PLANS to prevent students using their phones during the school day will introduce “consistency” across government education centres, the minister has said.
Education Minister Rob Ward outlined the new policy – which will remain in force during break and lunch times – in a letter to parents and guardians yesterday.
The restrictions will apply to students up to the end of Key Stage 4 at all government schools and colleges from the start of the next academic year in September.
In the letter, Deputy Ward described the use of smartphones in schools as a “growing issue”.
He advised against sending children to school with smartphones, and urged close monitoring of device use if parents choose to provide one.
“Any breach of school policies where a student actively evades policy to use a phone will be dealt with according to school behaviour policy,” the minister said.
“If access is discovered of inappropriate sites and content, we will not hesitate to involve the police, should it be of a severe nature.”
According to the letter, schools will continue to provide safe online access for educational purposes through safeguarding software, ensuring that learning supported by online resources is not affected by the changes.
Deputy Ward said that he wanted to “avoid the use of negative language, such as ‘ban’ or ‘prohibition'”.
“I believe that we need to make the right decisions for our children’s wellbeing but do so in a way that explains the benefits of these decisions,” he said.
“At the same time, we need to work as a community to educate our young people as to the importance of being safe online.”
The minister explained that, if a smartphone is found in use during the school day, the school will be asked to take it from the student and keep it as per the school’s policy.
Deputy Ward added: “Thanks to the hard work of the schools, we can now have consistency across our education centres.
“This is accompanied by events to support both students and parents.”
