Mum blasts school over confiscating son’s phone
SCHOOL REFUSES TO HAND BACK DEVICE UNTIL END OF WEEK
A MUM has criticised her son’s school for confiscating mobile phones and refusing to hand them back until Friday afternoon.
Cheryl Hodgkinson has complained to Mirfield Free Grammar after staff confiscated son Tom’s phone after he was caught texting on Wednesday morning this week.
New rules this term will mean that Tom, 15, won’t get his phone back until the end of the school day on Friday.
Mrs Hodgkinson, who works as a supply teacher in primary schools, says the confiscation period should last no longer than one day as pupils need their phones after school for safety reasons.
She said: “I don’t have an issue with his phone being taken off him and handed back at the end of the day, but I do have an issue with the fact that he will not be given it back until the end of the week.
“This means a child can be without a phone for anything up to five days!
“The school has apparently decided this without any consultation with parents.
“In my opinion, a phone is an important safety item.
“For example, my son needs his phone in order for me to contact him telling him I’ve had a call to teach in a school.
“Also, he lives 1.8 miles away from the school and often walks home alone which causes a great deal of worry as I am unable to contact him.”
Mrs Hodgkinson said other parents shared her concerns about the new policy.
“I am aware that this issue has been discussed at great length on (Facebook group) Mirfield Matters, and that the majority of parents have the same concerns regarding the issue of safety.
“The school has a duty to each child in its care, requiring it to do what is reasonable to protect the health, safety and welfare of children.”
After emailing the school with her concerns, a senior member of staff told Mrs Hodgkinson that the majority of students were abiding by the rules.
In an email, the member of staff said: “I take on board your concerns, however school made parents aware last term of the changes and the students have received lots of information via form tutors and leadership assemblies which started last term and are ongoing.
“Phones are returned at the end of school on Friday, the decision to return all phones on that day and not to confiscate for a week is to ensure students have their phones over the weekend.
“School have confiscated only 0.01% of students phones since the start of term three weeks ago, this shows that the majority of our students are abiding by the rules.”
The Mirfield school told Mrs Hodgkinson that if students need to contact home urgently they can use the school’s phones.
In July, the school told parents of its decision to toughen rules relating to mobile phones.
In a newsletter, the executive principal Lorraine Barker said: “The use of mobile phones in the Academy can cause unnecessary parental concern, contribute to sophisticated and nasty bullying and negatively affect structured and focused learning.
“In some cases, mobile phone use within secondary school environments has also created serious child protection issues.”
Mrs Barker added: “In the Academy, we have had instances of students recording and videoing members of staff and other students and uploading these on to social media. This is totally inappropriate and unacceptable.
“It is also a safeguarding risk for both staff and students, contravenes GDPR rulings and it detracts from teaching and learning.”
The new rule states: “If a phone/ smart watch is seen or heard during the school day, it will be confiscated (along with the SIM card) and returned to the student on Friday at 3.05pm.
“This will be applied regardless of the point in the week when it was confiscated and it is non-negotiable.”