'We're giving pupils their childhood back', says headteacher of Kent school after smartphone ban
For a year now John Wallis Academy in Ashford have made their pupils lock their phones in pouches for the whole of the school day
Last updated 10th Feb 2025
The headteacher from a school in Kent - that has banned phones - has told us that they are giving pupils their childhood back.
For a year now John Wallis Academy in Ashford have made their pupils lock their phones in pouches for the whole of the school day, the only school in the county to do so.
At the start of the day, all children in primary, middle and secondary school have put their phone in a 'Yondr Pouch' where their device will remain until the end of the day, until they are allowed to unlock it at various stations around the school before heading home.
It has been in place of a year now, and despite some controversy at the start, it seems the scheme has been widely accepted and successful, with the academy recently winning a Global Inclusion Award from the International Forum of Inclusion Practitioners this month.
And Principal Damian Macbeth said: "It's about having appropriate technology and I believe giving children a smartphone which is a portable computer in their pocket is not a great use of technology.
"And that gives not only that child the access to the world but the world access to your child and that isn't appropriate, and that shouldn't be in schools, who have a duty to keep a child safe."
This week, Greatest Hits Radio will be looking into the relationship that children have with their phones, ahead of Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott releasing the results of his young people and smartphone survey tomorrow - which is an attempt to understand about the mobile phone and internet usage of children in the county and whether those young people are being exposed to any unwanted messages or attention.
Daniel Whiltshire is 14 and in year 9 at the John Wallis Academy in Ashford, and believes online bullying has been reduced because the ban, he said: "People aren't taking arguments online because normally they have resolved them in school.
"If a phone is drawing all your attention, then when you get into an argument with someone you don't think to talk to them about it, you just go online but now they are being resolved in school instead of social media platforms."
Reeva Boylin is 12 and in year 8, and she said: "It's so nice because you got to school now and everyone is talking, everyone is playing card games or random games you make up and everyone is just talking more.
"I feel it has just had a very positive impact on the social circle, the friendships and just general happiness."