The effects of mobile phones in schools and their impact on the mental health of young people features regularly in the news. Teachers, parents and pupils across the Island’s schools are dealing with mobile phones in their own ways. JEP investigations editor Orlando Crowcroft reports on how two schools are tackling the issue…
When the leadership of Le Rocquier School were deciding whether or not to ban mobile phones in school, they asked a Year 7 assembly for a show of hands. How many of them, deputy head teacher Roxanne Shipton-Taylor asked, had had someone been unkind to them on the internet.
“All of them, bar about three, put their hands up. This is our youngest year group. They’re the ones that you’d assume would have the least exposure to it,” she said.
In June, Le Rocquier became the first school in the Island to ban students from having phones at school, following a detailed consultation with teachers and parents.
In the months since, Ms Shipton-Taylor told the JEP that first offences for breaking the ban – which results in the phone being taken to the main office and can be picked up at the end of the day – were in single digits, and there had only been ‘three, possibly four” second warnings, after which confiscated phones have to be picked up by a parent from the school office.
By contrast, the school has been going through footballs at a rate of knots and had to install new picnic benches in the playground to cater to students wanting to sit outside at break time.
“We’ve got more socialisation going on. We’ve got groups spending time together. The library is busier. It’s a nice environment to be in,” she said.
Le Rocquier is not alone in its stance. In the UK, the previous government issued guidance in February 2024 for schools across the country to prohibit the use of mobile phones in the classroom and also during break and lunch time.
Recent statistics from Ofcom suggest that by the age of 12, 97% of children have their own mobile phone.
In 2023, UNESCO called for mobile phones to be banned from schools after evidence linked it to reduced educational performance, and data suggests that schools with mobile bans achieve GCSE grades one or two levels higher than those without them.
“The evidence overwhelmingly says that the excessive and unmonitored use of mobile phones has a detrimental impact on mental health,” said Ms Shipton-Taylor.
It is a sentiment with which Carl Howarth, the head teacher at Jersey College for Girls, would sympathise. The difference for Mr Howarth, who has been outspoken in his opposition to an outright ban on phones at JCG despite parent pressure, is who is responsible.
“No school buys a student a mobile phone – it is their parents that do that,” says Mr Howarth.
“It really saddens me when you go to a restaurant and you see children on an iPad instead of having a conversation with their family.”
Students at JCG, like those at Le Rocquier, use iPads in class, although at JCG they are mostly provided by parents, while at Le Rocquier the school provides them. Students are allowed to bring their own tablets into school, but they must have school software installed on them which blocks access to unsuitable sites.
When it comes to phones, says Mr Howarth: “We don’t encourage parents to give their children a smartphone, [and] at JCG, if you choose to give your child a phone, we ask that you seek permission for that.
“I can understand schools that have banned phones and made a big play of it, but maybe they are trying to solve a problem that they have within their context. Our data doesn’t show that [problem].”
Mr Howarth believes that bullying and other issues that smartphones open children up to is not happening when children are at school. “It doesn’t take place at school. It takes place when a person is in their bedroom, on their own, at home on the weekend,” he said.
Students who do have phones are not allowed them in the classroom, where they must be kept in a bag or in a pocket. At break and lunchtime, however, they are allowed to use their phones. But Mr Howarth claims that during these times, it is unusual to see students on their phones.
“What you will see is students talking to each other. You might see a student on their phone, but I invite you to ask what they are doing on that phone. They might be saying to their friend, ‘I’ll meet you at badminton after school’, ” he said.
“There is this fear that unless you take a phone away from someone they will be wedded to it all the time. I just don’t see it. And if we do see it, we intervene.”
This article featured in the new family edition of the JEP, which will be produced every Friday. Make sure not to miss the next issue via our e-edition: https://webapp.pagesuite.com/app/JEEVPO
