Last autumn the principal of the John Wallis Church of England Academy, where I work as the head of external relations, summoned me to his office and presented me with a Yondr phone pouch – ‘You know, like the ones you get at concerts?’ I blinked at him, hoping this would disguise how uncool I am.
He handed me a pocket-sized fabric pouch with a magnetic latch that was opened using a special unlocking base. He had ordered one for every pupil in the school. His idea was that they would all put their phone inside their pouch first thing in the morning and it would not be released until the end of the school day. If students could still carry their phones around, it gave them more of a feeling of ownership than a policy which took all the phones away. Still, the scheme didn’t sound particularly groundbreaking to me.
Separating a teenager from their phone is worse than taking a dummy from a baby
How wrong I was.
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