{"id":9225,"date":"2025-07-19T23:50:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T23:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/9225\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T23:50:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T23:50:17","slug":"what-is-the-impact-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/9225\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the impact in schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"

More from this theme<\/p>\n

Recent articles<\/p>\n

Schools with smartphone-free policies have reported significant reductions in safeguarding concerns, suspension rates and staff turnover, with one head describing the changes as \u201ctransformational\u201d.<\/p>\n

Academy trust or school leaders told\u00a0Schools Week\u00a0their policies have contributed to a 50 to 90 per cent reduction in cases relating to things like online bullying and sexual exploitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other schools cited phone bans as one of rates of suspensions and detentions dropping by between 20 to 30 per cent.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, other heads said they have noticed the school environment \u201cfeeling more calm and orderly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Schools have used a variety of methods to enforce a ban, including only allowing brick phones, putting phones into pouches or locked into boxes, or a \u2018see it, hear it, lose it\u2019 policy.<\/p>\n

But headteachers are divided over whether a government ban of phones in schools is needed \u2013 or whether their policies can influence behaviour for the better outside of the school walls. <\/p>\n

As a national debate rages on, Schools Week spoke to leaders to find out how their mobile phone bans were going \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s been transformational\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a school leader now for the best part of 15 years,\u201d Damian McBeath (pictured right), principal of The John Wallis Academy in Ashford, said, \u201cand this is the thing that I would say has been transformational.\u201d<\/p>\n

McBeath (pictured right) introduced magnetic pouches, where pupils must put their phones during school, in January 2024 and has since seen behaviour in classrooms \u201csignificantly improve\u201d. For instance, his school has recorded a 40 per cent drop in the number of detentions for disruptive behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ormiston Academies Trust, which introduced a trust-wide ban earlier this year, has also seen a reduction in suspension rates.\u00a0While schools were not able to prove this was a direct consequence of mobile-phone bans, many felt it was a key factror.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Festival of Education, Ormiston chief executive Tom Rees said \u201cthe benefits outweigh the risks\u201d, with \u201cchildren not leaving lessons as much, social time at lunch break improving, more interaction between peers\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

National director of learning at Ormiston, Dr Jennifer Barker, added students are \u201cmore engaged in lessons\u201d, with schools feeling \u201cmore calm and orderly outside lessons\u201d, too.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tom Rees<\/p>\n

Across Lift Trust\u2019s 57 schools, suspensions are down 19 per cent year on year, which a spokesperson said was partially due to a trust-wide ban of phones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the trust\u2019s schools, Winton Academy in Andover, had seven reported behaviour incidents this year, compared to 125 the year before.<\/p>\n

Suspension rates at the City of London Academy, which currently uses phone pouches but will introduce a brick phone policy next year, have also dropped by a third.<\/p>\n

Safeguarding concerns drop <\/p>\n

While phone bans are often implemented to improve behaviour, schools say they have also experienced a dramatic drop in the number of safeguarding cases regarding online safety and social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

David Smith, who has only allowed brick phones at Fulham Boys School since September, said his safeguarding team estimate a 60 per cent reduction in cases that take place outside of school.<\/p>\n

\"\"David Smith<\/p>\n

Within his younger years, there has been a 90 per cent drop in safeguarding issues around sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n

Ormiston also said it has seen safeguarding concerns cut in half, while The John Wallis Academy has had an 80 per cent reduction in online bullying incidents.<\/p>\n

McBeath said this was because students were talking to each other more, and in greater depth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incidents that usually resulted in people being abusive and rude online never start as someone deliberately setting out to hurt someone,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey usually started as a chat online, and you couldn\u2019t tell what the other person was saying, whether they were sarcastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the school walls <\/p>\n

\"\"David Scales <\/p>\n

Woodfields Academy, in Doncaster, has been trialling a voluntary two-week phone ban, before implementing a full ban, in the next academic year.<\/p>\n

Its head David Scales said just one to two students per class handed phones in during the first week. But in the second, around half of each class did.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people want to do this. They want a phone free existence in schools,\u201d Scales said.<\/p>\n

Other school leaders said their pupils also use their phone less outside of school.<\/p>\n

David Smith, from Fulham Boys, said he has received \u201cso many positive emails from members of the community who have said \u2018I sat on the bus, or I\u2019ve been on the tube and I\u2019ve been around your boys and it\u2019s so lovely to see them talking to one another, reading, engaging with the world rather than looking at a screen\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

