>The headteacher of a secondary school in Cardiff has said he is going to ban mobile phones after a trial showed pupils at his school without their phones talked to each other more. When pupils return to Mary Immaculate High next week after the half term break they’ll return to a school free of mobile phones, headteacher Huw Powell has told WalesOnline.
>All pupils will have to leave their devices in locked-up pouches at the start of the day and will then be able to have them back at the end of the day, he said. The move follows bans in some other schools and one county is even advising restrictions on smart watches and other digital devices.
>Mr Powell said after trialling the initiative on years seven and eight students it was agreed it should be imposed across the whole school.
>He said that during the trial before half term staff noticed some of the younger pupils who were without their phones conversed with each other more, especially at break and lunch times. Mr Powell explained that up to now the school has allowed pupils to go on their phones at break and lunch times but that isn’t going to happen anymore.
>”We always had a partial ban but pupils have been allowed to use their phones at break and lunch. We have been trialling pouches,” he told WalesOnline. “The phones stay in the pouch locked up and they leave them there and take them back at the end of the day.
>”Sometimes phones can cause issue in schools. It’s also about communication and young people talking to each other instead of being on their phones. In the trial with years seven and eight we found pupils talking more and reading instead of being on their phones at break and lunch. We consulted with pupils and parents and a majority of parents thought it was a good idea.”
>Mr Powell said he understood some young people need to travel a distance to school and need their phones on them for security and to stay in touch with their families. But he said there was no need for phones throughout the school day and there are devices they can use in the school, if needed, for learning.
>The approach is backed up by experience at other schools in Cardiff and across Wales. A few miles down the road at Cardiff West Community High a phone ban has seen attendance increase and disruption decrease.
>After banning mobile phone use in school in summer 2024 Cardiff West Community High reported a 60% fall in exclusions, attendance rise from 80% to 83% and there’s been a 72% reduction in fights. Pupils are talking and communicating more and are focusing more in lessons, staff said.
>Meanwhile a group of secondary school headteachers in one part of Wales, backed by local primary school leaders, are asking parents not to let their children have smartphones at all until they are 14 in what they believe is a UK first.
>School leaders in Monmouthshire said they were responding to concern about bad behaviour and violence among school-age children linked to social media and videos accessed and spread on phones.
>Different mobile policies are in force in schools across Wales. Some ban them altogether, others allow pupils to bring phones in but say they must be switched off and others lock them away securely until home time. There is no overall guidance and the Welsh Governmment says it is a matter for individual schools.
>Members of teaching union NEU Cymru recently warned that phones in schools are part of rising problems of violence and disengagement in school. After its “behaviour summit” the Welsh Government said a mobile phone forum had been set up to look at guidance for schools.
I’m not sure why this is headline news, schools across the U.K. have been doing it for 12 – 18 months now
These stories are so boring.
This isn’t a new thing schools are doing, my son’s in year 9 and his schools had this in place since before he was there. All phones have to be switched off and in bags before they walk on to school grounds and left that way until they leave again, they don’t even allow smart watches
Is this not the norm? I remember they wouldn’t even allow us to have phones in school ~10 yrs ago
Good on him. Not the only one. A lot of high schools are doing it. Great idea IMO
Should be statutory in all schools!
Tredegar comprehensive done this at the start of the term but as usual if it’s not Cardiff, nobody hears about it. Altho the phones are banned the kids still got them in their bag & unless they search through bags every day then the phones will always be in schools
A head teacher with balls , the age of tossing it off in lessons whilst surfing Snapchat/facebook has got to stop ….💯👍
Wonder how this would work in some situations, ban my sons phone? which has his diabetes app on it that collects his sugar levels and tells him how much insulin he needs for lunch, or if he does not feel well which means he needs his phone on him at all times.
Good. I wish they’d do it at my daughter’s school too.
One of us!
Ban smartphones for under 18s.
Come at me!
This is boring new. At Cathays High School you get an after school detention if you’re caught with a mobile phone in your hand.
What about kids with parents who have mental issues though? Such as dementia or something and the parents need to tell the kid during the school day ‘oh yeah your grandfather is in the hospital and we wont be home go to your aunts/uncles” this is happened to me on more than one occasion… having the phone in the kids pocket and ON is alot safer
I hope there are exceptions for pupils with apps linked to medical devices
Finally a headteacher doing the minimum. Too many schools have way to soft policies when it comes to mobile phones. As a teacher as well, I’m fed up of having deal with situations where the kids have taken pictures of me in work and then posted it on social media
My school had phones banned – when I was in year 6 we put them in a box at the start of the day and got them back at the end, when I was in high school it was just “if you get caught with your phone, it’ll go to the school office and you’ll get it back at the end of the week, unless your parent comes and signs it out”.
This was sort of 2010-2016, so right at the start of the rise of social media, tech addiction etc. It worked well when I was in school, I don’t know if schools have gone backwards which is why it’s newsworthy, or if it’s just clickbaity online news sources desperate for engagement.
Yay! Let’s go back in time
FANTASTIC. O’r diwedd!!! Da iawn to this headteacher. About bloody time, this needs to happen globally for the sake of so many children’s education, wellbeing, social and communication skills…we’ve left them such a disastrously tech-obsessed world to try to navigate, and it’s them that have to endure the awful consequences. It’s unforgivable what the generations before them have caused.
I hope this headmaster starts a shift amongst all educational settings. The solution is, and always has been, this easy all along. Simply do not let the kids use their phones during school hours. That’s it!!!
21 comments
How this isn’t standard everywhere is beyond me.
