Recommendation 7

HM Government · verbatim extract Deferred

The Mobile Phones in Schools (2024) guidance sets out a non-exhaustive list of approaches that schools can take to create a mobile phone-free school day. It is for school leaders to develop and implement a policy that works for their own schools and school community, ensuring they adhere to the Public Sector Equality Duty and Equality Act 2010. The guidance advises “schools should consider the impact on children travelling to and from school where not having a mobile phone poses a risk or the perception of a risk”. Guidance is clear that schools should consult with parents when developing a mobile phone policy, considering ways to mitigate specific concerns around travel to and from school. Alongside the mobile phones guidance, schools have access to a toolkit on communicating their policy with parents. This provides practical guidance to help schools gain parental support for their mobile phone policies, including understanding the benefits of prohibiting the use of mobile phones throughout the school day. This includes making clear that even whilst restricting mobile phone use, schools must comply with their wider legal duties. This includes making reasonable adjustments where necessary for disabled pupils, where schools must take reasonable steps to avoid disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices on mobile phones. In some cases, it may be impractical for particular children to be without a mobile phone for the entirety of the school day. Schools have legal duties to support pupils with medical conditions and to take reasonable steps to avoid disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices on mobile phones. Schools should assess each case for adjustments or adaptations on its own merits. Where a pupil is identified as having special educational needs and/or a disability, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special education provision in place. If a pupil has an Education, Health and Care plan, the provisions set out in that plan must be secured and the school must co-operate with the local authority and other bodies. DfE’s statutory guidance, Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions, makes clear the expectations on schools to fulfil their legal obligations by taking reasonable steps to meet the needs of pupils with any medical condition, including diabetes. Exemptions to a mobile phones policy, therefore, may be required for children with specific special educational needs or disabilities, including users of assistive technology, and their learning should not be disrupted by this guidance.