Headmistress bans parents using mobiles at school gate
IT seems the whole world is glued to its mobile phone – including parents at the school gates.
But one headmistress has had enough of mothers and fathers who are more engrossed in their gadgets than their children – and has put up signs telling them to ditch the devices.
The notices, outside three entrances to St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Middlesbrough, read: ‘Greet your child with a smile, not a mobile’.
They also feature a person with a phone to their ear crossed out inside a red circle. The aim of the signs is to help parents welcome their sons and daughters at the end of the school day and strike up conversations with them.
Research has shown that children pick up social media habits from watching their parents, leading to a range of issues from sleep deprivation to developmental and weight problems.
The signs have been received positively by parents of pupils at the school.
Mother Danielle Parker said: ‘I think they need to be up because everyone picks their kids up on their phones. I’d like to think they’d make a difference.’
Another parent, Danielle Savage, added: ‘I agree with it, it’s a good thing. But it only works if you’re having discussions all the time at home, not just when you’re collecting your child.’
Liz King, the headmistress of St Joseph’s, said: ‘We are always looking at ways to engage parents and we’ve got the signs at each entrance. They are simple, but they carry a really important message. We are trying to develop our speaking and listening in school and we thought it was a really simple way to get the message across.’
Pupil Lindan Bradley agreed, saying: ‘Why would kids want to see you on your mobile phones all the time?’
The school, which recently became an
‘Develop our speaking and listening’
academy, bought the notices as part of a recent refurbishment programme.
According to one survey, almost half of parents say youngsters spend too much time in front of screens – with some research suggesting children spend an average of almost three hours a day watching TV or on devices.
There is also now widespread evidence that their habits come from their parents’ use of social media. A report last year from the American Academy of Paediatrics produced detailed guidelines linking screen time to the risk of a child becoming overweight for life, sleep disturbance and developmental problems.
And child health education specialist Dr Aric Sigman said a fixation with screens ‘is the very thing impeding the development of the abilities that parents are so eager to foster’.
But phones are not the only battle at the school gates.
Last month, Sandwood Primary School in Penilee, Glasgow, banned parents talking to teachers and set up an exclusion zone after parents hurled verbal abuse at teachers.
Headteacher Fiona Donnelly said any parents wishing to speak to staff would now have to make an appointment at the school office ‘due to a rising number of incidents’.