Smartphones ban in school grounds

A SCHOOL in Loughborough has banned all smartphones from school grounds.

The new rule has been brought in at De Lisle College this term, with headteacher John Pye saying the devices cause conflict among students.

He added: “In common with the experiences of many secondary schools, we have found mobile phones to be a frequent source of conflict between students, disrupting lessons and causing upset when they are lost or damaged.”

He also referred to a statement made by Amanda Spielman, HM Chief Inspector of Schools, who has backed the banning of phones in schools.

Quoting part of her speech to headteachers Mr Pye added: “There’s no doubt that technology made the challenge of low-level disruption even worse, which is why I also support recent calls to back heads who have decided that the way to improve behaviour is to ban mobile phones in their schools.”

Mr Pye added: “For this reason, we have brought in a complete ban on students bringing smart devices to school.

“Whilst smartphones are banned, students are permitted to keep an inexpensive Nokia-style phone in their bags (switched off and out of sight), should their parents wish to contact them on their journey to or from school.

“Parents and staff have been overwhelmingly positive about the change.”

The rule change has attracted a lot of attention on social media with hundreds of comments on some Facebook pages.

One person posted: “I would support them if they were to be setting up a system to hand phones in before start of school and then to collect at end of the school day, but when they aren’t on school property they have absolutely no right to be able to say that kids cannot have a phone on them.

“All you guys saying we all survived back in the day....the world isn’t what it was when we were all kids, it’s changed and kids need their phones for safety more than anything nowadays.”

However Clair Ashby said: “I don’t think children should have phones in school! School is for learning, a lot of bullying stems from phones.

“Kids still ignore the rules and turn them on.

“Phones all have cameras which shouldn’t be allowed in schools.

“We all survived without phones, why do we believe our children can’t survive without them?”

A parent of a child at the school said: “I agree with confiscating the phone if caught with it on.

“I don’t agree with them holding on to it any longer than the end of school on the same day.

“They’re essentially punishing the parents and then obviously there is the safety aspect.”