Justine Elbourne-Cload, Executive Head of Cunningham Hill Federation, St. Albans
Justine Elbourne-Cload hit the headlines in March 2024, when she, along with twenty-four other primary school Heads, took the decision to ban smartphones at their schools. Across St. Albans, Headteachers came together to co-write an impassioned letter to parents, urging them not to buy smartphones for their children until at least 14. Now the phrase “doing a St. Albans” is something being heard in other towns - with Heads, teachers and parents keen to emulate what happened in the city. Justine told Smartphone Free Schools why she knew it was time to act.
What was it that compelled you to take action?
Over the last few years we’ve had increasing issues with WhatsApp groups. There were lots of really unkind comments in groups that children would never have said in person. We had lots of parents complaining. We were also having issues with images being taken at sleepovers, and shared with wider groups. We had children who were seeing things online that really upset them, that they weren’t expecting to see. Young, innocent children who were really shocked by the things they had seen. For some it was self-harm content, others it was sexually explicit images, and others it was pro-anorexia content.
We were noticing kids worrying about things that they were seeing online. Parents thought children were leaving their phones downstairs at night, but actually they had them up in their bedrooms, and it was causing a whole host of problems. Some of the boys were also hero worshipping Andrew Tate and we were thinking, “where are they hearing this stuff?” Boys were making misogynistic comments to girls, and it was causing a lot of upset. We were also really noticing the attention span going down in kids.
What differences have you noticed in children in the last decade?
The big change I’ve noticed is the way kids interact and play. They have less of an ability to use their imagination than they used to. When we speak to parents, they tell us the same thing. They say “I tell my child to go and play in the garden, but they don’t know how to play.” Children would much rather pick up an Ipad or a phone rather than going out and physically doing something. It’s as if they’ve forgotten, or they never learnt how to play. Children are growing up to believe that they can just swipe something away off a screen if they're bored. But when you come to school, you can’t swipe your teacher away. You can’t swipe the lesson away. You have to focus on it. But they can’t do that because they’re so used to being able to move something on if it’s not giving them that dopamine hit.
As adults, we need to model the right behaviour. I know I spend too much time on my phone, and I try hard to regulate that. How can we expect our children to self-regulate and self-monitor, when as adults we're struggling to do it ourselves? We have parents coming to pick-up with a phone in their hand, and their child following on behind. I want to say, “Put the phone down! Pay attention to your child! But you can be blind to it when you're in it. It's almost like I've just had this wake-up call and I'm so much more aware when I'm picking up my phone. It's a crutch - if I’m feeling a bit nervous, I’ll just pick my phone up. It's an avoidance tactic.
What impact have you seen since bringing in the policy?
It’s early days, but what we have seen is a huge engagement from our parents. One parent came up to me yesterday saying, “I’ve just got him a Nokia, and he’s really excited to play snake.” We have parents coming up to us saying, “We’re doing it!” The parental engagement is what has really surprised me. They’re all on the bandwagon and they’re all fighting for it. The ones who aren’t on board are very quiet. Usually it’s parents who are against something who are the ones out stamping their feet. On this issue, if there are people who ARE going to give their child a phone, they’re keeping very quiet. Beyond that, I think it will take a bit of time to really see that effect at our school. In fact, I think the secondary schools will see the benefits sooner than we will.
What do you see as the role of primary schools when it comes to shifting norms around smartphones?
Primary school is where you still have control. It is much easier to say “I’m not getting you a phone.” If children fully understand the reasons behind it, and you can get them to go en masse to secondary with a simple phone, then you achieve that cultural change. Ultimately, it’s too late by the time they get to secondary, because most children already have phones. The year you need to target is Year 4, because children often get phones in Year 5. If you wait until secondary, a lot of the damage has already been done and they are already ensconced in their habit. So the primary school years are absolutely crucial.
What would you say to a head who wants to go smartphone free?
We were lucky in St Albans because we have a very strong Heads group. Having a city-wide, town-wide sign up by the heads where you can all write a letter, where you can say “these schools have all signed up to this” is very powerful. There is absolute power in numbers.
The thing that was holding parents back was that they didn’t want their child to be the only one going to secondary school without a phone. So when they saw that every school in St. Albans was signing up to the same thing, it became much easier. One school doing it on their own is great, but it’s not going to persuade parents, because they know that as soon as their child goes to secondary, all the other kids will have a phone. So it’s about taking collective action.
Interestingly, the backlash came from not from the Heads or from the parents, but from the governors. The governors said, “no, we can’t do that”. But the parents stood up and said “we want this”. And the governors backed down.
By the time we had finished the process, we had thirty-seven schools signed up. If you can get the vast majority of schools, then you know that’s going to be enough of a sea change to carry it forward. There will always be parents who don’t agree with the policy. We know that. But as long as the majority get on board, then this will become the new norm.
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