Template letter for Secondary School Heads
Dear [ ]
We are writing to you as a group of parents who are concerned about the impact of smartphones on pupils at [ ] School. We know how much pressure schools are under and are so grateful for all the work you and your team do for our children. We also acknowledge that it is not the school’s responsibility to dictate when parents buy devices for their children. However, as a school leader, you are in a powerful position not only to give children a break from phones during the school day, but to help shift societal norms. Children spend more time in school than any other place outside the home. Our movement has shown us that parents – and many young people themselves – want schools to help them minimise the impact of smartphones in their lives.
The problem
When we first started giving smartphones to children, we didn’t understand their impact. Now, there is a growing body of evidence linking smartphone use with an array of harms. Smartphones are correlated with anxiety, depression and loneliness. They are a gateway to pornography, cyberbullying, grooming, violent and extreme content. Research shows that smartphones affect academic performance and many children show signs of behavioural addiction to their devices.
Underpinning all these harms is one that is potentially the most significant of all. Smartphones are experience blockers, distracting children from engaging in the real world. The average UK 12-year-old now spends 29 hours a week – equivalent to a part-time job – on their smartphone. This leaves little time for the real world activities and relationships that enable us to learn the essential life skills needed for the transition to adulthood. It is not surprising that new research shows that the younger a child receives their first smartphone, the worse their mental health.
And yet, the age a child gets their first smartphone is getting younger and younger. In the UK, a fifth of 3-4 year olds own their own device and 24% of 5-7 year-olds do. Many people don’t want to get their child a smartphone but feel they have no choice because everyone else is. No parent wants to isolate their child from their peer group. The solution to this problem lies in better regulation of Big Tech, but enacting legislation takes years – time that we as parents of children today don’t have. In the meantime, our most powerful defence lies in banding together and taking collective action.
What role do schools play?
When smartphones are removed from the school day, children do better. One study, conducted in four English cities, found that students’ GCSE scores improved in schools that went smartphone-free. This effect was especially pronounced for lower-achieving students. In addition to this, Schools with an effective smartphone policy are more than twice as likely to be rated Outstanding. One study found that even the “mere presence" of a mobile phone, even if not being used, can result in attention and performance deficits, so it’s not surprising that removing them has a positive effect.
What we’re asking of you:
1. Please make your school a genuinely smartphone-free environment
Pupils at schools that are genuinely smartphone free achieve 1-2 grades higher at GCSE. However, at present, only 11% of schools have an effective smartphone-free policy. In recent months, we have seen an increasing number of schools strengthen their policies, to ensure that phones are completely locked away during the school day. Some schools are now going further by stipulating that only simple phones may be brought to school. We would urge you to consider doing the same, either removing smartphones from the premises altogether or ensuring they are locked away for the entire school day.
2. Encourage your feeder schools to go smartphone-free
Please consider writing to your feeder schools, asking them to go smartphone-free, by not allowing devices onto the premises. Primary schools also have a key role to play in changing the social norm. In St. Albans we saw just what can be achieved when Head teachers come together on this issue.
3. Encourage parents to delay
Please consider encouraging parents not to buy a smartphone until their children are at least 14. Parents are desperate for guidance on this issue, and your support would help parents to say “no” with confidence. Consider letting them know about the Smartphone Free Childhood Parent Pact via the school newsletter – it’s a digital tool that enables parents to come together and delay with others in their school community.
We are keen to work with you to help reset the norm around smartphones, and protect childhood for longer.
Would you have half an hour to discuss this?
Yours sincerely,
[ ]
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