Smartphones in Schools - Understanding the New Ban

Hello Digital Rebels ✌️ - welcome back to another blog post!

If you’ve been keeping up with the news regarding digital safety and wellbeing, you’ve probably heard that the Government is set to introduce a legal ban on smartphones in schools in England. I’ve written this post to help you understand this ban by discussing what changes we can expect to see, why they are taking place, what they hope to achieve, and more!

First things first, what will actually happen when this ban is introduced?

1. Changes to the law 

An amendment is being added to the Children’s Wellbeing in Schools Bill, turning previous non-statutory guidance on the issue into a “clear legal framework” for schools to follow. Whilst schools across the country currently have their own rules about phone usage, rules are now expected to be consistent no matter where you learn.

2. Building on “not seen, not heard”

As a general rule, most schools already expect students to keep their phones switched off and stored in their bags during the school day – most people agree that phones should be “not seen, not heard”. However, Baroness Smith proposes that we should be “stronger on that”, with devices being inaccessible during the school day. This will probably mean phones being stored in lockers or secured in magnetically sealed pouches, not just tucked away in your bag or blazer pocket.

3. Going phone-free for the entire day

Whilst some schools allow students to use their phones at certain points throughout the day, including lessons, break times and lunchtimes, this new guidance means students won’t be allowed to use their phones at any point during school hours.

‼️This guidance is expected to exclude sixth form students, students in boarding schools, and those who use their phone as a medical device.

Research shows that 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools already have policies restricting students’ phone use during school hours. So, depending on the rules your school already has, this guidance may not actually impact your experience much. This change simply creates clearer rules that schools must follow.

What do these changes hope to achieve, and how?

1. Improved Academic Performance

Banning phones will remove distractions caused by the constant buzz of social media notifications and messages, helping students to concentrate more during lessons. Improved concentration has positive effects on students’ academic performance - the London School of Economics suggests that banning phones in schools leads to significant increases in test scores, particularly for previously low-achieving or disadvantaged students.

2. Improved Social Interactions

Without screens to stare at, students are encouraged to talk with each other during breaks, helping them to nurture their friendships and connections, and improve their general social skills and wellbeing. We may be used to communicating with someone behind a screen, but it’s time to talk face-to-face!

3. Safer School Environments

This Policy Exchange report shows that schools with smartphone bans have safer environments over all. Staff at these schools report fewer issues with covert filming, cyberbullying, exposure to harmful content, and the escalation of online conflicts in the classroom.

4. Improved Wellbeing

If you’ve read any of FlippGen’s previous blog posts, you may be aware that screen time has a big impact on your general health and wellbeing. High screen time has been linked to increased anxiety, body issues, low self-esteem, poor sleep and attention spans, and constant comparison and FOMO. Therefore, it’s no surprise that campaign groups like Smartphone Free Childhood argue that the phone bans provide much-needed respite from the harmful, addictive nature of social media. 

The ban in practice: Thoughts from a school Headteacher

To understand how this new ban may work in practice, I sat down for a conversation with Mr Manny Botwe, the headteacher at Tytherington School, who introduced a lockable-pouch initiative for students from Y7 – Y11 in September, 2025.

Introducing the Pouches

The headteacher of Birchwood Community High School in Warrington got in contact with Mr Botwe “around this time last year” to inform him of the phone pouch initiative, which they introduced in response to concerns around students’ exposure to incredibly harmful social media content and its dangerous real-life consequences.

Although Mr Botwe wasn’t interested in the initiative at first, as he didn’t think the school necessarily had a problem with phone usage, a log of incidents over the next three days picked up on unnecessary communication between students and parents during school hours, recordings of fights and recordings of teachers. He realised “I’ve probably got a bit more of an issue than we think”, and perhaps the initiative was worth a try.

Positive Changes Since September

 More eyes on students: Seeing the initiative in practice at Birchwood personally, Mr Botwe says one thing in particular stood out to him - how students were greeted at the gate each day to lock up their phones. He thought it was “really powerful” how all the students “effectively got a welcome” at the start of the school day. An unexpected consequence of the initiative is that there are more eyes on the students, so more opportunity to check in with them or pick up whether they’re feeling low, etc.

