Sheffield Council starts work on 'smartphone-free schools' project

Work has started to look at how to get more Sheffield schools to move to adopting smartphone-free rules for pupils.

Sheffield councillors agreed last month to back parents and carers who want to see smartphones banned from city classrooms.

A campaign called Smartphone Free Childhood Sheffield launched a petition on the website change.org which has now been signed by 801 people.

Ruth Fitzell from the group told the city council’s education, children and families policy committee in February that smartphones affect children’s attention, learning and social development. They also expose them to inappropriate online content and cyber-bullying.

The committee heard that a task and finish group has been set up to look at the issue and met on Monday. Task and finish groups look at specific issues in detail with the aim of coming up with proposals in a relatively short time.

A report to the committee said: “The task and finish group will undertake a detailed review of the evidence presented, consider practice from other areas, and engage with local parents, schools, safeguarding partners and relevant council services.

“The group will examine options for how the council could support parents to delay smartphone use, provide guidance on safe and gradual introduction of digital technologies, encourage participation from schools interested in adopting smartphone-free policies and identify potential pilot programmes that could be trialled within Sheffield.”

Committee members heard that they should get an update on progress in June with the aim of the findings being presented in September.