Big changes are coming for school pupils in England. Ministers have announced that new statutory guidance will soon stop children from having mobile phones on them entirely throughout the school day.
Statutory guidance had already arrived in June to make schools and trusts legally responsible for remaining phone-free. But the fresh updates will go further than the current 'no see, no hear' rules, where students could still keep devices tucked away quietly in their bags.
Funding headache for head teachers
Schools will get to pick how they enforce the ban. Some currently use sealed pouches or lockers, while others collect phones in the morning or ban them from the premises altogether.
However, teacher unions warn that doing this properly will hit school budgets hard. Leaders say that buying secure storage or lockable pouches for every single child is simply not feasible without fresh state funds.
“school is for learning and friendship, not scrolling”Lucy Powell
Different rules across the UK
Because education policy is devolved, approaches differ across the UK. Scotland plans to introduce legislation after a summer consultation, while Northern Ireland has been running a 12-week consultation of its own.
In Wales, the Senedd voted against a national statutory ban, giving head teachers flexibility instead. Meanwhile, the UK is also preparing a separate ban in March that will stop under-16s from accessing social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.
What happens next
The stricter guidance for schools in England will come into force from September 2027, alongside a wider review of safety standards for technology used in classrooms.
