Council guidance to ban mobile phones in schools

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has agreed to issue new guidance for its schools, encouraging smartphones to be banned from school grounds altogether.

Addressing a full council meeting Conservative councillor and the former cabinet member for children and education, Fiona Baker, said that having a mobile device in your pocket “becomes a type of addiction”.

“There’s a huge rise in the mental health concerns of our young people and we must do everything we can to support our young people,” she said.

The current Department for Education (DfE) guidance on mobile phones sets out four potential models for schools, including handing devices in on arrival, storing phones securely, keeping them out of sight and unused, or banning mobiles in schools entirely.

The Conservative motion suggested that there was therefore a “postcode lottery of safeguarding standards”. It said there should be clear and consistent guidance from WNC to keep schools free from smartphones and other devices during school hours, travel, and residential activities.

‘She was exposed to content no child should ever see’

Speaking in support of the measures, Northampton mum Katie Moore said: “Over the last decade, I’ve witnessed how the use of smartphones in and around our schools has become not just common, but expected.

“Most worryingly, parents are giving in to peer pressure not out of choice, but fear. Within our schools, this cannot be framed as a parental choice.

“My daughter attended an outstanding secondary school in Northampton, yet she was exposed to content no child should ever see… in a place I trusted to be safe.

“Why, when it comes to smartphones, devices that facilitate cyber-bullying, non-consensual filming, addiction and sharing of explicit content, are we allowing this grey area?”

‘Leave parents to parent’

However, Liberal Democrat Cllr David Tarburn warned that advising schools to jump to the “most extreme policy option” without proper consultation “could undermine good work already being done”.

He added: “I would be very unhappy personally at the thought of my daughter walking to school with no method of her contacting me in the case of an emergency, or having the option of using tracking features available on smartphones.”

Concerns were also raised that the local authority has no power to force schools to adopt such a policy, and it was worth the Council pursuing action in an area where it cannot be enforced.

Cllr Ian McCord (Independent) said: “This motion says ‘we want to work up guidance’. All we’re going to do is give schools something which will have the legal status of a copy of The Beano.

“Leave schools alone, leave them to produce their own policy and leave parents to parent.”

‘Commit to doing this with the children, not just to them’

WNC Cabinet member for Children Families and Education, Cllr Kathryn Shaw, said she agreed that phones in schools were causing problems, but that more work would need to be done on the potential “ripple effects” of an outright ban.

“We can provide guidance, consultation and leadership, but we cannot enforce policy across trusts. What I want to make sure that we do is commit to doing this with the children, not just to them,” she said.

Members voted to approve the smartphone ban guidance, with 34 voting in favour, 10 against and 12 abstentions.

According to the motion, a formal public consultation with parents, pupils and schools will run before the Spring term in 2026.

It adds that by September 2026, all schools in West Northamptonshire should be encouraged to employ smartphone and device restrictions to protect staff and children through clear safeguarding standards.