Exclusive:Classroom phone ban: 'Anxious pupils were calling home five times a day'

This was the stark reality of device-dependent pupils in Portobello High School before, six months ago, the Edinburgh secondary opted to go completely mobile-free.

Portobello is one of two schools in the capital trialling a scheme that sees youngsters secure their phones in lockable pouches at the start of the school day.

The scheme initially received pushback from pupils - but the benefits are already apparent.

Depute head teacher Luke McAllister had been to a gig and saw the pouches in action.

It occurred to him these would transfer to school use and started working with the local authority to make the idea a reality.

Portobello High School already had a phone policy implemented in 2018 that was “quite robust” but became less fit for purpose post-Covid.

When pupils returned after the lockdown, phone use had “gone through the roof” and staff were confiscating around 50 phones per day.

“Teachers were just constantly nagging about phones,” Mr McAllister said, “And what we try to do in schools is focus on positive relationships and the phones had become a barrier to that.”

At break time, there is a group of young boys playing cards in a corridor - a sight that would never have occurred with phones still in use.

Teachers had been becoming increasingly alarmed at phone reliance and resulting poor behaviour.

There are seven transition points between classes in a Portobello school day and phone use had become such that pupils were taking the long way round to class to use their phones for longer.

Apps had become so sophisticated that young people had alerts set up to notify them if their friend had left classes so they could also leave and meet up.

Mr McAllister describes one app that worked like a walkie talkie, allowing someone remotely to shout out messages in class.

Sometimes as many as five phones would “blare out” at once.

“It became overwhelming,” he added, “And we had to do something more profound.”

A survey of pupils found their phone screen time was six to eight hours a day and this correlated with reports of poor sleep and concentration.

Parents came on board with the plans far quicker than pupils, who launched a petition to try to stop it.

The main shared concern from youngsters was that losing their phone was losing a lifeline to their parents.

As a compromise, the school suggested pupils could use their phones at lunchtime if they took them outside.

Anxiety in young people has soared and some Portobello pupils were calling their mothers five times during the school day.

Mr McAllister added: “Now if someone's needing to contact mum, then it's helpful that we know so we can add more support for that young person.”

Pupils with additional support needs - such as young carers or those with health conditions - are given a Velcro pouch.

It looks the same as the locking pouch but allows the pupil to access their phone immediately in case of emergency.

The sixth years can also unlock their pouches in their common room but can’t take an unlocked phone into the rest of the school building.

Cost was another concern ahead of implimentation. The school ultimately asked parents to contribute financially to the scheme and “a huge number” did so.

“You could ask any teacher in our school, is that money well spent? Absolutely so,” Mr McAllister said.

Each year the school takes in around 280 first year pupils so the costs are on-going.

Primary sevens are now given pouches so they are ready to start without their phones in first year.

Three members of staff are allocated each morning to oversee the pouches being locked as pupils enter the building, which they now have “down to a fine art”.

Young people, he says, have never been more distracted.

“If you are trying to communicate anything to 30 young people, what you don’t want is them having the most effective attention grabbing device in their pocket.

“The pouch allows teachers to crack on with teaching.”

The hope is that the scheme will raise attainment across the school but it is too early to measure the impact just yet.

Other schools have been in touch to ask for advice about rolling out the system to their schools.

In Edinburgh all pupils have an individual school-issue iPad but in other authorities youngsters are encouraged to bring their devices to school.

This makes the scheme more complicated - “but still doable”.

S6 pupil Rayan Chaudry said the system had made a difference in class and pupils are more encouraged to listen and pay attention.

The 16-year-old said teachers are no longer having to leave class to go out into the corridors to corral pupils off their phones.

The penalty for being caught with a phone is severe. Not only is it confiscated, the office will only release it to a parent.

If the parent can’t make it down before the end of the school day, the office keeps the device overnight.

Sometimes, Mr McAllister said, parents ask the office to be the bad guy and pretend they tried to collect it but the office was closed.

Pupils said they had quickly become used to not having their phones and discipline in class was much better.

One young person said classmates would previously download films on to their phones to watch in class, hiding them behind their school iPad.

Tilly Torry, 17, said: “It’s definitely separated my school and my relaxation.

“When I'm home and I'm on my phone, I feel that's my time to actually relax, and when I'm at school, that's my time to learn.

“It’s split that up.”

The teenagers are unanimous that the one thing taking up most of their online time is TikTok.

Online bullying hasn’t improved, they say, as that tends to take place outwith school, but the lack of phones has cut down on in-person bullying and fights as there’s no way to film it.

Jenny Ford, an S6 pupil, says she believes all schools should follow a uniform system for phone use.

“I think to make it effective there shouldn't just be two schools that have this system,” she said.

Although most pupils agree the phone ban is a positive step while their teachers are in the room, two girls approach later on to express their concerns.

While staff say pupils are more sociable now phones have gone, the girls worry that some of their peers are more isolated now they can’t use their devices.

An adult might see a teenager sitting glued to a screen, those same teenagers are actually socialising with friends.

Not everyone, they say, benefits from the ban.

Mr McAllister accepts these concerns but says it’s important for the school to ensure there are enough activities on at lunchtime and breaks to give pupils the chance to be social.

Mr McAllister believes the Scottish Government is currently taking the right approach in allowing head teaches to make individual decisions for their schools.

But he also believes that, eventually, all schools will be phone free. “It has to be done at a pace that suits each individual school but I can’t see a future where young people continue to use phones.

“The benefits are too clear.”