Schools report calmer pupils a month into smartphone ban

A month after a nationwide ban on smartphones in schools came into force, head teachers in Kent and Sussex say they are already seeing changes in how pupils behave.

The policy was announced in June and took effect at the start of the school year. It restricts students' use of smartphones during the school day, and schools across the South East have been reporting their first impressions of the rules.

What heads are seeing

Shelley Baker, head teacher at Varndean School in Brighton, said older pupils in particular were aware of what phones have cost them. "Young people, especially in the older years, are recognising the dangers and damages that smartphones have already done to them," she said. Secondary school heads in Brighton & Hove had earlier written jointly to parents asking them not to send new Year 7 pupils to school with a smartphone.

At Wouldham All Saints Church of England Primary School near Rochester, the rules make an allowance for younger pupils: children in Years 5 and 6 who travel home on their own may bring a basic handset without internet access. Head teacher Victoria Baldwin said she wanted to shield pupils from social media during the school day, and was blunt about the risks she sees elsewhere. "The impact of algorithms and exposure to inappropriate material is really frightening," she said. She noted she cannot direct what families do at home, and would not want to, but added: "I can protect children for six and a half hours a day."

The government has said the smartphone ban is separate from a planned restriction on social media for under-16s, which is due to take effect next spring.

Researchers urge caution

Dr Lindsey Cameron, a psychology researcher at the University of Kent, said the shift in how phone use is talked about is itself having an effect. "Schools are telling us they've got a safer, more productive learning environment," she said. "Young people are more engaged, their attention is better and they're calmer."

But not all the evidence points the same way. Work from the University of Birmingham compared pupils at schools with phone bans and those without, and found no differences in grades, mental health or classroom behaviour, although it did link heavier overall smartphone use with poorer outcomes.

A separate report from the Anti-Bullying Centre at Dublin City University, published in June, reviewed international research on school phone policies and found it "clearly mixed and somewhat conflicting". Most studies, it concluded, show such policies have little or no effect on education and wellbeing, and no current research definitively shows that bans fully protect children from online bullying or harmful content. The stricter the ban, the researchers found, the more students look for ways around it.

That report also drew on focus groups in six schools in eastern Ireland. Students said they were not taught enough about online safety and instead turned to peers for guidance, and some worried that bans might stop them learning resilience for life after school. Lead author Dr Megan Reynolds said students should be included in decisions about phone policies, while the centre's director, Professor James O'Higgins Norman, who holds a Unesco chair on bullying and cyberbullying, noted that students themselves pointed to other priorities, including vaping.

Pupils on the ban

Students at the schools affected say the rules are mostly holding. One, Enzo, said: "It's going alright, but some people do bring phones, we've found them out." Sidney thought phones were better left at home, rather than being used to take pictures or send unkind messages online. Year 7 pupil Thea said the change was altering friendships: instead of connecting through TikTok, Snapchat or gaming platforms, pupils could build friendships face to face.

Arush, who sits his GCSEs next year, said the ban had prompted reflection among his friends, some of whom now leave their phones downstairs or in a parents' room while studying so they are not drawn back to them.

Baker said she intends to follow the policy's effects through the year and see how far the school continues with it. "I'm interested to track this throughout this year to see how far we might continue this policy," she said.

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