England school smartphone ban came into force on Monday, 29 June, turning existing school practice into a legal duty for schools and trusts. Bridget Phillipson had earlier written to head teachers to encourage smartphone-free environments by default, and the new rule now requires schools to keep pupils phone-free throughout the day.
The change sits inside the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act, which passed in April. The government said the law gives legal force to what almost all schools were already doing, while still leaving each school to decide how it will handle phones.
Bridget Phillipson and school rules
Phillipson, the Education Secretary, told head teachers earlier this year to follow guidance saying that “all schools should be smartphone-free environments by default”. That guidance is now part of law, and head teachers must follow it.
The government said head teachers know their schools and pupils best and can choose the method that works for them. That leaves room for different systems: some schools use special lockers, some use sealed pouches, and some rely on “no see, no hear” policies where phones stay with pupils but are stored away.
Association of School and College Leaders
Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, called for more funding to support bans beyond “no see, no hear”. His point goes to the practical side of the law: schools that want stricter storage systems need equipment and staff time to run them.
Examples already in use show how wide the range is. In Hampshire, one school allows only brick or dumb phones, which can call or text and have very limited internet access. In Essex, one school has switched to magnetically locked pouches after dropping its out-of-sight policy.
Hampshire, Essex and Hull
At that Essex school, pupils who need access to a phone during the day for medical reasons, such as to control an insulin pump, use Velcro-sealed pouches instead. Staff and pupils at a school in Hull said those pouches have already made a phenomenal difference.
The legal change is separate from the recently announced ban on social media for under-16s, so schools are dealing with a phone rule rather than a wider online restriction. For families, the immediate change is simple: pupils may still bring phones, but schools and trusts now have to make sure those devices stay out of use through the school day.
