School to provide pouches for pupils' phones

"We want to see them being present in the moment, engaging with one another."

Victoria College in Belfast is to provide magnetic pouches to its 900 pupils that they will have to put their mobile phones in during the school day.

The school's principal Karen Quinn told BBC News NI the move was to help pupils be "good communicators".

Pupils and parents were told about the phone pouch plan on Thursday.

In a letter to parents, Ms Quinn said that, as well as phones, the pouches could store other devices like smart watches and ear pods.

"We are confident that this investment will help students to reduce the temptation to access their personal mobile devices during the school day," she wrote.

She said that phones could "have a detrimental impact on their engagement in learning, social engagement at break and lunch and their overall mental health and wellbeing".

Mrs Quinn told BBC News NI that the policy did not prevent pupils bringing mobile phones to school, "but they shouldn't be using them during the day".

"There's still a temptation when they have their phone and we know they're using them, so we've decided to purchase pouches that are secure for the pupils," she said.

"What we're going to do is use these pouches alongside our policy to teach them how to responsibly use their phones."

As soon as pupils enter the school they will have to put their phone in their pouch.

"It locks and you need a magnet to unlock it," Ms Quinn said.

"Teachers will have access to a magnet so if we want to use a phone for teaching and learning it can be opened up.

"At the end of the day we will have magnets around the school and the pupils will unlock their pouch as they're leaving."

The school told pupils about the pouch plans during an assembly.

Ms Quinn said the pupils had "the reaction that you would expect".

"They have questions, they are nervous, they are excited," she said.

"We've asked them to have an open mind and to engage with us so we can make it right for the college.

"Already we've had pupils stop at my office or stop staff and give suggestions.

"There will be pupils who this will cause some uncertainty to and we just want to work with them and bring everyone with us."

Education Minister Paul Givan had previously advised schools in Northern Ireland to restrict pupils from using mobile phones during the school day.

But his plans to buy pouches for schools to prevent mobile phones being used had faced criticism.

Ms Quinn, though, said Victoria College had decided to provide pupils with phone pouches long before the minister's move.

"We've been working on this for just under a year," she said.

The school has funded the pouches for pupils from their own budget.

"The cost of a pouch is slightly less than the cost of the majority of GCSE or A-Level textbooks," Ms Quinn said.

"We've made a choice within our current budget to prioritise this, but school budgets are tight."