St Hilda’s Collegiate School principal Jackie Barron said she welcomed new regulations requiring schools ensure pupils did not access their phones at school, including during lunchtime and other breaks.
The new rules, which come into effect next term, were an extension of rules that had been in place at St Hilda’s for the past 18 months, Ms Barron said.
"There has been a massive drop-off in incidents involving social media since we asked girls to hand their phones in."
The school’s community was being consulted on how the policy would be managed when it was implemented school-wide, Ms Barron said.
"We have to find a way to manage it now with limited budget and staff and everything else — that’s what we’re working through."
There was a lot to think about, including finding space for the 450 pupils’ phones, monitoring them and insurance policies.
St Hilda’s year 8 pupil Arli Fisher said she enjoyed playing in the school’s new playground instead of using her phone — and thought the policy was fair enough.
"You get more out of the school day too and you become more independent and you don’t rely on your phone to search up all the answers."
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association chairman Mike Wright said some schools in the region already had policies in place for cellphone use and others were consulting with their communities.
Schools received good guidance from the Ministry of Education, which was updating a website dedicated to the regulations, he said.
However, there was room for schools to implement regulations in their own way.
"It’s not a one-size-fits-all and there is some autonomy for schools on how they manage this and obviously community consultation is a big part of this."
The Ministry of Education said there were four exceptions to when pupils were not allowed their phones: health reasons; disability or learning support; for a specific educational task or purpose; or the principal decided special circumstances were needed.
