A headteacher dubbed the “strictest in the UK” has revealed that many of her pupils lock their phones away in a school safe for months at a time in order to improve their grades, MyLondon reports. Katharine Birbalsingh told an annual teachers’ conference that students should be encouraged to have regular “digital detox” periods.
The head of Michaela Community School, Wembley, said “all problems start on smartphones” and suggested parents restrict their children’s access to them. Speaking to the Association of School and College Leaders, she added: “If we genuinely want things to be fairer, and we want our disadvantaged children to be socially mobile, the best thing I can do for them is getting them not to have a smartphone.”
Ms Birbalsingh, who chairs the Department for Education’s social mobility commission, explained that a significant number of pupils at her school volunteer to hand in their phones and other electrical devices when they arrive – with some handing them over for months at a time.
