Overview

• Generation Alpha CIC delivered a legal letter to the Department for Education giving ministers 14 days to issue a statutory smartphone ban before filing for judicial review.
• Fathers Will Orr-Ewing and Pete Montgomery contend that current guidance violates pupils’ rights under Articles 2, 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
• Department for Education guidance acknowledges that some students use smartphones for bullying, sexual harassment, sharing indecent images and viewing harmful content during school hours.
• Freedom of Information requests revealed one school reported 55 smartphone-related safeguarding incidents last year, 17 of which were referred to the police.
• Medical and education professionals cite research linking smartphone use in schools to behavioural addiction, lower academic performance and mental health harms to support a universal ban.