St. Martin de Porres Primary School

Digital Technology News

Personal Mobile Devices at St Martin de Porres Primary School

St Martin de Porres Primary School is committed to creating a positive and productive learning environment for all students. To achieve this, we will be implementing a comprehensive policy regarding the use of personal mobile devices. This policy aims to ensure that the presence and usage of such devices does not disrupt the learning process. Additionally, it seeks to clarify the responsibilities of both staff and students in relation to these devices. The policy will be available via the school website on Monday. 

 

The main points of the policy are:

  • Personal mobile devices such as phones, smart watches, laptops, iPads & tablets are not to be brought to school, taken on excursions, camps, or out of hours school activities.
  • Research has found that students learn best in classroom environments where teachers can teach and students can learn without being distracted by personal devices. The unregulated presence of mobile phones and smartwatches in classrooms can undermine students’ capacity to think, learn, remember, pay attention and regulate emotion.
  • Regular watches and Fitbits that only track steps (please see example below) and tell the time are allowed to be worn at school
  • Students who bring a personal mobile phone or smartwatch to school for the purpose of traveling to and from school must switch them off and delivers them to the Administration Office in a named pouch/glad bag prior to the commencement of the school day and collect them from the office after the school day or if they are required to leave school early.
  • We understand that some smartwatches have the ‘schooltime’ feature on the watches which restricts the use of messages during the school day however, this creates difficulties in managing equality, safety and consistency across the school.
  • The school accepts no responsibility for lost, stolen or damaged personal mobile devices at school or while traveling to and from school.

 

Lucas Mangani

Digital Technology Leader