East Sussex school defends mobile phone policy which "oversteps the mark"

Chailey School’s policy says if pupils are caught using their mobile devices, it is confiscated from them until the end of the school week, with repeat offenders sometimes being without their phones until the end of the term.

The strategy has been criticised on social media, with concerns raised about the risks to pupils' safety and the pressures put on parents trying to contact their children.

One person wrote: "No do not agree with this, they should have them for the day and then give them back when the school day is finished. I would be furious if was my child's phone.”

Another commented: "I think that have well overstepped the mark there. If I was a parent who’s child had their phone taken by the school for that length of time I’d be paying them a visit to get it back.

"It’s for me to keep a phone a way from my kids outside of school hours, not the school.”

The school told SussexWorld the policy was in place to safeguard its students and was used to ensure phones were not used for inappropriate reasons.

The policy allows students to bring phones onto the school site if needed for travelling to and from the premises – but says they should not been seen, heard or used.

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The school also confirmed it offered basic models of phones to families of children with confiscated mobiles for safeguarding purposes and on-line learning resources.