You are currently viewing Solihull schools urge parents to delay buying children smartphones

Solihull schools urge parents to delay buying children smartphones

  • Post category:education
  • Post comments:0 Comments
  • Post last modified:January 28, 2025

A group of 49 schools in a borough of the West Midlands have sent letters to parents asking them to “pause” before buying smartphones for their children. It is being led by Tom Beveridge, the headteacher of Alderbrook School in Solihull, which has recently introduced a voluntary phone hand-in scheme for Year 7s. More than half the year group have handed in their phones, with some pupils telling the BBC they already felt “less stressed”.

Mr Beveridge said in recent years the school had seen some of the harms from excessive smartphone use and wanted to take action. “When we do see incidents of students being unkind or even bullying it is almost always invariably linked to some form of online activity”, he said. He added that phones had an impact on the mental health of pupils and were a “distraction from learning” even when kept in a bag or a pocket.

The school has bought mobile phone storage lockers so Year 7 students can safely store their phones during the day. Mr Beveridge said when they introduced the scheme just before Christmas, 10 pupils handed in their phones. Within a month more than half the year group had chosen to drop them off at the start of the day. Among them is Mila, who said she “felt better” and “less stressed” without the worry of it going off in class.

At the start of the next school year, the scheme will be compulsory for Year 7s and it may be rolled out to older year groups as well.

Source link

Leave a Reply