The government-mandated cellphone and headphone ban has been in place for a term now, and overall it is working very well.

Staff have noticed how much more engaged the students are in class, and especially during interval and lunchtimes.  Staff have started a number of lunchtime activities including board games and jigsaws, and a film club which will start soon.

We are confiscating fewer phones and headphones as time goes on, from 27 devices on the first day of the ban to an average of four or five a day now.   

We have noticed that when students have had their phones out and then been confiscated, it is often because a parent or caregiver has called or messaged the student.  We have processes in place for getting urgent messages from parents and caregivers to students via the school's main reception, and there is a landline in the Student Office that students can use if they need to make a call. 

Please can you support us by not contacting students via cellphone between the hours of 8.30am and 3.15pm, and let students know that the easiest way for them not to get caught absent-mindedly using their phones is to leave them turned off while they are at school. 

A reminder that for second offences parents or caregivers need to collect the phone from school at their convenience, and for third and subsequent offences the students are subject to disciplinary procedures.