The 'phones away for the day' regulation requires all schools to ensure that all ākonga (student) phones are either kept at home, or if they must come to school, are kept switched off and away for the duration of the school day, including lunch times and breaks.
Amesbury School already had an expectation that students would keep their phones in their school bags throughout the day, if they needed to bring a phone to school. As such, there was little change to our school guidelines as a result of this regulation. Our school guidelines also state that this same rule applies to the use of smart watches when used as a personal communication device - they are not to be used to access the internet or contact others during the school day.
Here is our school Internet and Cyber Safety Procedure, which includes our expectations around use of phones at school.
One thing to be clarified is that this expectation also includes the time between 8:30-9am and at 3pm as ākonga are leaving school grounds to go home. Once ākonga come into school, the expectations around phones switched off and away apply until they leave school grounds to go home.
There are exceptions to this rule. If a child needs to use their phone for any reason, they need to ask a kaiako (teacher), who will then support and guide them. A child may need to use their phone for a health reason, or at the end of the day to contact a parent or caregiver about arrangements for after school. In such cases, use of a phone will be permitted, as long as one of our kaimahi (staff members) is supervising. If your child needs to contact you using their phone at the end of the day to confirm pick up or after school arrangements, the easiest way to do this is to have them go to the school office and let Rachel or another kaimahi (staff member) know. They can then stay in the office reception area and use their phone to contact whānau.
It is also important for whānau to know that if ākonga bring their phone or smart device to school, they do this at their risk. School cannot take responsibility for any lost, damaged or stolen devices.
