Mobiles are used to bully and send lewd snaps
said: “Phones put children in physical danger. We have no control as parents or teachers over who they’re talking to.
“Children get involved with gangs, girls message men. And then there is what they do to their brains. Phones break children’s concentration.
“Even if they are not looking at their phone, they are wondering, ‘Have they texted me, do they like me I wonder?’, and they think like that because they are teenagers.
“Children do not have the selfcontrol. Many adults also struggle with being able to control their phone-use.”
Ms Birbalsingh warned against letting children use their mobiles at breaktime as it “creates tension” with teachers.
She warned children’s phones are constantly going off with notifications from chat apps and social media. She added: “If they didn’t have their phone, there would not be an argument.
“Why would you also want to create a situation which stops them from playing basketball or football together and making everyone miserable.” She said classroom bans also send a strong message to parents struggling to tackle phone issues at home.
A parents group has set up a “Phone-Free School” campaign, backed by 140 schools which warns devices can be “corrosive to otherwise calm and structured learning”.
Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said: “One of the most compelling arguments for not having smartphones in schools is that it’s pretty hard to find an educational argument in favour of the need for them.
“Where schools have tried this over a short period ongoing screen time fell, even outside school.
“Teachers were less involved in tackling issues of social media misuse.The most convincing case is perhaps surprisingly made by the children themselves whose schools tried this. When they realised nobody else had them at school, they became far less reliant on their phone, far less convinced being present on social media was a necessity.
“It improved their face-to-face interactions with staff and friends and broke down the idea that lots of children currently have, that without their phone they are somehow adrift and it is an essential of their lives.”
The Department of Education has set up a team of experts to help schools tackle classroom disruption as part of a £10million scheme that will see leading schools help those struggling with unruly behaviour.
The Government said: “Schools that ban phones in the classroom have our support. Most schools already choose to ban or limit the use of mobile phones during the school day and this should be set out in their behaviour policies.”
CHILDREN are using smartphones to bully and send indecent images to each other, police have warned.
Fraser Laird, crime prevention officer of Police Scotland, said youngsters and parents should be aware of the online dangers.
He said: “There’s free wifi practically everywhere now.
“Kids are inquisitive and if they’ve got a chance to look at things they will do.
“It’s the same with gaming and young kids playing 18-rated games. We’ve had teachers telling us about five-year-old kids falling asleep in school as they were up all night playing games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.
Giggling
“And the language from the games, they’re using it in their schoolwork too.”
PC Laird, who runs education sessions in schools, says: “There’s a lot of giggling and laughing but when you tell them they could end up on the sex offenders’ register it becomes serious.
“It could be a girl sending a picture to a boyfriend, or viceversa, and it’s passed round friends, then the school. We’ve actually had primary school kids taking indecent snaps of themselves.
“Once it’s on the internet, you’ve lost control. It can destroy people’s lives as you have no idea where or when those pictures are going to pop up.”