HOW WE MANAGE MOBILE PHONE USE AT ST CATHERINE’S
St Catherine’s Twickenham is ahead of the curve in this debate. We’ve always been interested in how to marry the goal of providing girls with the best possible education in computer science, design and technology, with the need to anchor their personal and social development in real-life conversations and experiences. Since 2021, our solution has been the Yondr programme which has enabled us to manage this aspect of school life with confidence. As one of Yondr’s flagship schools in the UK, we are pleased to work together to promote phone management and pupil wellbeing.
Yondr pouches help us to create a phone-free space at school. The system is a simple one: on entering the site each pupil deposits her phone inside a pouch; this is locked with a magnet and she then keeps possession of her phone throughout the day – though she cannot use it. At the end of the day she simply taps her phone on one of the unlocking bases and her Yondr pouch opens again.
From the moment we introduced this we saw several benefits. Firstly, the never-ending cycle of reprimands and sanctions for pupils who were failing to keep their phones in their lockers changed overnight. We effectively stopped expecting our teenagers to have the self-control to stay away from their phones that most adults are also lacking, by providing a solution we can manage with them.
More importantly, we were delighted to see more girls involved in co-curricular opportunities. Instead of hunching over their devices at lunch time, they now spend time in activities like Debating, STEM Club, or Swim Squad. They are therefore more involved and engaged outside their lessons; they are developing personal skills, academic confidence and creativity. It also means that the sight of girls sitting after lunch having a conversation with friends is an everyday thing – they are engaged in building relationships, making friends, and enjoying themselves, without a phone in hand.
This programme has also had a positive impact on the frequency of cyberbullying and other related mistakes which, of course, happen because young people can find it difficult to communicate online with the same consideration that they usually show more easily face-to-face. Our PSHE programme still involves careful teaching and training to help girls navigate their online world; however, we find that we are working more closely in partnership with parents, who love our Yondr system and appreciate that monitoring phone use out of school hours is also essential.
In short, while the media is alive with schools debating the best way to control mobile phone use, we’re happily in a situation where phones at school are managed with a secure and easy system. Instead, we focus on the exciting task of providing an ambitious technology education for our girls, and we all enjoy the wonderful sound of pupils’ real conversations and laughter around the site.