>The headteacher of a secondary school in Cardiff has said he is going to ban mobile phones after a trial showed pupils at his school without their phones talked to each other more. When pupils return to Mary Immaculate High next week after the half term break they’ll return to a school free of mobile phones, headteacher Huw Powell has told WalesOnline.
>All pupils will have to leave their devices in locked-up pouches at the start of the day and will then be able to have them back at the end of the day, he said. The move follows bans in some other schools and one county is even advising restrictions on smart watches and other digital devices.
>Mr Powell said after trialling the initiative on years seven and eight students it was agreed it should be imposed across the whole school.
>He said that during the trial before half term staff noticed some of the younger pupils who were without their phones conversed with each other more, especially at break and lunch times. Mr Powell explained that up to now the school has allowed pupils to go on their phones at break and lunch times but that isn’t going to happen anymore.
>”We always had a partial ban but pupils have been allowed to use their phones at break and lunch. We have been trialling pouches,” he told WalesOnline. “The phones stay in the pouch locked up and they leave them there and take them back at the end of the day.
>”Sometimes phones can cause issue in schools. It’s also about communication and young people talking to each other instead of being on their phones. In the trial with years seven and eight we found pupils talking more and reading instead of being on their phones at break and lunch. We consulted with pupils and parents and a majority of parents thought it was a good idea.”
>Mr Powell said he understood some young people need to travel a distance to school and need their phones on them for security and to stay in touch with their families. But he said there was no need for phones throughout the school day and there are devices they can use in the school, if needed, for learning.
>The approach is backed up by experience at other schools in Cardiff and across Wales. A few miles down the road at Cardiff West Community High a phone ban has seen attendance increase and disruption decrease.
>After banning mobile phone use in school in summer 2024 Cardiff West Community High reported a 60% fall in exclusions, attendance rise from 80% to 83% and there’s been a 72% reduction in fights. Pupils are talking and communicating more and are focusing more in lessons, staff said.
>Meanwhile a group of secondary school headteachers in one part of Wales, backed by local primary school leaders, are asking parents not to let their children have smartphones at all until they are 14 in what they believe is a UK first.
>School leaders in Monmouthshire said they were responding to concern about bad behaviour and violence among school-age children linked to social media and videos accessed and spread on phones.
>Different mobile policies are in force in schools across Wales. Some ban them altogether, others allow pupils to bring phones in but say they must be switched off and others lock them away securely until home time. There is no overall guidance and the Welsh Governmment says it is a matter for individual schools.
>Members of teaching union NEU Cymru recently warned that phones in schools are part of rising problems of violence and disengagement in school. After its “behaviour summit” the Welsh Government said a mobile phone forum had been set up to look at guidance for schools.
I’m not sure why this is headline news, schools across the U.K. have been doing it for 12 – 18 months now
These stories are so boring.
This isn’t a new thing schools are doing, my son’s in year 9 and his schools had this in place since before he was there. All phones have to be switched off and in bags before they walk on to school grounds and left that way until they leave again, they don’t even allow smart watches
I think we will look back on this period incredulous that this wasn’t standard. The evidence is stacking up: https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/angela-duckworth-over-20000-educators-share-insights-school-cell-phone-policies
Is this not the norm? I remember they wouldn’t even allow us to have phones in school ~10 yrs ago
Good on him. Not the only one. A lot of high schools are doing it. Great idea IMO
Should be statutory in all schools!
Tredegar comprehensive done this at the start of the term but as usual if it’s not Cardiff, nobody hears about it. Altho the phones are banned the kids still got them in their bag & unless they search through bags every day then the phones will always be in schools
A head teacher with balls , the age of tossing it off in lessons whilst surfing Snapchat/facebook has got to stop ….💯👍
Wonder how this would work in some situations, ban my sons phone? which has his diabetes app on it that collects his sugar levels and tells him how much insulin he needs for lunch, or if he does not feel well which means he needs his phone on him at all times.
Good. I wish they’d do it at my daughter’s school too.
One of us!
Ban smartphones for under 18s.
Come at me!
This is boring new. At Cathays High School you get an after school detention if you’re caught with a mobile phone in your hand.
What about kids with parents who have mental issues though? Such as dementia or something and the parents need to tell the kid during the school day ‘oh yeah your grandfather is in the hospital and we wont be home go to your aunts/uncles” this is happened to me on more than one occasion… having the phone in the kids pocket and ON is alot safer
I hope there are exceptions for pupils with apps linked to medical devices
Finally a headteacher doing the minimum. Too many schools have way to soft policies when it comes to mobile phones. As a teacher as well, I’m fed up of having deal with situations where the kids have taken pictures of me in work and then posted it on social media
My school had phones banned – when I was in year 6 we put them in a box at the start of the day and got them back at the end, when I was in high school it was just “if you get caught with your phone, it’ll go to the school office and you’ll get it back at the end of the week, unless your parent comes and signs it out”.
This was sort of 2010-2016, so right at the start of the rise of social media, tech addiction etc. It worked well when I was in school, I don’t know if schools have gone backwards which is why it’s newsworthy, or if it’s just clickbaity online news sources desperate for engagement.
Yay! Let’s go back in time
FANTASTIC. O’r diwedd!!! Da iawn to this headteacher. About bloody time, this needs to happen globally for the sake of so many children’s education, wellbeing, social and communication skills…we’ve left them such a disastrously tech-obsessed world to try to navigate, and it’s them that have to endure the awful consequences. It’s unforgivable what the generations before them have caused.
I hope this headmaster starts a shift amongst all educational settings. The solution is, and always has been, this easy all along. Simply do not let the kids use their phones during school hours. That’s it!!!
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