College head calls smartphone ban 'transformatory'

A college principal has said a smartphone ban introduced in September had been "fantastic".

Tina Graham at Kingsbridge Community College said teachers had pushed for change after noticing a growing dependence on smartphones among pupils and rising issues around safeguarding and inappropriate online content.

Parents were consulted in April, and the Ms Graham said she decided "quite quickly" to move to an outright ban on smartphones while still allowing simple "brick" phones so students could contact their families in emergencies.

She said the wider community had been "incredibly supportive" and staff had described "transformatory" improvements in students' behaviour.

Ms Graham said the discussions about banning mobile phones had developed over more than a year as staff observed a "real shift in behaviour", linked to smartphone use.

Teachers said the problems they noticed were similar to those reported in many secondary and even primary schools, where pupils' relationships with their phones had become "stronger" over time.

The principal said the rural nature of the area meant 40% of pupils travelled by bus, so the school began a "soft launch" while working with the local authority on tracking arrangements to reassure parents about journeys to and from college.

She said the students had handled the policy "with maturity", and that some sixth-form students and former pupils had reflected that they wished the ban existed sooner because "some of the content that students are seeing is just wildly inappropriate."

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