A group of schools in London have announced they will go smartphone-free, in a sign of growing public concern about a phone-based childhood.
Headteachers at 17 of the 20 state secondary schools in Southwark, south London, have taken collective action to wean their pupils off smartphones in the hope of also addressing the downsides of their use outside of school. school.
The other three state schools in the municipality are working towards introducing the policy.
Schools will also help families and students understand the well-documented downsides of smartphone and social media use among young people. These include mental health concerns, addiction to screen time, impact on sleep and attention span, access to inappropriate and graphic content and increased risk of theft and robbery.
“We were moved to collaborate after seeing first-hand the negative impact smartphones and social media are having on our children’s wellbeing and education,” said Mike Baxter, head of the City of London academy.
“While the issues we had to address usually occurred outside of school hours, it was often at school where these negative behaviors were exposed,” he added.
Schools have agreed that if any phone is used by a student during the school day, it will be confiscated. If the phone is a traditional cell phone – no wifi access – it will turn around relatively quickly. However, if the phone is a smartphone, it won’t be returned for a week – or until the parents pick it up themselves.
The measures will affect more than 13,000 young people in one of the highest performing boroughs in London. All secondary schools will enforce the policy for children aged 7 to 9. However, a number of schools in the group are adopting a ‘whole school’ approach.
The group of middle leaders are also in contact with the leaders of the primary leaders in the unit, in the hope of creating a borough-wide approach.
“Creating this positive change for the wellbeing and success of young people in Southwark is at the heart of this collective effort,” said Baxter. “Kids are getting smartphones at four years old. We can make a massive difference if every parent in this borough knows what every school says about smartphones.”
Jessica West, head of Ark Walworth Academy, said schools had to take action after phone companies failed to do so. “Many calls for stronger measures have been made by ‘big tech’ companies, but action is woefully slow and this leaves our children at risk,” she said. “That’s why we’re working collaboratively to support families and children in making healthy choices – we take our responsibilities to children seriously.”
A recent House of Commons education committee report found that extended screen time had become increasingly normal for young children and teenagers, with a 52% increase in children’s screen time between 2020 and 2022.
According to the report, nearly 25% of children and youth use smartphones in a way that is consistent with a behavioral addiction.
The collaboration was welcomed by Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood (SFC).
“This move by leaders in south London is incredibly powerful and pioneering – never before have secondary schools come together to take collective action on this issue,” she said. “We know that the younger a child gets their first smartphone, the higher the incidence of mental illness later on, so this has the potential to change the lives of a generation of children in south London.
“School leaders have the ability to make changes in their schools immediately and shape social norms in their communities,” she added.
Concern about smartphones and children has increased. There are now SFC groups in the US, UAE, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Portugal.
In the UK, there has been a rise in parents joining together to make a ‘pact’ not to give their children smartphones until at least the age of 14. In Bristol, 80 schools have set up SFC groups and more than 1,000 parents have received pacts.
“We’re so excited about how organically this is falling between schools, leaders and parents, it was clearly a conversation waiting to happen,” Greenwell said.