 Children can be children: By having phones locked away during the school day, Mr

Botwe feels like children are not ‘burdened’ by home responsibilities such as caring for a family member, and can simply focus on learning. Although there are worries about communication between students and their families, Mr Botwe stressed that if students need to be made aware of anything, the school office can be contacted. 

 Opening up a dialogue: Mr Botwe reports that parents are “overwhelmingly positive” about the introduction of the pouches. They want their children to access social media less, and feel like this initiative acts as support and help in making this happen. He feels that by having this initiative in place in schools, parents feel more confident to talk about screen time and any concerns they have at home. It also helps him feel “emboldened” as a headteacher to talk about general health wellbeing with parents - for example, can a student’s focus be improved with talks about social media usage, diet, sleep, boundaries? It allows him to take a more holistic approach to wellbeing.

 Better behaviour and concentration: Teachers also like this initiative, and “report fewer incidents in lessons”, whereas a “sizeable majority of students think it helps in terms of concentration”. 

 Less screen time and being safer online: One of Mr Botwe’s main concerns about phone usage is harmful content accessible online - “there are clearly concerns that I have in terms of people getting drawn into the manosphere and political extremism and pornography”. However, he feels like group chats are also environments that cause social distress for students. By removing phones during the school day, Mr Botwe hopes to “get rid of that risk” and give his students a reprise from the anxiety-inducing online environments.

Hopes for Long-term Outcomes

Mr Botwe believes that people are “broadly unhappy because [...] they crave human connection” and environments like third-place areas like youth groups, play areas and similar organisations have been “kind of stripped away” and “replaced” with screens, which “inevitably just makes people more and more unhappy”.

He hopes that long-term, this initiative will help people think about their own relationship with their phone, and whether they can be “really intentional” with who they spend their time with and what they spend time doing … people can rebuild the social connections we seem to be missing as a collective. If students realise they can go without their phone at school, perhaps they’ll feel more comfortable doing a digital detox at home!

Opinions on the Government’s Upcoming School’s Phone Ban

Mr Botwe does agree with the Government’s upcoming ban, but doesn’t think banning phones in schools is the main thing to focus on. Instead, he is passionate about how this can impact the wider community - how this amendment “sets the tone” for discussions about digital wellbeing and screentime - how it empowers more people to talk about their own experiences and be introspective about their own habits. “It feels like it’s helping the community […] it’s empowering parents to have conversations with their own children about how they use social media […] and that’s quite powerful.”

👉 You can read more about the school’s success with lockable phone pouches here!

However … there’s room for a wider discussion!

Some people worry that banning phones in schools will make communication harder between parents and children, especially during emergency situations. Others worry that banning phones reduces educational opportunities. I personally use several educational apps on my phone, such as Duolingo, and some of the best lessons I remember from high schools utilised Kahoot! These are powerful learning tools that make learning more fun. In instances where Chromebooks and other devices are inaccessible, should access to these platforms be restricted completely?

It is also argued that digital literacy – not digital restriction – should be the priority of those in power. This fits in with FlippGen’s idea of “Know tech, not No Tech” and highlights the importance of pairing the ban with wider education on healthy tech use and digital wellbeing.

Final thoughts from FlippGen

Here at FlippGen, news of these proposed changes has been received positively. We think it’s simply common sense that phones shouldn’t be used during the school day unless absolutely necessary. The benefits are clear: with fewer digital distractions, students are empowered to take control of their concentration, learn to the best of their ability, genuinely connect with friends and teachers, and take a break from the stressful online world.

However, there’s little point in banning phones during school hours if students can still access harmful content the moment they leave. This is why we encourage you, reader, to think about how you can support healthier digital habits outside of school too—whether that’s setting boundaries, talking openly about online experiences, or creating phonefree moments at home.

This ban is not about “punishing students” or suggesting that phones or social media should never be used. Instead, it’s about giving young people the space to focus in school, to learn without constant interruption, and to build reallife connections. It’s about recognising that we don’t need to be available to others 24/7—nothing terrible happens if we don’t respond to a notification ping immediately. Most importantly, it opens up a wider conversation about digital wellbeing and helps students become more intentional about when and why they use their phones.

If there’s one question to take away, it’s this... FlippGen asks, “Are we helping young people build healthy relationships with tech… or just removing it for a few hours a day?”