A study by The New Britain Project and More in Common\u00a0found restrictions on smartphone use in schools can reduce pupils overall screen time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another \u201chuge\u201d impact has been on staff morale, McBeath added, with staff turnover reducing from 23 to less than 10 per cent in one year after the ban was introduced.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He said teachers felt as if \u201cthey can have more authentic conversations with students because they\u2019re not fearful that every single conversation is going to be filmed, recorded, taken out of context, put online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means their relationships have become better with the students. One teacher described the impact as it feels like time has slowed down a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does the research say?<\/p>\n

According to research by the children\u2019s commissioner,\u00a090 per cent of secondary schools and nearly all primary schools have policies to stop the use of mobile phones<\/a>. But few secondaries actually have total bans.<\/p>\n

But not all evidence agrees on their impact.<\/p>\n

While an LSE study from 2015<\/a> found banning mobile phones from schools had the equivalent effect of giving pupils an extra week of education in the academic year, researchers from the University of Birmingham<\/a> suggested restricting phone use does not improve grades or young people\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n

But research is being conducted at pace, particularly with many countries now implementing nationwide policies.<\/p>\n

For instance, a study commissioned by the Netherlands government <\/a>found bans had improved school learning environments after national guidelines were introduced in January 2024.<\/p>\n

In England, government guidance advises schools to ban phones \u2013 but is not statutory. But publication of this year\u2019s national behaviour survey, which could give an indication as to the impact of bans,\u00a0has been delayed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A government ban?<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last decade or more, we\u2019ve let smartphones run loose without seeking to put appropriate guardrails around it for our children\u201d, Gregor Poynton, MP for Livingston and Chair of the Children\u2019s Online Safety APPG said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gregor Poynton MP<\/p>\n

His cross-party group aims to drive policy change to enhance online safety for children and young people, which Poynton said is \u201cone of the biggest problems in this Parliament\u201d.<\/p>\n

The MP said schools \u201cclearly have a role to play\u201d in this, as its where \u201cthey form relationships and are prepared for the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Labour government fended off calls for a ban put forward by the Conservatives in an amendment to their school\u2019s bill in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Kier Starmer said it was \u201ccompletely unnecessary\u201d, with headteachers best placed to implement policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Certain councils, like Barnet and Enfield, have implemented a ban across dozens of schools in their local authority catchments, but have left it up to schools in how it is enforced.<\/p>\n

Rees, from Ormiston, said his trust \u201crecognises the agency of headteachers\u201d in deciding when, and how to implement a phone ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Starmer said it was completely unnecessary to ban phones <\/p>\n

Lift Trust has taken a similar approach. \u201cWe\u2019ve made it clear our trust-wide position that our schools should be phone-free environments,\u201d a spokesperson said, but \u201cour leaders have autonomy in how they enforce this position based on their local community.\u201d<\/p>\n

But other leaders, like Scales in Doncaster said that without a national ban, \u201cwe\u2019re saying that headteachers have to shoulder this responsibility to make this change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ninety per cent of students are either below or just above the poverty line at his school. Scales argued without a country-wide rule enforced, a \u201cpostcode lottery\u201d would be created.<\/p>\n

\u2018Take the heat off the school\u2019<\/p>\n

Smith, from Fulham Boys School, agreed a nationwide ban would help \u201ctake the heat off the school\u201d when parents pushback about a ban.<\/p>\n

He also thought parents want schools to take a lead on the issue.<\/p>\n

\"\"Michael Baxter<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need the school to make some difficult decisions. If I confiscate a child\u2019s phone, that child is not going to come and see me every day and go on and on at me or punish me \u2013 I\u2019m the headteacher, they wouldn\u2019t dare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] If a parent takes a child\u2019s phone \u2013 that child can really make it difficult for that parent.\u201d<\/p>\n

However Michael Baxter, from City of London Academy, was more positive about headteachers taking the lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously there are some benefits to government legislation\u2026 but at the same time, schools are charged with solving so many of society\u2019s issues. I think part of our job is to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything you\u2019re told to do you\u2019re less likely to do unless you believe \u2013 and right now head teachers have got the power to believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More from this theme Recent articles Schools with smartphone-free policies have reported significant reductions in safeguarding concerns, suspension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[5740,2306,50,2334,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-9225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-behaviour","tag-mobile","tag-news","tag-smartphones","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}