Take every bit of technology out of your child's bedroom, says head … – The Telegraph

Heather Hanbury tells parents to lock every family member’s phone away at night and lead by example
Parents should take all technology out of their child’s bedroom and lock every family member’s phone away at night, the president of the Girls’ School Association has said.
Heather Hanbury has told parents to be vigilant about mobile phone use and lead by example by joining children in taking breaks from technology.
She said: “I say to parents, take every bit of technology out of your daughter’s bedrooms. I have zero technology in my bedroom, not even a television. I say to them, ‘go home tonight, and do it yourself, join in, have an evening and bedtime where you put mobiles into a locked box in the kitchen before they go to bed’.
“Having a good sleep is a good start to dealing with anything, particularly coming to school.”
Ms Hanbury also said parents should buy their children “ordinary old-fashioned phones”. “It doesn’t have to be a smartphone,” she said.
Ms Hanbury, who herself leads the independent girls’ day school Lady Eleanor Holles in Richmond upon Thames, south west London, does not allow girls in Years 7, 8 or 9 to have phones with them at any point in the school day. They must be locked away in lockers when they arrive until when they leave. 
In Years 10 and 11, they are allowed to use phones at lunchtime, while Sixth Form pupils can use mobile phones in their common rooms but nowhere else.
All pupils in the school have iPads but they are controlled by the school so they are blocked from using any social media.
Katherine Birbalsingh, the headmistress of Michaela Community School in Wembley, north London, has previously called for a government ban on the use of “dangerous” smartphones in schools, saying they pose a similar threat to smoking, and drinking alcohol.
In March, she told a conference: “We work very hard with families to encourage them not to give [their children] a smartphone. Because all of the problems start on smartphones.”
The Department for Education said earlier this year that it supports headteachers who want to ban mobile phones during the school day. It said that most schools have “well developed” plans in place for the management of mobile phones and that “further intervention from Government isn’t necessary”.
“In most cases mobile phones are already banned for the majority of the school day with schools taking a range of measures to enforce that policy,” a spokesman said. 
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