Introduction

Mobile phones are part of modern society and the majority of students will now own a mobile phone. We understand that for safety reasons students will carry a mobile phone in order to contact parents/carers after school/before school. However, mobile phones can lead to several problems in school, for example bullying, disruption to lessons and inappropriate web usage. As a result, the use of mobile phones during school hours is completely forbidden, and students found using their mobile phone during school hours will be dealt with in accordance with this policy. In accordance with the spirit of the ‘Notice on Strengthening the Management of Mobile Phones for Primary and Middle School Students’ issued by the Ministry of Education of China, and in combination with the situation of our school, we hereby formulate the policy.

Purpose

1.To clarify the school position on mobile phones.

2.To ensure that staff, students and parents are fully conversant with the policy and understand the reasons for the policy.

3.To support our student behavior policy, which aims for outstanding behavior and safety of students across the school.

4.To ensure that student welfare and safeguarding incidents associated with mobile phones are minimized.

Guidelines

1.Students are not allowed to bring their mobile phones to school only if it has been requested by their parents/carers in written and approved by the Department Principal.

2.Mobile phones are not allowed on site – this is defined as ‘inside the school gates’. Mobile phones must be kept by teachers during school time and remain switched off during school hours.  

3.Any student seen using their mobile phone during school hours will have their phone confiscated. Phones must not be seen or heard on campus.

4.Confiscated phones must be taken to the Admin Staff or the Homeroom Teacher’s Office where the phone will be secured in the school safe.

5.After the first confiscation students will be allowed to collect their phone at the end of the week. Parents will be required to collect the mobile phone following the second or any subsequent confiscations.

6.Students are allowed to use their phone to contact home relating to safety and transport reasons after a drama, music or sporting event. In this instance staff should allow students to use their phone on the school site if this is appropriate.

7.Students who use their phone in school will be given a Loss of Reward (LoR). This will lead to a detention from the relevant homeroom teacher and a deduction in the relevant house points. If this issue becomes persistent, the student will be referred to the Department Principal who will then consider strategies such as a tripartite meeting or class suspension.

8.Students must not use their phone to listen to music if they are cycling to school. Students should also be mindful of traffic and dangerous situations if using their phone when walking to and from school.

9.Students will receive assemblies explaining the mobile phone policy and the policy will be placed on the school website/WeChat for parents/carers to access.

August 30th, 2021