PUPILS have managed to kick the habit of using their mobile phones in just a matter of days thanks to a school initiative designed to give them back their childhoods.
Screen times have plummeted and pupils are talking to each other again as they place their mobiles into a special pouch for the day as studies begin at Our Lady and St Bede Catholic Academy, Stockton.
The school, which is part of The Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, introduced the initiative not as a punishment but to revive traditional childhoods of interaction and conversation.
The school community was warned about the proposal before the summer holidays so had time to adapt.
The special pockets, provided by company Yondr, use similar technology to shop security devices.
From the beginning of the new term the pouches have been handed out to each of the school’s 1,050 pupils at the gate. Once they click closed they lock the phone inside a protective purse making it impossible to use.
Pupils carry their phones around with them all day then at home time they use unlocking stations at the school gates and hand the pouch back to staff until the next morning.
Headteacher Mo Wilkinson said: “This is not about punishment or because we had a problem with mobile phones. I want pupils to have a childhood that is free from digital distractions, where they can rediscover their ability to talk to each other and adults and by doing so, I’m sure, they will develop the skills they will certainly need in the workplace.
“It is something we felt so strongly about that we were prepared for the worst case scenarios but incredibly the pupils have been 100 per cent on board and so have their families and our staff.”
Pupils are busy exploring their friendships free from the distractions of messaging and social media platforms. They also report lower levels of stress and anxiety caused by digital devices.
“I have learned loads of new things about my friends,” said year 10 pupil Noah Dixon, 14, who has cut his daily screentime from seven hours to just two. “I found out that my best friend’s favourite food is mash potato – who knew? I’m also spending more time fishing with my friends rather than just looking at my phone and my gran loves it when I go round for a cup of tea and we can chat about what I have done in the day, whereas before I could never remember. It gives me time to reflect and I now spend more time thinking.”
Year 11 pupil Emily Daniel, 15, said: “We know it’s not a punishment and that it is genuinely to help us. It is great that the teachers are standing in solidarity by not using theirs.
“You only have one life and time passes so quickly while most of us are sitting on our phones. Now it feels like we have cleansed our souls and we leave school without any feelings of negativity and have learned more. We can embrace life and I think we will do better in our exams as a result.”
Also in year 11, Maddie Butterworth, 15, was wary of the scheme when it was first announced. “But the atmosphere in school has definitely changed for the better and is more positive. We do get lost in our phones. I have been here five years and it is only now that I am starting to find out about the people I have spent my life with – it has been a proper reality check.
“I’m also managing to get my head down to study and am really enjoying it. It helps at home too and I now put my phone in a drawer when I’m revising. And I’m doing more things with my family and reading rather than just scrolling through TikTok for hours. I think more schools will follow suit but we will be the originals.”
Year 10 pupil Emaan Anwar, 14, said the system was very well organised at both ends of the day and it only took about 20 seconds. “We have all adapted to it really quickly,” she said.
Deputy head teacher David Pinnock was delighted with how the initiative had been received. He said: “As a dad and a safeguarding lead I felt it was important that pupils had their phones for getting to and from school, especially as the dark nights and mornings approach.
“But phones in school can cause conflict and be a distraction in lessons and at breaktimes and this has now been taken away completely. We are also seeing pupils become much more interactive and it has created an environment in which they can focus on what it means to be their age.”
