Edinburgh schools mobile phone ban to begin amid pouch delivery delays

While the first shipment of pouches is expected within a fortnight, some of the city’s 23 high schools may not receive them until the beginning of October.

Education convener James Dalgleish attributed the delay to the procurement process, emphasising the need to ensure value for money. In the meantime, students will be required to use existing lockable cabinets or hand their phones to teachers during the school day. Dalgleish noted that many schools already operate some form of mobile phone restriction, so the immediate impact of the new policy may be limited until the pouches are introduced.

Under the new rules, all secondary pupils must place their phones in lockable pouches at the start of the school day, only retrieving them when leaving. Exemptions will be made for students with medical or other needs, and head teachers retain the discretion to allow S5 and S6 pupils to use phones during breaks and independent study.

Only Portobello and Queensferry high schools, which participated in a trial, will have pouches from the outset. Elsewhere, the rollout will be staggered, with all schools expected to have the system in place by October. Dalgleish said: “Between this month and October we will be phasing in the pouch system. We have been working very hard over the school summer holidays to navigate through the procurement process and in a matter of two weeks we will have pouches being phased in.”

He added: “It will take a little bit of time to phase them in, but every school will have a pouch system in place by the start of October at the latest.”

The council has allocated a £400,000 budget for nearly 25,000 pouches, aiming to provide one for every high school pupil. The pouches will be distributed on a geographical basis, with schools in the same area receiving them simultaneously. Dalgleish said the council is finalising exemption policies for students who require phone access during the day.

Despite the absence of pouches at the start, Dalgleish expressed confidence that the ban would be effective, noting that many schools already enforce similar restrictions. He said: “For me it’s about making sure it works better. We think the pouch system allows some of the teacher-pupil conflict to be resolved.”

SNP education spokesman Euan Hyslop described the phased introduction as an operational decision, though he acknowledged it would have been preferable if all resources were available at the start of term. “From a school management perspective, it slightly muddies the waters if they are having to implement a ban without additional resources and then introduce the pouches later. I’m sure schools will manage and the clear messaging about what is expected now in schools will help.”