School phone ban: Blandford pupils to be offered 'brick phones'

The school is looking to offer the basic phones to bring a change in behaviour

A primary school is looking to offer "brick phones" to pupils to overcome inappropriate smartphone use.

James Law, head at Milldown Academy in Blandford, Dorset, wants to bring in a scheme where parents can hire or borrow a basic phone for little or no cost.

He said it came after finding pupils were bumping into content they should not see, issues over social media posts, sleep and behaviour problems.

Mr Law said he was working with parents to start the change in September.

The school for children aged between four and 11 is looking at offering the basic phones, which can only send and receive texts and calls, at a minimal or no cost to parents through a hire scheme.

Mr Law said he had found parents were putting blocks on their child's smartphone "but their peers are sending them videos or recordings... so despite the parents intervention some of the stuff is still getting through".

• Mum begins anti-smartphone campaign by mistake

• Do half of schools ban mobile phones?

• Esther Ghey discusses online safety with PM

Staff at the school had also noticed behaviour problems with some pupils due to excessive screen time and said there had been issues with pupils' relationships due to social media.

He said smartphones were "great and they do wonderful things but we are seeing patterns and issues with them in school."

"What we want to is to provide parents with an option so they can borrow one from us so we remove the financial barrier," he added.

Mr Law said he had decided to look at the idea after sensing there was "an appetite from parents to do this".

The issues over smartphones have arisen outside the school day as pupils have to hand in their phone each morning at the school gate.

He said he hoped to "try and adjust the culture we have drifted into" through the optional scheme.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2240.