SCHOOL'S IN
Headteacher makes kids start school at 7am for a 12-HOUR day to ‘stop them going home and sitting on their phones’
Schools were instructed in February to ban mobile phones from classrooms under new Government guidance
A HEADTEACHER is asking kids to stay at school for 12 hours a day to “stop them going home and sitting on their phones".
Pupils of All Saints Catholic College in Notting Hill, west London, will stay in class from 7am-7pm this week after Andrew O’Neil brought in the rule.
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He believes it will help reverse a “100 per cent addiction” among kids to their phones and social media.
O’Neil, a former ‘teacher of the year’ is offering art, drama, dodgeball, basketball and cookery classes after lessons to extend the school day and a hot dinner will be served.
He told The Times: “At this school, we are trying to break the cycle of kids using phones causing so many problems.
“We are trying to give children activities in the evening, the kind of play-based childhood I enjoyed growing up in the village of Barton, near Darlington, instead of going home to their bedrooms and their phones.
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“We have a long-term issue we need to solve. If we don’t, we will have a generational problem with workplaces and society.
“Some children are so apathetic. They don’t care about anything. They are buried in their phones. We want to help them and say this is an alternative.”
Phones are already completely banned at the school - and if pupils are seen breaking the rules their mobiles are confiscated and locked away for five days.
It comes after schools were instructed in February to ban mobile phones from classrooms under new Government guidance.
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The crackdown aims to tackle "unnecessary distraction" during lessons and throughout the rest of the school day.
It is currently up to individual schools to decide their own policies on mobile phones and whether they should be banned, with many already introducing prohibitions.
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But the guidance issued aim to provide “clarity and consistency” for teachers and staff.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said it will give teachers across England the "tools take action to help improve behaviour and to allow them to do what they do best – teach".
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Former Peep Show star Sophie Winkleman, who has twice moved her two girls out of “tech-heavy schools”, backs the campaign.
She believes regular use of phones and social media apps such as TikTok hampers the ability of children to learn.
Winkleman, 42 — who is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince Michael of Kent — explained: “Devices are isolating and harmful when overused, yet they’re impossible to use in moderation as they’re ‘designed to be addictive’, as Steve Jobs [the Apple founder] said.”
She previously said: “Being online in any capacity is addictive as hell.
“The internet is a toxic wilderness we’re letting children stumble through without protection.
“I lived in California and spent time with bigwigs in Silicon Valley and tellingly they did not let their children anywhere near screens.”
Schools are advised to implement various strategies for implementing the ban, ranging from confiscation of devices to detentions.
It also empowers headteachers and authorised staff to search a pupil or their possessions if there's reasonable suspicion of a prohibited item, like a mobile phone.
The Government has previously warned if schools fail to implement the guidance, it will consider legislating in the future to make it statutory.
Last year, a report from the United Nations (UN) highlighted data which suggested that “mere proximity” to a mobile device could distract students and have a negative impact on their learning.
Mobile phones have already been largely banned from classrooms in France, Italy and Portugal in a bid to limit distractions during lessons.