Council backs move to ban mobile phones from the classroom
The aim is to introduce lockable phone pouches into all Cheshire high schools
Lockable mobile phone pouches(Image: Cheshire East Council)
Cheshire East is backing a move to reduce smartphone use in schools to safeguard children. The children and families committee unanimously supported recommendations this week to keep smartphones out of the classroom.
The vote came after Cllr David Jefferay (Wilmslow, Ind) brought a notice of motion calling for the banning of smartphone use in local authority schools. Cllr Jefferay told the committee: “This notice of motion was brought forward for one reason – to improve children’s wellbeing, behaviour and safety during the school day. It’s about recognising that smartphones are uniquely distracting, uniquely harmful and uniquely difficult for schools to manage.”
The council is supporting a move by Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dan Price to make Cheshire the first county with phone‑free education. The aim is to introduce lockable phone pouches into all the county’s secondary schools.
Deputy police commissioner Gemma Southern told the meeting that, in schools where pouches were already being used, there was a significant change in behaviour. “They’re (schools) seeing significant reductions in safeguarding incidents related to mobile phones, reductions in exclusions, and that naturally leads to a reduction, you would hope, in the number of children who end up in the criminal justice system,” she said.
Tytherington School headteacher Manny Botwe said the introduction of phone pouches had made a noticeable difference in his Macclesfield school. In a statement released after this week's meeting, Mr Botwe said: “We’ve seen an immediate improvement in behaviour and concentration in class.
“Safeguarding concerns linked to phones and social media have already taken a noticeable dip, and students are engaging more positively with their learning and with one another.” During yesterday’s meeting Sapna Sanghvi, regional leader of Smartphone Free Childhood, told councillors while phone pouches are helpful to teachers in schools, they do nothing to save children on the way to and from school each day.
“Brick phones, which are phones that allow calls and texts but no access to the internet, support safety and independence without the risks associated with smartphones,” she told councillors. “Our suggestion would be that the money set aside for pouches could instead be spent on providing schools with simple brick phones for those who can’t buy their own.”
Crewe councillor Ben Wye (Lab) said he liked the idea of brick phones and asked if funding earmarked for pouches could instead be used for brick phones. Ms Southern said while there is a strong argument for bricks, the pouch system could be implemented quickly and schools would soon start to see results.
All councillors agreed the problem of smartphones in schools needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Liz Wardlaw (Odd Rode, Con) said: “I have three primary school grandchildren, and I can tell you that their parents are so hopeful that this problem will be resolved before my grandchildren are faced with all these problems and dilemmas.”
The committee voted unanimously to reiterate the Department for Education’s guidance for schools on prohibiting the use of mobile phones throughout the school day and to support the commissioner’s work on introducing lockable phone pouches in secondary schools.