To provide an optimal service for your child, I need their full attention and focus. I am limited in my abilities if I am competing with a mobile phone for attention. However, I acknowledge that sometimes a mobile phone can be a useful tool, such as to take photographs of content on the screen, or to email photos of their work to me.

 

If you need to digitally contact your child during a lesson, I ask that you contact me directly. I will pass on any messages or ask them to go and get their phone to contact you.

 

During lessons, airplane mode or an equivalent setting should be switched on (a Do Not Disturb/Focus setting to mute all notifications except from parents is also acceptable), and the screen face down. Alternatively, the mobile phone should be fully powered off.

 

I operate a two-strike mobile phone policy – if I see them distracting themselves on a phone, I will firstly ask them to switch it off or put it away. If it happens again, I will pause the lesson and ask a parent to take the phone until the end of the lesson. If this happens four times in a term, I will ask parents to remove the mobile phone during lessons for the rest of the term.

 

If a student needs to use a mobile phone, such as to message a parent, a calculator function, to send me a photograph of their work or any other urgent function, they must ask for permission first. While I do not want to remove their digital autonomy, I feel my provisions are already TEL-enhanced and digitally native to the extent that a mobile phone does not add any benefit to the lesson. I feel students gain more from their learning when external distractions are minimised.

 

For purposes of equity, I will do the same. During lessons, I keep my work phone in my workspace in the event you may need me to get a message to your child. However, my personal phone is set to silent and kept in a separate place.

 

Out of lessons, I encourage students to install the VLE app to keep up with upcoming lessons and homework – however this is not required.