Since September we have been in consultation with parents, carers, staff and children to put together a new policy with guidelines on mobile phone use. The School Council has been particularly engaged in thinking about this and their views and ideas have very much been incorporated into the new policy.
The main changes are:
Children from Nursery to Year 3 are not allowed bring a phone to school at all.
Children from Year 4-6 are only allowed to bring in a mobile phone if they walk to and from school without adult supervision and have the written permission of their parent or carer (the permission letter is in the policy appendix). At school, the phones will be stored in a locked locker in their classrooms and cannot be used anywhere on the school premises. This includes the playgrounds before and after school.
The policy outlines very clearly the ways mobile phones are misused and how the school, parents and carers can reduce this risk along with consequences that the school will apply if this is found to be the case.
The new policy will come into effect on the 19th February 2018.