Schools to be smartphone-free for Year 7 pupils

All 10 secondary schools in Brighton and Hove are to be smartphone-free for Year 7 pupils.

From September, children, typically aged 11 to 12, will be not permitted to bring any mobile phones into school that can access the internet, social media or take photos and video.

It comes in the wake of news in April that the government is to introduce a legal ban on smartphones in schools in England.

The 10 schools wrote a joint letter to parents, in which they described the decision as not having been "taken lightly", but that the evidence behind it was "consistent and compelling".

Signed The Secondary School Partnership, it said: "Over the past year, head teachers across Brighton & Hove have engaged with each other and the wider community over the conversation around mobile phones in education.

"From our research and own experience, we are confident this is the right step to enable young people to make connections and feel belonging within our communities, whilst balancing the need to develop real world digital skills."

Other councils across the country have already adopted smartphone-free approaches, the letter added, as well as an increasing number of primary schools in Brighton and Hove.

"We believe it is right for secondary schools to also follow this direction," the letter said.

The aims of the move include improving safeguarding and online safety, focus and learning, mental health and wellbeing, and relationships and social development, the letter said.

It added that each school will implement the approach in line with its own mobile phone policy, and reviews would be held over the course of the 2026–2027 academic year with an eye to possibly extending it to older year groups.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson wrote to schools earlier this year encouraging them to follow new guidance that schools be phone-free for the entire day.

Meanwhile, a national petition calling for a clamp down on harmful social media has reached nearly 106,000 signatures.

Produced by the group Smartphone Free Childhood, it wants to delay access to smartphones and social media, to prevent under-16s accessing age-inappropriate online platforms.

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.