Hull school to go phone-free to end 'distractions'

The phone pouches have been used in schools and at events such as exhibitions

A school in Hull will become the latest to use lockable pouches in order to create a phone-free environment during classroom hours.

Pupils at the Liberty Academy, in Preston Road, will store their mobile phones in the wallets throughout lessons and retrieve them at the end of the day.

Helen Winn, chief executive officer at the Heartwood Learning Trust, which runs the school, said: "We've seen how powerful it can be when students are free from digital distractions and we're excited to introduce a phone-free environment."

The pouches will be used from 10 November.

Ms Winn said she wanted students to benefit from the space to "think deeply and focus fully on their learning".

"If I'm being honest, they've probably got quite mixed feelings about it at the moment," she added.

"Some students will be really excited and think this is a great idea and there'll be others who may be a bit sceptical. But we hope that once it's introduced, they will see the benefits really quickly."

The pouches have been designed by an American company, Yondr, which said about 250,000 pupils were using them in the UK.

Earlier this year, a study by the University of Birmingham found banning phones in schools was not linked to pupils getting higher grades or having better mental wellbeing.

However, the report, published in the Lancet's journal for European health policy, did find that spending longer on smartphones and social media in general was linked with worse results for mental wellbeing, physical activity, sleep, grades and classroom behaviour.

Liberty Academy, previously called Archbishop Sentamu Academy, was given a "requires improvement" rating by Ofsted in April 2024.

Inspectors found pupil behaviour and the curriculum had improved since the school was found to be "inadequate" in 2022.

A monitoring visit in June this year found leaders had made further progress, but pupils' outcomes in national assessments remained too low.

The Heartwood Learning Trust said it would be introducing the pouches at five other secondary schools, which it runs in North Yorkshire.

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Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

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