Changed Rules re Mobile Phones at school

We have decided to change the rules around students and mobile phones. Mobile phones will not be allowed to be on their person during the school day. They must be stored in lockers or bags and not accessed at all.

We have been concerned over recent times about a much greater increase in the use of mobile phones at school, a seeming increase in students’ dependency on them, and just the plain distractibility of students too.  Deep learning can’t occur if you are checking your phone every few minutes.

The current research indicates that, when young people have their phone near them, they can experience lower concentration and higher distractibility, and increased stress and anxiety. There is also evidence to suggest that social interactions and the development of interpersonal skills are reduced when students can spend more times on their phones, connecting digitally rather than in person. There are many articles – in the popular press and in more learned journals – about many of the negative implications of students and young people having so much screen time and having constant access to smartphones throughout the day (and the night!).

Phones are a distraction. We want girls to be focused during lessons. We don’t want them to be distracting others via texts, talking to their friends, arranging to meet each other in the bathrooms etc. They can retrieve messages from you regarding routine family and travel arrangements at the end of the school day. You are very welcome to ring the General Office at School and we will pass on messages, small or large, if they are urgent. And of course we would get a student to the phone to talk to you if there is something distressing you need to tell them, or vice versa.

I do genuinely believe that it is not helpful for a student to contact you during the school day if they are upset about something which has happened here at school. I feel that it is better to wait until they get home, and you can have a quiet, considered conversation with them. Firstly, a difficulty has often blown over in an hour or two! But if that is not the case, you would want to spend some time calmly probing what had happened. What did they do, and what did others do? Why might their friends or teacher have acted in that way? What might it have looked like from another’s point of view? What ways might the girl be able to solve that issue? Might it all look better in a day or two, not as bleak as it looks right now? These types of questions help a student to develop the maturity and resilience to cope with the complexities of life. If you “fly off the handle” and ring school to intervene without understanding the full story and helping your daughter to resolve the issue, you take away the opportunity to help her to learn from you about life and to develop the skills she will need as an adult.

We also don’t want students to be using their phones during recess and lunch either. We want them to be present in the moment, engaging in face to face conversations and participating in productive activities with other students. Girls do not need to spend lunchtime using social media on their phone, checking feeds, making TikTok videos and the like.

The rule will start from Monday of Week 3 (9 May). We are just fine-tuning logistical arrangements for full implementation. But I have spoken to the girls yesterday at Assembly and encouraged them to start right away, to get in the habit of having their phones in their lockers from 8.15am to 3.10pm without fail! I know it will feel quite different for some of them. And I encourage parents and carers to have conversations with your daughters too, to discuss how this will work in your individual family.

Jenny Allum
Head of School