Digital Awareness
Digital Safety: Working in partnership between school and home
What is the position of Churchdown School with regards to mobile phones?
The aim of Churchdown School, working with parents and carers, is to promote healthy habits around mobile phones. There is a recognition that mobile device/s are here to stay and will only occupy a larger proportion of our daily routines over the coming years. We want all our students to know how to stay safe on their mobile phone and how to spot potential harm at all times of day, not just when they are in school. We feel this takes educating on how to stay safe and conduct ourselves appropriately and not simply taking the issue away via a school wide ban. If other school leaders decide to ban phones in their school, it is because they know what is best for their students and their settings – each school is different. In Churchdown, our approach is to continue a disruption free environment where students feel safe both online and throughout school.
What does the research say?
Research published by the University of Birmingham with the findings first reported by the BBC (March 2026) suggests that Strict phone bans at school are not enough to tackle the harmful effects of children's screen time alone. The study from academics at the University of Birmingham found strict phone bans were not a "silver bullet", and in some cases did not stop teenagers prioritising screen time over sleep, homework and physical activity outside school. The study suggests restrictive policies in schools boost face‑to‑face interaction at school, but can also contribute to some pupils using their phones more at home, affecting sleep and physical activity.
Therefore, this research supports the need for home and school to work in partnership to ensure all children are safe and healthy when using mobile devices.
School phone bans not enough to cut screen time alone, study suggests - BBC News
What is the position of the Department of Education?
There is a strong suggestion that the DFE are moving towards a total ban of mobile phones in schools. If this total ban materialises, Churchdown School will be required to comply. My feelings on this as Headteacher is that the impact will be minimal as students screen time on social media and games in school is already low as school is a very controlled environment with clear boundaries in place. However, I feel there could be an unintended consequence: that your child may not feel comfortable speaking with a teacher about any concerns, safeguarding or otherwise, with their phones. This is because, as a result of the ban, children may see phones as an ‘out of school matter’. This will not be the case but a perception, nonetheless. Therefore, it is very important that we are all skilled and aware of how to best support all children in being healthy and safe with their use of mobile devices, no matter the time of day or location.
What is being asked of all parents and carers?
Very simply, we are asking that all parents and carers use the guidance published below to ensure their child is safe away from school when using their mobile device. We also ask that the strong working partnership continues to remain and that any unsafe behaviour or concerns are reported to school along with all safeguarding concerns. We will always help where we can.
What is the guidance given to parents and carers of Churchdown to promote healthy habits with mobile phones?
As parents and carers, it is important to decide how best you can support your child around the safe use of mobile phones. Therefore, what follows are guidelines that can be followed or adapted to use at home.
Get to know the child’s device/s settings and what parental controls are available. It is possible to restrict screen time and close down certain apps at certain times of the day. The app designer’s job is to create a platform that attracts children to engage with it and so can become addictive. Therefore, by reducing the time children have on the different platforms can help develop the healthy habits we all want.
Talk to children about what boundaries and risks we are all looking to avoid and how parental controls can help. This is important so that any additional boundaries that are put in place are understood. The boundaries and rules can also be made in partnership with the children to help with this, so it’s not seen as a punishment. In school we have started this discussion with our School Parliament, so any new rules are done with the students and not to them.
Keep the topic of phones, social media and gaming in the open, and part of regular conversations. This is important so the children know they can come to us if they need to. (This is primarily why phones have not been banned in school). It also makes the phone topic more open and okay to talk about.
I have provided a link to an excellent resource that has been developed by Vodafone and the NSPCC which provides detailed guidance around how to put into action the advice listed above. The guidance also includes other excellent helpful tips such as limiting time of specific apps or restricting the use of your child’s phone after a certain time:
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/smart-living/digital-parenting/digital-parenting-pro/
There is also further guidance provided by following the additional link below. The guidance is focussed on Parental controls guides where you can find step-by-step guides to help you layer up parental controls across networks, device/s and apps, so your children can have safer online experiences as they grow.
Keep Children Safe Online: Information, advice, support - Internet Matters