Berkshire parents join smartphone-free campaign

Campaigners have been pushing for legislation to ban smartphones in schools

More than 3,000 parents in Berkshire have backed a campaign to not get children smartphones until at least the end of Year Nine.

It comes as two secondary schools, Charters School in Sunningdale and Furze Platt Senior School in Maidenhead, plan to ask students to hand them in at the start of the school day.

The "parent pact" has been launched by campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood.

Mum-of-four Jane Creswell is part of the group's Berkshire team, and said parents were "deeply, deeply concerned about smartphone usage".

Jane Creswell says that there are so many benefits of not having a phone in school

She said her daughter, who is now aged 14, only recently got a smartphone, and she had been the only pupil without one since Year 5.

"There were times when she was pretty annoyed," she said. "The key was talk to her about my reasons."

She told BBC Berkshire there were many benefits of not having a phone and that a recent poll from one of Berkshire's secondary schools showed that 75% of parents and 92% of staff want a smartphone ban.

"My daughter retained childhood, which is something we are taking away from them, when they are stuck inside on technology, that is not suitable for them, watching content that is for adults," she said.

"It is not appropriate for them... we should be protecting our children.

"This movement is hugely important and I think most parents you speak to are very onboard.

"In Berkshire we are really excited to see the change and it's amazing to see schools take the lead."

Prof Miranda Pallan said taking phones away in schools was the first step in addressing the issue

Prof Miranda Pallan, from the University of Birmingham, has been researching phone usage in schools and it was contributing to "poorer mental health and worse attainment".

She said: "Our research and others has shown a clear association between the time spent on smartphones and social media by children and adolescents which leads to worse outcomes of mental health, wellbeing and other things like sleep, physical activity and education.

"It is an issue that we need to address, more needs to be done.

"We live in a world were we all interactive with phones and social media and there is a very fast paced digital landscape.

"So, just taking away phones in school isn't going to be enough to address this issue in full, we have to do other things as well."