions) will offer a similar amount of access as being in a bag.

How many schools have lockers?