Schools set to hang up on phones

Youngsters are to be banned from taking mobile phones to primary schools in Orkney.

Secondary and junior secondary pupils will meanwhile not be allowed to use mobiles or other personal devices in class and face restrictions at other times of the school day.

The new policy was unanimously adopted by Orkney Islands councillors at Wednesday’s meeting of the education, communities and housing committee.

It stops short of an outright ban for older pupils, allowing head teachers scope to vary protocols to suit particular circumstances.

The new policy was proposed after extensive consultation with pupils, school staff and parents.

Though all members got behind it, Councillor John Ross Scott claimed that while “a significant step forward”, it had not gone far enough.

OIC was responding to the Scottish Government’s requirement for all schools to have a policy on the use of phones and other personal mobile devices.

Education psychologist Imogen Kerr said a consultation in the county last summer elicited 1,260 responses.

Ms Kerr said this had highlighted a desire for empathy to be at the centre of the approach.

There had also been a lot of support for primaries being phone-free and for senior secondary pupils to be subject to fewer restrictions.

She added: “The real drive in this is to make sure that mobile devices  are not present in classrooms and that is absolutely across the board.

“That feels like the first important building block.”

All schools, she said, would be expected to devise their own policies.