Safeguarding: Mobile phones & devices

Code of conduct  |  Anti-bullying  |  Mobile phones  |  E-safety  |  Acceptable ICT usage

We have very strict rules about acceptable and unacceptable use of mobile technology by students at the College. The rules exist for your safety: to protect the College’s staff and students from undesirable materials, filming, intimidation or harassment. 

Note: all references to ‘mobile phones’ should be taken to include camera phones and mp3 players, even those which do not incorporate communications technology.

We recognise that mobile phones can be an integral part of many students’ daily life and accept that your parents may want you to have a mobile phone for your journey to and from College. However, if you do bring a mobile phone to College, the following rules apply:

• It is entirely at yours and your parents’ own risk.  The College accepts no responsibility for the loss, theft or damage of any phone, mp3 player or other mobile device brought into College. 
• Mobile phones which are brought into College must be turned off (not placed on silent) and stored out of sight immediately you arrive at College. They must remain turned off and out of sight until you have left the College site at the end of the day. 
• Occasions may arise where there may be a legitimate reason for making use of mobile phone technology within a lesson.  In this instance mobile phones can only be used if a teacher specifically requests that you use them within their lesson. 
• It is strictly against College rules to record photographic images (still or video) or sound recordings of staff or students at any time without their explicit permission.
• Any student caught filming another person (and/or uploading images or video onto the Internet) will have their phone confiscated. It will be treated as a disciplinary matter and their parents may be informed. If the action is repeated, offensive or of a serious nature, the matter will be treated as a serious disciplinary issue. In such circumstances, your parents will be informed and the Governing Body may be notified. 
• In accordance with our Internet Acceptable Usage Policy and E-Safety Policy, we reserve the right to search the content of a confiscated device where there is a reasonable suspicion that it may contain undesirable material, including those which promote pornography, violence or bullying. 
• Sixth Form students are permitted to use mobile phones within study areas and the Sixth Form common room. Under no circumstances should calls be made or received during lessons or around the College site. 
• The PE changing rooms are left unlocked once students have left to go to their activity therefore valuable items must be handed over to PE staff who will lock them away safely and return them at the end of the lesson. Students and parents should be aware that mobile devices are particularly vulnerable to being stolen in changing rooms, hence the PE Department’s policy of handing valuables in.  Any mobile phone taken from the changing rooms having not been handed will not be out responsibility. 
• Where parents or students need to contact each other during the College day, you should do so only through the College’s telephone system (via Reception) and not via your mobile phone. 

What happens if you fail to abide by the rules?
If you are observed using a mobile phone by a member of staff, that member of staff will be required to confiscate it immediately. The member of staff will take it to College Reception for safe storage, where it will be stored in a locked, safe space, clearly communicating to the Reception staff your name and the circumstances which led to the confiscation. The matter will be recorded on your SIMS behaviour log by the member of staff who confiscated the phone. 

On the first occasion on which your phone is confiscated within a term, you will be able to collect it from the Reception at the end of the day. However, on the second occasion, your parent/guardian will be contacted and asked to collect the phone in person. Should you break the rules a third time, we will keep your phone until 3.35pm on the Friday of that week and your parents will be informed.

If you refuse to hand over a mobile phone when requested to do so, you will be removed from your lesson by a member of the Senior or Extended Leadership Team and the refusal will be treated as a disciplinary matter.