Mobile Phone and iMessage Policy - Students

As our students transition back to school for the new year it is important to revisit the Department of Education ministerial order relating to mobile phone and communications use within schools. This is applicable to all students in all schools within Victoria. Please note that this is a ministerial policy issued by the Minister of Education.

This policy and expectation outlines the requirements of the Minister of Education relating to students using mobile phones during school hours.

Summary

• From Term 1 2020, students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours.
• For the purpose of this policy, a mobile phone is a telephone with access to a cellular (telecommunication) system, with or without a physical connection to a network.
• Exceptions to the policy may be applied if certain conditions are met. Exceptions can be granted by the principal, or by a teacher. Exceptions must be documented.
• Schools are required to develop a local policy on students using mobile phones, which must include how this ministerial policy will be implemented - attached below
• Schools will manage non-compliance with their local mobile phone policy in accordance with their existing student engagement polices

Enforcement

Schools will enforce the policy under their existing student engagement policies, for example, through detention or a loss of school-based privileges, where students fail to comply with the local school policy on mobile phones, including if they refuse to relinquish their phones to school staff when asked. 

Schools should return mobile phones to the student or parent/carer at the end of the school day.

Consistent with Ministerial Order 1125, suspensions are to be reserved for serious misuses of a mobile phone in schools (for example, cyberbullying).

Reporting of some incidents involving mobile phones to a relevant authority may be necessary under the Department’s Reporting and Managing School Incidents Policy.

Other Communication Devices

Wearable devices, iPads and other personal devices are excluded from the policy, however, if they are brought to school, students must switch off all notifications and communication tools (iMessage, etc) during the school day. Surfside chooses to include wearable devices, iPads and other personal devices as part of their local policies.