Head sells £29 ‘ bricks’ to curb pupils’ smartphone addiction
BRITAIN’S toughest head teacher is selling ‘brick phones’ to parents in a bid to curb their children’s addiction to smartphones.
Katharine Birbalsingh, the head of f Michaela Community School in north London, said the use of a smartphone at an early age is damaging to children and that they should be kept away from the devices until they are at least 16.
Instead, she wants parents to provide their child with a ‘brick phone’, which performs only basic functions such as making calls and texts. The school is offering the phone, a Doro 5030, to parents at the wholesale price of £29. It works on any network.
Miss Birbalsingh, whose school has hit the headlines in the past over its tough disciplinary measures, said 60 per cent of her Year 7 students – aged 11 and 12 have a smartphone.
‘Parents need to be hyper-aware of the damages that phones can do – and unsupervised access to – the internet, what that can do to your child,’ she said. ‘The best thing you can do for your child is give them a brick phone and keep the smartphone away from them until they’re at least 16. I’m not saying no to technology, we use technology, I’m saying that we need to get better and cleverer at how we use it.’
The head said children have praised the school’s new policy for helping to curb their smartphone usage.
‘Kids love it, honestly,’ she said. ‘They really get it. They talk to me about how “we are addicted” and they can’t get off their phones, and they need help.
‘If the child is older and has had a smartphone for years, it’s very difficult to take it away from them. If the child has never had one, then you’re more likely to have success, which is why I would be keen for primary schools to be doing this.
‘What we have found is that about 40 per cent of parents joining in Year 7 have not yet bought their children a smartphone. For that 40 per cent, I really hope for their children to remain without a smartphone.’
Michaela School, in Wembley Park, already has a strict phones policy in place. If a pupil’s mobile is seen or heard anywhere on school grounds it will be confiscated immediately.
It is only returned at the end of term or half-term. Those caught using a phone during the last two weeks of term will not see their devices again until the end of the following half-term – which could mean a period of around 16 weeks if it is confiscated in the summer term.
The school is not alone in introducing tough measures to stop smartphones disrupting pupils’ education. The City of London Academy is threatening to subject its students to searches if persistent offences occur.