Primary school bans smartphones after 9,000 messages are sent in just one night in children’s WhatsApp group

A British primary school has banned smartphones after a pupil’s phone was found with 9,000 messages sent in just one night on a year’s WhatsApp group. Children at Blackhorse Primary School in Bristol will now be stopped from bringing smartphones to school after a debate around safety was sparked by multiple notifications spotted on a pupil’s screen by a teacher. In recent years, pupils have been allowed to bring smartphones to school but had to hand them into the teacher during lesson time. Until a phone was accidentally left in the teacher’s cupboard overnight and was returned to the pupil the next day with 9,000 notifications of activity in a Year Six WhatsApp group. Shocked at the discovery, executive headteacher Simon Botten started a debate with parents on whether smartphones should be allowed in schools, and now pupils can no longer bring them in. Writing on his personal blog, Mr. Botten said he had also been concerned at the risk of increased cyber-bullying and online predatory behaviour – and that the move had been broadly backed by parents. Mr Botten wrote of the Year Six pupil’s phone: ‘The teacher picked up the phone, waking it, only to see a notification of 9,000 missed messages from the Year 6 pupil WhatsApp group overnight. Nine thousand messages in a 15-hour overnight period. ‘After nearly two decades in headship, I have watched this technological phenomenon unfold slowly. ‘At first, it was imperceptible: the odd argument via old-fashioned texts, the odd child seeing something online which they shouldn’t (always at home). But over the years I have seen the risks grow ever more significant and ever more frequent.’ He said these included rising cyberbullying on WhatsApp, inappropriate images being exchanged, a rise in hanging out online instead of outside and of children ‘glued to their phones’ once handed the devices back at the end of the day. He continued: ‘And then something much darker. A rise in predatory strangers approaching children online in their bedrooms whilst their parents watch Eastenders downstairs.  ‘Near miss, after near miss. But, the thing is, if you have enough near misses – the chances of a collision rises to 100 per cent.’The post Primary school bans smartphones after 9,000 messages are sent in just one night in children’sWhatsAppgroup appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.