Secondary School Rules
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Secondary School Rules
We have just been for an interview with the head of year seven at our son's new school.
He will have to travel 20 miles on public transport to get to school in September, and we have just been informed of the'absolutely no mobile phones on site' rule. We enquired politely as to whether this could be overlooked when a child will have to travel so far in order to get to school and were told that the rule stands. I asked whether we could keep our mobile phone in our locker and was told , emphatically, no.
Can I ask what other posters think about this rule, and whay on earth do we do - I can't imagine sending my child off every day without means of contact in an emergency.
Thanks
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He will have to travel 20 miles on public transport to get to school in September, and we have just been informed of the'absolutely no mobile phones on site' rule. We enquired politely as to whether this could be overlooked when a child will have to travel so far in order to get to school and were told that the rule stands. I asked whether we could keep our mobile phone in our locker and was told , emphatically, no.
Can I ask what other posters think about this rule, and whay on earth do we do - I can't imagine sending my child off every day without means of contact in an emergency.
Thanks
Looking for even more help now
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Hi LFH
That is really difficult - I was thinking back to when I travelled to school long distance on public transport - we had no phones but then the public phones were more numerous and they worked and you could get a reverse charge call easily.
These days DS and DD can see their schools out of the window so it ain't a problem for me but I would feel very uneasy if they were on public transport without a phone.
The main issue I would have thought is that DS needs to be able to contact you rather than you contact him. I must say I would be tempted to get a cheap as chips PAYG phone - charge it up, prime it with your number and a small amount of money, switch it off and hide it in the bottom of his bag for emergencies only and strict instructions not to be brought out at school - only if there are problems with transport.
That is really difficult - I was thinking back to when I travelled to school long distance on public transport - we had no phones but then the public phones were more numerous and they worked and you could get a reverse charge call easily.
These days DS and DD can see their schools out of the window so it ain't a problem for me but I would feel very uneasy if they were on public transport without a phone.
The main issue I would have thought is that DS needs to be able to contact you rather than you contact him. I must say I would be tempted to get a cheap as chips PAYG phone - charge it up, prime it with your number and a small amount of money, switch it off and hide it in the bottom of his bag for emergencies only and strict instructions not to be brought out at school - only if there are problems with transport.
I assume you have asked if they can hand it into reception each morning and pick up at the end of the day? It's not ideal but if it's a continued no and DC is sensible, I would consider sending one in the school bag,turned off at all times until he gets on the bus on the way home. Of course if it's a school bus then he cannot do this, but equally there would be less to worry about too if he is on the school bus.
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Is this a school that you have chosen for your son, or a school that he has been, err, allocated to? I can't imagine how they would go about enforcing the ban, anyway, so I think what I would do would be to give him a phone kept in a zipped blazer pocket, and tell him on no account to turn it on in school or draw attention to it in any way. I wouldn't worry too much, none of my DCs have had mobiles when going to school and nor did any generation before this one. What is more worrying is the school's inflexible attitude to what you clearly regard as an issue of safety. Clearly you don't want to get on the wrong side of your DS's new school before he even goes there, so I would go for the low profile solution, and explain to him why he must obey you if he is to have the phone available to him. My guess is that they will be so busy dealing with kids texting etc in lessons that they won't bother to check on anyone who isn't actually misusing one. They can't search him, anyway, without a parent or his solicitor present. If possible get a blazer with two zipped pockets so he can keep other things such as money in a different one from the phone. Of course, this advice presupposes that a blazer is part of his uniform.
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When you say banned, do you mean he will be excluded first for a week, and then indefinitely? If it is just the phone that is banned, then that is the situation anyway, so he might as well take a chance!Looking for help wrote:Oh yes - there is no way it's allowed. And if he gets caught once, it's banned for a week, twice and the ban is indefinite
ou
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Oh that cheered me up a bit - no it's the mobile phone I think, not the childKES Parent wrote:When you say banned, do you mean he will be excluded first for a week, and then indefinitely? If it is just the phone that is banned, then that is the situation anyway, so he might as well take a chance!Looking for help wrote:Oh yes - there is no way it's allowed. And if he gets caught once, it's banned for a week, twice and the ban is indefinite
ou
Maybe if he keeps getting caught though
LFH
Yes I think it'll need to be hidden in his locker or at the bottom of his bag. But what sort of example is this to be showing a child - break the rules if you don't like them ?