Many parents and teachers feel smartphones have no place in schools.
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Parents in Barnet have welcomed the council’s decision to become the first in England to ban phones in all its schools.
From September, pupils at 103 primary and 23 secondary schools will not be allowed to use smartphones. The inclusion of secondary schools sees Barnet go a step further than other councils, such as Ealing.
The Smartphone Free Childhood (SFC) Charity, Barnet Public Health, and local MP Dan Tomlinson have been praised for the new policy, which aims to shape the relationship schoolchildren have with their phones.
A council spokesperson said:
“Smartphone Free Childhood Barnet is a schools-led initiative. We have supported a borough-wide letter to go out to parents of up to 63,000 school pupils to make Barnet schools smartphone-free by September 2025.
“Schools are in a powerful position to change the norm, and a large group of Barnet schools are committed to making our schools smartphone-free.”
Phone ban ‘is fantastic’
City London News got the thoughts of parents in a Barnet mums’ Facebook group.
One of the mums, Georgina, described the initiative as “brilliant.”
She said: “We actually just moved into the area, so I didn’t know about the ban, but I think it’s fantastic.
“Phones are such a problem in the school my daughter is currently in.”
‘A lot of parents don’t want to feel judged for their own habits’
SFC was founded last year by journalist Daisy Greenwell, after her post on Instagram expressing concern over children using smartphones went viral.
Daisy’s post in February 2024 amassed nearly 3,000 likes.
The charity is campaigning for the government to change the law around phone use in schools, and encourages parents to sign ‘pacts’ or ‘pledges’ to delay giving children smartphones and social media.
City London News spoke to mum-of-two Anna, who is part of the SFC movement in the South West and joined the original WhatsApp group.
“I got sent an Instagram post by a lady called Daisy. She shared her number for a WhatsApp group.
“Within 24 hours there were hundreds of people in the group and it just kept growing.”
‘It took off really, really quickly just by this one Instagram post going completely viral amongst parents who are concerned about this, and suddenly everyone got galvanised into action.’
Anna was involved in a pledge at her local school. Although lots of parents embraced the prospect of delaying phone use, some had reservations:
“Some people said, ‘phones are just part of life, children need to manage them properly’.
“My response is that 18-rated films are part of life, it doesn’t mean you need your 11-year-old to see them.
“You don’t just give your child their car keys and send them off into the world. You have boundaries and restrictions in place to keep everyone safe.
“A lot of parents also don’t want to feel judged for their own habits. I think that’s a big issue.
“If you start saying people shouldn’t be scrolling endlessly, parents start to feel uncomfortable about the fact that they scroll endlessly.”
Worries over a smartphone-free school run
There is confusion among parents as to whether students will still be allowed to take phones with them to school. For many, the priority is ensuring their child travels safely.
Georgina, who uses an AirTag for her daughter, suggests re-introducing pagers for school children.
Kim, a secondary school teacher who lives in Barnet, suggests another alternative:
“Kids bring their phones to school but then keep them in locked pouches until the end of the day.
“It’s great because then students do have them on the journey to and from school, but school is still a phone-free zone.”
Anna, on the other hand, thinks this shouldn’t be seen as the solution to smartphones:
“If your child has a highly addictive or dangerous substance in their pocket, like cigarettes, you don’t just let them bring them in to school to pop in a pouch. That doesn’t make it OK.”
Can schools cope with the ban?
The smartphone ban raises concerns about how schools can manage and enforce the policy.
Anna told City London News:
“It’s resources, I think, that is a problem for lots of schools.
“Teachers are so stretched, and then we’re throwing the policing of smartphones at them, or even the storage.
“If you’re going to have 1,000 smartphones coming into school each morning, where are you going to store them?”
‘We need to prepare our students for higher education’
Parents and teachers also have different views on the role of devices in classroom learning, for example school-provided iPads and computers.
While SFC encourage device-free classrooms, secondary school teacher Kim believes there is still a place for technology in the curriculum:
“There are so many excellent resources out there for education, so you would be denying students and teachers access to those resources.
“We also need to prepare our students for higher education and work environments, the majority of which rely on device use.”
Kim believes the ban could therefore widen the gulf between private and state schools, as the latter won’t be able to afford alternatives to using personal smartphones to assist with learning.
How much of a change will the initiative make?
Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps with children.
“An outright ban of phones in schools isn’t necessary because headteachers already have the power to ban phones in schools. Most have chosen to do so.”
The North London initiative is the first enforced, blanket-ban of its kind in the country. But given the existing guidance, parents might not see a huge change in school policy.
It suggests there isn’t a direct correlation between schools restricting smartphone use and improved wellbeing and focus in lessons.
But the debate over phones in schools continues.
Anna quotes the former US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, who in calling for warning labels on social media platforms said:
“In an emergency, you don’t have the luxury to wait for perfect information.
