UK schools spend over £50,000 on lockable phone pouches to enforce mobile ban

A group of seven schools operated by the Community Schools Trust in east London and Norfolk has spent more than £50,000 on lockable phone pouches to enforce a ban on mobile devices during the school day. The total cost runs to about £54,000, with each pouch priced at £9 for every student across the trust’s campuses.

Simon Elliott, the trust’s chief executive, said the action was taken because of the dangers posed by smartphones and because the previous ban was not effective. 'We had banned the phones but students were sneaking off to the toilet to use them or using them out of eye shot of teachers,' he said. The pouches allow phones to remain in students' possession but prevent use during the school day.

The contract to provide the pouches is being carried out with Phone Locker, and the schools have chosen to fund the scheme themselves rather than ask parents to pay. Phone Locker's managing director Adam Proops described the device as a hard barrier between phone and student, designed to dampen the impulse to check a device during the day. He said the effect grows over time and can reduce the habit of breaking the rule.

'Adults, let alone children, find it difficult enough to leave their phone alone,' Proops said. 'Over time, that reliance lessens and it becomes a habit to take that break during the day.' He added that some responsibility does shift back to parents, but that the benefits are often supported by families.

Officials say phones can be accessed after school and at weekends, reinforcing that the aim is to promote safer, more focused learning during school hours.

The trust's seven schools include Forest Gate Community as the lead campus; the network comprises six schools in east London and one in Norfolk. All seven have above-average exam results, with Forest Gate frequently appearing among the country’s top 50 schools, and Excelsior Academy reporting improved A-Level results after a mobile-ban policy in the sixth form last year.

Beyond the trust, other schools have pursued bans or restricted use after incidents such as a Bristol primary school that banned smartphones following a pupil's phone generating 9,000 messages in one night in a Year Six WhatsApp group. In June, Blackhorse Primary School in Bristol said children would no longer be allowed to bring smartphones to school after staff were shocked by the volume of messages.

In the political sphere, Conservative MPs have campaigned for a broader ban, but Labour has resisted, saying official guidance already exists and most schools restrict phone use.

The policy is intended to protect students' wellbeing and focus during the school day, while acknowledging that after-hours access remains. Officials say the pouches are not a blanket prohibition on technology, but a mechanism to reduce daytime distraction and its perceived impact on learning and mental health.