Canobolas High School may be "phone-free" by as early as next term.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A P&C meeting is being held Tuesday night to discuss implementing a system called Yondr which would see students put their phones in a magnetically sealed pouch for most of the school day.
Stuart Riles is the school community liaison officer and said the idea first came about last year.
"We had a review of some of the processes and systems at the school and from that there were 18 recommendations," he said.
"One of them focused on how disconnected a lot of students are because of mobile phone usage both within the school environment during recess and lunch and also the temptation to get the mobile phones out during class time."
If the idea goes ahead, magnets - which would be controlled by the school - would be placed around different blocks. It would then be up to the school to decide when during the day to turn the magnets on, which would allow students to unseal the bags and access their phones.
The expectation is that students would take ownership of the pouches, and that if they were defaced or damaged, the student would be charged for the cost of a new one or to fix the existing one.
"If we have the P&C and the staff on board, and we would also be consulting our senior student leadership, we would be starting it next term, as soon as possible," Mr Riles added.
"The Yondr system is reasonably well know throughout NSW with the closest school using the Yonda system would probably be Lithgow High School. We would be sending a small contingent of staff there to see how it goes."
It is hoped that once the habit of checking phones is broken, that the pouches would not even be necessary
"What often ends up happening is that over time, a year or more later, instead of using the pouch kids just don't bring their phone to school," Mr Riles said.
"This is so we can get students fully engaged with teaching and learning within classroom environments and playground environments.
"Kids these days will sit and be almost socially isolated when really they should be chatting and eating and playing with the students before them."
Both Dubbo College South Campus and Dubbo College Delroy Campus implemented the Yondr systems back in late 2019.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.centralwesterndaily.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
HAVE YOUR SAY
- Send us a letter to the editor using the form below