“You assess the available facts, you use your best judgement, and you act quickly.”
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HeadlineBarnet parents welcome first borough-wide school smartphone ban in England
Short HeadlineBarnet parents welcome first all-school smartphone ban
StandfirstCity London News speaks to parents, as concern over smartphone addiction grows.
Parents in Barnet have welcomed the council’s decision to become the first in England to ban phones in all its schools.
From September, pupils at 103 primary and 23 secondary schools will not be allowed to use smartphones. The inclusion of secondary schools sees Barnet go a step further than other councils, such as Ealing.
The Smartphone Free Childhood (SFC) Charity, Barnet Public Health, and local MP Dan Tomlinson have been praised for the new policy, which aims to shape the relationship schoolchildren have with their phones.
A council spokesperson said:
“Smartphone Free Childhood Barnet is a schools-led initiative. We have supported a borough-wide letter to go out to parents of up to 63,000 school pupils to make Barnet schools smartphone-free by September 2025.
“Schools are in a powerful position to change the norm, and a large group of Barnet schools are committed to making our schools smartphone-free.”
Phone ban ‘is fantastic’
City London News got the thoughts of parents in a Barnet mums’ Facebook group.
One of the mums, Georgina, described the initiative as “brilliant.”
She said: “We actually just moved into the area, so I didn’t know about the ban, but I think it’s fantastic.
“Phones are such a problem in the school my daughter is currently in.”
‘A lot of parents don’t want to feel judged for their own habits’
SFC was founded last year by journalist Daisy Greenwell, after her post on Instagram expressing concern over children using smartphones went viral.
Daisy’s post in February 2024 amassed nearly 3,000 likes.
The charity is campaigning for the government to change the law around phone use in schools, and encourages parents to sign ‘pacts’ or ‘pledges’ to delay giving children smartphones and social media.
City London News spoke to mum-of-two Anna, who is part of the SFC movement in the South West and joined the original WhatsApp group.
“I got sent an Instagram post by a lady called Daisy. She shared her number for a WhatsApp group.
“Within 24 hours there were hundreds of people in the group and it just kept growing.”
‘It took off really, really quickly just by this one Instagram post going completely viral amongst parents who are concerned about this, and suddenly everyone got galvanised into action.’
Anna was involved in a pledge at her local school. Although lots of parents embraced the prospect of delaying phone use, some had reservations:
“Some people said, ‘phones are just part of life, children need to manage them properly’.
“My response is that 18-rated films are part of life, it doesn’t mean you need your 11-year-old to see them.
“You don’t just give your child their car keys and send them off into the world. You have boundaries and restrictions in place to keep everyone safe.
“A lot of parents also don’t want to feel judged for their own habits. I think that’s a big issue.
“If you start saying people shouldn’t be scrolling endlessly, parents start to feel uncomfortable about the fact that they scroll endlessly.”
Worries over a smartphone-free school run
There is confusion among parents as to whether students will still be allowed to take phones with them to school. For many, the priority is ensuring their child travels safely.
Georgina, who uses an AirTag for her daughter, suggests re-introducing pagers for school children.
Kim, a secondary school teacher who lives in Barnet, suggests another alternative:
“Kids bring their phones to school but then keep them in locked pouches until the end of the day.
“It’s great because then students do have them on the journey to and from school, but school is still a phone-free zone.”
Anna, on the other hand, thinks this shouldn’t be seen as the solution to smartphones:
“If your child has a highly addictive or dangerous substance in their pocket, like cigarettes, you don’t just let them bring them in to school to pop in a pouch. That doesn’t make it OK.”
Can schools cope with the ban?
The smartphone ban raises concerns about how schools can manage and enforce the policy.
Anna told City London News:
“It’s resources, I think, that is a problem for lots of schools.
“Teachers are so stretched, and then we’re throwing the policing of smartphones at them, or even the storage.
“If you’re going to have 1,000 smartphones coming into school each morning, where are you going to store them?”
‘We need to prepare our students for higher education’
Parents and teachers also have different views on the role of devices in classroom learning, for example school-provided iPads and computers.
While SFC encourage device-free classrooms, secondary school teacher Kim believes there is still a place for technology in the curriculum:
“There are so many excellent resources out there for education, so you would be denying students and teachers access to those resources.
“We also need to prepare our students for higher education and work environments, the majority of which rely on device use.”
Kim believes the ban could therefore widen the gulf between private and state schools, as the latter won’t be able to afford alternatives to using personal smartphones to assist with learning.
How much of a change will the initiative make?
Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps with children.
“An outright ban of phones in schools isn’t necessary because headteachers already have the power to ban phones in schools. Most have chosen to do so.”
The North London initiative is the first enforced, blanket-ban of its kind in the country. But given the existing guidance, parents might not see a huge change in school policy.
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