Due to the growing demand from parents and more importantly pioneering head teachers that have recognised the safe guarding concerns that can be facilitated by a smartphone. There is now a growing number of 'genuinely' smartphone free schools across the UK, and because of this we now have two websites where you can check a school's smartphone policy.
https://www.smartphonefreerating.org
Both of these websites state their Gold standard policies are those schools which do not allow smartphones onsite.
However these schools are still too few and far between in reality and it is now clearly a postcode lottery as to whether a school will have a Gold standard smartphone policy.
These policies are ultimately still a choice for the school to make and many head teachers are either not acknowledging the safe guarding concerns smartphones pose, perceive parental push-back or are looking to the Department for Education for guidance.
This is why government statutory guidance is essential to support head teachers in ensuring safe learning environments for all students.
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