‘Schools will need to search pencil cases or use airport scanners to enforce phone ban’

Headteachers have warned secondary schools might struggle to ban ‘addictive’ and ‘distracting’ mobile phones from their classrooms.

Principles have weighed in on the government’s decision to make it law that smartphones should be banned in schools.

The senior teachers welcomed the move to kick out the ‘damaging’ devices, which they say are hurting their abilities to socialise and focus.

But some fear it will be difficult to enforce on older children unless they turn to ‘impractical’ searches or scans of students belongings.

Ministers had previously argued that there was no need for a ban to be a legal requirement as a large number of schools had already prohibited the devices.

Now they will amend the children’s wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords to make existing guidance statutory.

Alasdair Black, headteacher at Moat House Primary School in Coventry, said the change of mind was ‘long overdue’ and would help persuade parents and pupils to respect these bans.

His school only allows Year 5 and Year 6 to bring in phones and those devices must still be handed in at the start of the school day and returned at home time.

Mr Black, who is on the national executive of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), told Metro: ‘We are totally reliant on children’s honesty and there have been a few occasions when children have not handed in their phones.’

He says that most of the time kids that age ‘grass’ on their fellow classmates, but secondary schools will struggle a lot more to police mobile phone use.

The teacher explained the drastic measures that would be needed: ‘The only way to guarantee that they don’t get into schools would be to search children’s pencil cases, bags and coats as they enter the building in the morning,  which is not practical.

‘Another way to check could be to use some form of scanner, like they have at courts and airports, but I don’t think that schools are likely to install these.’

Mustafaa Malik, head of Harlow Green Community Primary School in Gateshead, agreed the ban would be hard to ‘police’ in secondary schools.

The Gateshead Headteachers Association chair said: ‘I do not understand what stops a pupil from handing a phone in when they have another phone? Why would that not happen?

‘Then there are smart watches – there are a lot of nuances that need to be clarified.’

His school also lets Year 5 and Year 6 children come to school with phones, but they are locked up in the office during the school day.

As many as 99.8 per cent of primary schools and 90 per cent of secondary schools already restrict or limit the use of phones during the school day, research from the children’s commissioner has shown.

Although Mr Malik does not face problems with children bringing in phones, he said they ‘have the issue of children accessing them at too young an age’.

The consequences of exposure to devices and social media at too young an age has been devastating.

The headteacher said: ‘As school leaders, we worry about the future of society.

‘Phones have already impacted their ability to focus and their brain development.

‘Many are struggling to play with groups of other children. They want to be in front a screen all the time.

‘Older children say they would rather be at home on their computer.’

It is a similar picture for Mr Black, who said the consequences of mobile phone use causes ‘regular issues’ even if they are banned during the school day.

The Coventry head said: ‘The most common problems are linked to arguments and bullying on social media apps.

‘We also have issues with children filming fights outside of school and children using AI to manipulate images of other children then sharing these.’

He said he could not see how banning phones would have ‘any impact’ on these problems.

More optimistic about a ban is Jonathan Kirkham, the headteacher at Weeke Primary School in Winchester.

He said he was ‘really really pleased’ with the government’s move.

‘You would not allow a child to come into school with drugs or a bottle of vodka,’ Mr Kirkham added, alluding to the harms phones can cause.

His school went ‘smartphone-free’ in September, which has brought with a ‘really positive outcome already’.

In that time, teachers have only had to confiscate two phones that children did not hand in at the beginning of the school day, and that he has been able to educate any concerned parents to get on board with the ban.

Mr Kirkham said he has seen evidence that similar bans can be successfully installed in secondary schools.

Despite this, he is all too aware of how prevelant phone use is among young people.

‘Four-year-olds are playing Grand Theft Auto across the whole country,’ he said in reference to the game only suitable for older teenagers.

‘The level at which teenagers are anxious and are really struggling with dealing with the pressures around exams  – it is not a coincidence that has increased. It is significantly linked to technology.’

Last week, MPs rejected calls to ban social media for under-16s for a second time after minsters said a ban was premature.

The government is holding a consultation on the issue and MPs instead voted to give ministers powers to bring in their own rules.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: ‘We have been consistently clear that mobile phones have no place in schools, and the majority already prohibit them. This amendment makes existing guidance statutory, giving legal force to what schools are already doing in practice.’

Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott said the amendment, which is due to be tabled in the coming days, was ‘fantastic news for headteachers, parents and pupils across the country’.

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