UPDATE (10/11/25):

Please no more financial contributions to this page - please check out the latest updates for a redirection of challenging Government.  

 

UPDATE (07/08/25):

The government replied to our petition hand in and the response from the department in charge of this policy (the Department for Education) was no different today than it was when we first started raising these concerns over a year ago now!

We need to take stronger action and demand a thorough Government debate in the halls of Westminster - that will only happen with 100,000 signatures on the official Government petition website!

Thank you for your support so far!  The goverment think we will go away with an inadequate copy and paste response - we make our ask on them a stronger, bolder one for better protection of our children within the school system!  Please now redirect your support to:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/726477

If you have previously signed this change . org petition please also sign the official government link to make sure your support still counts

Thank you

 

Original Ask:

We urge the Department for Education (DfE) to urgently review its mobile phone guidance to address serious safeguarding risks posed by smartphones in and around schools. The current guidance fails to distinguish between basic non-internet mobile phones and smartphones - two vastly different technologies with profoundly different implications for child safety and wellbeing.

 
The Problem

Under current DfE guidance devices are summarised as “mobile phones,” failing to differentiate between:

Traditional Basic Mobile Phones – Non-internet devices which allow for calls and texts only.

Smartphones (Inc Smart watches) – Advanced Internet-enabled devices with access to social media, high-resolution cameras, video, location tracking, file sharing, and unrestricted browsing.

This lack of differentiation gives headteachers autonomy without the clarity needed to make informed policy decisions. As a result, smartphones continue to be permitted and left in the possession of students in many schools - despite growing concerns from parents, educators, and safeguarding professionals.

The current non-statutory guidance which states developing a policy on prohibiting the use of mobile phones, offers four suggested options, including option (d): “Never used, seen or heard”.  This option is impossible for schools to fully monitor or enforce. 

 
Why This Matters

Smartphones pose significant safeguarding risks in schools:

• Sharing of explicit images and videos via Airdrop, WhatsApp and other APPS.
• Filming and posting of students on social media consensually and non-consensually.
• Exposure to predators via age-inappropriate apps and location-tracking apps like SnapMap.
• Peer pressure and indirect exposure to harmful content via a peer’s device.
• Distraction from learning and mental health impacts.

Beyond school grounds, smartphones increase risks of vulnerability to crime due to their value, stalking via tracking features like Snap Map, and road traffic accidents due to screen distraction. Often smartphones are coming into school with no age restrictions or parental controls to what content is accessible. Students can often share their screens inside and outside of the school gates exposing other students without smartphones to potential inappropriate content or filming without parental oversight.

Despite multiple calls on government to raise the digital age of consent from 13 to 16, the government has declined to act, citing ongoing research, and running research projects into the impact of smartphones and social media. This alone acknowledges existing concern. In line with the precautionary principle, because schools must safeguard students as a priority, stronger protective measures must be implemented while such research continues into the harms smartphones directly facilitate is understood.

 
The Current Guidance Is Failing to Safeguard School Children

Schools are applying their own ‘mobile phone’ policies creating inconsistency around the country, it is now a postcode lottery for genuinely smartphone free schools. Non-statutory guidance leaves room for ineffective policies including "Never used, seen or heard" - which allow smartphones to remain in students’ possession.

This approach contradicts statutory safeguarding duties in Keeping Children Safe in Education (Sections 134–137). Schools that also allow smartphone access on school buses, day trips, and residential's also conflict with these statutory safeguarding guidelines.

What We Are Asking For

We request the DfE amend its Mobile Phones in Schools guidance :

1. To differentiate between basic non-internet mobile phones and smartphones / smartwatches
2. Remove option d) ("Never used, seen or heard") from official guidance.
3. Make the guidance statutory, aligning with safeguarding duties and create consistency.

Primary (Prep) and Middle Schools

• Permit only basic, non-internet phones for pupils walking independently.
• Devices must be handed in at the start of the day and collected at the end.

This would be an age-appropriate policy for primary schools who allow their older pupils - often years 5 and 6 (aged 9- 11) with permission from parents to walk independently to and from school.

Secondary Schools

Most Protective:

• Option a: No phones allowed.
• Option b: Only basic non-internet mobile phones allowed; no smartphones onsite permitted.

Controlled Access:

• Option c: Smartphones prohibited for Years 7–9 only basic phones; optional for Years 10–11 if smartphones stored securely; strict use policy agreement for Years 12–13.

Least Protective:

• Option d: All smartphones collected and stored daily by the school.

Note: For option b, a “not seen, used or heard” policy could apply if only basic phones permitted.  Allowing for easier management for schools opting for this policy.

Any additional options must ensure smartphones / smartdevices are not accessible during the school day. Access to smartphones also needs to be prohibited on school bus trips / day trips / residential's in order to keep in line with safe guarding duties to all students.

Medical exemptions should be considered for primary middle and secondary on a case-by-case basis.

 
Enough Is Enough

Smartphones are no longer simple communication tools—they are gateways to significant safeguarding risks. Their presence in schools directly conflicts with the DfE’s own safeguarding principles.

We call on the Department for Education to act now - introduce clear, statutory guidance that protects children, reflects the realities of today’s digital environment and the risk to student safety by what a smartphone can facilitate.

Please note: Those signing this petition, firstly Thank you!! Secondly you may notice in the coming weeks a similar government e-petition, please sign both! The government are not obliged to respond to change. org petitions so the government e-petition is important to get an official government response.  However, I have started a change. org one in order to fully explain the reasons as to why this is so important as you do not have this option on the government site - it is very limited.  Plus, I intend to hand this particular petition into No.10 Downing Street personally.  

Thank you for your support!!