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Rhyn Park School bans pupils from using mobile phones
Thursday 16th June 2011, 4:39PM BST.
An "all through" school could be created at Rhyn Park, St Martins, near Oswestry, for pupils aged three to 16.
Students at a secondary school near Oswestry have been banned from using mobile phones by the new acting head. Pupils at Rhyn Park School can still take their phones onto the premises.
But acting head Nigel Keates has decreed they must stay switched off from the beginning to the end of the school day.
And he said the decision has already had a positive effect on learning and even on break and lunchtimes.
Many schools ban the use of mobiles in lessons but the decision to insist they are switched off throughout the day is a step further.
He said: “The use of mobile phones was, we believed not good for the students’ learning. They were not focussing on their lessons.
“We appreciated that, particularly in a rural school, the pupils may need to have mobile phones with them and so they can bring them onto the school premises. But they must remain switched off.”
Mr Keates said the students had been very positive about the decision and said he had already noticed they were interacting more at break and lunchtimes.
And he said parents had also supported his decision.
“We held a parents’ forum to explain the decision and the reasons behind it.”
Mr Keates, who was deputy head at the school became acting head last month.
He said the phone decision was something he had been keen to introduce.
How often students can use their mobile phones during the school day is up to the schools to decide, Shropshire Council said today.
Council spokesman Simon Alton said: “Mobile phone policy is a matter for individual schools. The decision on the policy is made at the discretion of headteachers and governors.”
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All schools should do this. Information is too accessible nowadays and there are loopholes, especially when children are sitting exams. I imagine if a child wanted to cheat using his/her mobile phone, then this would be very easy.
Teaching is never an easy career, especially in Secondary schools and I commend teachers with what they have to put up with nowadays.
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