A school has banned smartphones after a pupil’s phone was found with 9,000 messages sent in just one night on a year’s WhatsApp group
Children at Blackhorse Primary School in Bristol will no longer be allowed to bring smartphones to school after a debate around safety was sparked by the sheer number of notifications spotted on a pupil’s screen by a teacher.
In recent years, pupils have been allowed to bring smartphones to school, but had to hand them in to the teacher during lesson time.
But around a year ago, a phone was accidentally left in the teacher’s cupboard overnight – and was returned to the pupil the next day with 9,000 notifications of activity in a Year Six WhatsApp group.
Shocked at the discovery, executive headteacher Simon Botten started a debate with parents on whether smartphones should be allowed in schools – and now pupils can’t bring them in at all.
Writing on his personal blog, Mr Botten said he had also been concerned at the risk of increased cyber-bullying and online predatory behaviour – and that the move had been broadly backed by parents.
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They allowed it before ?