Classrooms should be a sanctuary for children

AMaSSIvE 97 per cent of children have mobile phones by the time they are 12. and the parents among us will know what that means for daily routines – disrupting bedtime, making it harder to focus on homework and struggling for conversation around the dinner table.

The problem spreads beyond the classroom – kids are playing on their mobiles in the playground, when they should be socialising or kicking a ball around.

It encourages solitude – something I’ve seen first-hand on my many trips to schools: children arched over their phones on their own, rather than getting to know their classmates.

I met my best friend at ten years old, a friendship that I cherish and has helped me appreciate the most important things in life – family and friends. Bullying on the other hand, has always been a problem at school – one that I take incredibly seriously.

This is on top of harmful content that children can access on social media – such as misogynist, pornographic and lurid content that is highly unsuitable for children.

Our Online Safety act is in place and while its impact is yet to be felt, it will protect children from accessing this harmful content. We are working with regulators to force social media firms to prevent children seeing harmful content or face huge fines and even jail time. I’m announcing new guidance that gives headteachers across the country clear and consistent advice to crack down on kids using mobiles at school. Some schools in the UK have already banned them – and the results speak for themselves. Where this has happened, schools have seen children concentrating, bullying falling and friendships blossoming.

Naturally there will be some instances where phones must be allowed – such as a child with diabetes who needs to check their glucose levels on an app. But the guidance puts in place a blueprint for headteachers to make the right decisions for their schools.

Our children deserve a world-class education. So it’s right that we take action urgently to ensure they are learning in the best environment possible – and I expect headteachers to start to plan the ban from today.

School years are some of the most precious and they pass us by in a blink of an eye. Children need to put down their phones, look up, and enjoy it while they can.